Whale Oil Lamps

Whale oil was important as a fuel for lamps during the nineteenth century. It was used in homes, for street lighting, in lighthouse beacons, and even for locomotive headlights. The great demand for whale oil helped create the giant whaling industry in America. The demand for whale oil declined about 1840. The common whale oil […]

Rushlights

The rushlight is another early lighting devices that used a flame. Rushlights were made from the pith of cat-o’-nine-tails and other reeds that were peeled, dried, and then soaked in fat or grease. The fatted rush was held at an angle in the tweezer-like end of the rushlight holder. The rushlight burned with a clear, […]

Lustres

There are several dictionary meanings for the word lustre (sometimes spelled luster), but to a lamp collector it is an elaborate type of candlestick, probably with arms, that is decorated with hanging glass prisms. Cut glass prisms and drops probably were first made in England and Ireland. Some of the lustres that were popular during […]

Kerosene lamps

Kerosene, also called coal oil, was the best of the oils used for light. About 1850, Samuel M. Kier of Pittsburgh made lamps that burned kerosene he distilled from oil that oozed out of the earth and puddled on the ground. When Colonel Edwin L. Drake struck oil in Pennsylvania in 1859, the first economical […]

Grease lamps

Grease lamps were the next to be used by the pioneers. The Betty lamp was the first of these lamps. The first governor of the Plymouth Colony is said to have bought an iron Betty lamp in Holland to bring to America. The Betty lamp was an oval, round, or triangular dish. The dish ranged […]

Chandeliers

Early taverns and large living rooms of many early American homes had a center light fixture that hung from the ceiling. Smaller rooms, such as the bedrooms or kitchen, did not have a center light. The word chandelier originally meant a branched fixture that held candles. A pricket candleholder was often used. Chandeliers were not […]

Candlewood

The first lighting devices in America were long pieces of wood with a flame at one end. Splint lights used slivers of wood. Several types of resinous trees and bushes were called candlewood, and the term was also used for any wood slivers burned for light. Pine was the most wood burned for light in […]

Candles

The candle was first used in Roman times, then in Europe by about the eleventh century. It was similar to those we use today. Candles were scarce in the colonies because there wasn’t much tallow available. Beeswax and bayberry were found in small amounts. Animal fat tallow (usually beef) and whale spermaceti candles were made […]

Candlesticks

A candlestick is any device that holds a candle. The shape of a candlestick can be an indication of its age. The earliest candlesticks were made from solid cast brass or wrought iron. The spike, or pricket, holder for candles was used in Europe beginning in the fifth century. This candleholder impaled the candle on […]

Argand lamps

By the end of the eighteenth century, there were many inexpensive fuels that gave a bright light when burned in lamps. Some mixtures combined turpentine with alcohol and were highly explosive. Several new types of lamps were made to overcome the danger of explosion. Aimé Argand, a Swiss scientist, invented and patented his lamp in […]