Whale Oil Lamps

The common whale oil lamp was made after the invention of the flat wick burner in 1783. That patent, plus another for an upright wick tube, made the development of the closed reservoir for fuel possible. The lamp had a closed reservoir and a vertical wick tube. Whale oil is heavy, the tube had to be inserted far into the reservoir, with a short tube extending above the lamp. If you find a whale oil lamp with a round tin wick tube inserted through a cork and capped by a tin disk marked “patent,” the lamp dates from about 1810. If the burner of the whale oil lamp was screwed into a metal collar on the lamp with a threaded screw, the lamp dates from after 1830.