Argand lamp
Encyclopedia
Oil lamp
An oil lamp is an object used to produce light continuously for a period of time using an oil-based fuel source. The use of oil lamps began thousands of years ago and is continued to this day....
producing a light output of 6 to 10 candlepower
Candlepower
Candlepower is a now-obsolete unit which was used to express levels of light intensity in terms of the light emitted by a candle of specific size and constituents...
which was invented and patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
ed in 1780 by Aimé Argand
Aimé Argand
François Pierre Ami Argand was a Swiss physicist and chemist. He invented the Argand lamp, a great improvement on the traditional oil lamp. -Early years:...
. Aside from the improvement in brightness, the more complete combustion of the wick and oil required much less frequent snuffing (trimming) of the wick.
In France, they are known as "Quinquets" after Antoine-Arnoult Quinquet
Antoine Quinquet
Antoine Quinquet was a French pharmacist who was born in Soissons on 9th March 1745. In 1760 he was apprenticed to an apothecary in Soissons and in 1777 he moved to Paris where he worked for Antoine Baumé. He travelled to Geneva, where he met Aimé Argand...
, a pharmacist
Pharmacist
Pharmacists are allied health professionals who practice in pharmacy, the field of health sciences focusing on safe and effective medication use...
in Paris, who used the idea originated by Argand and popularized it in France. He is sometimes credited, in France, with the addition of the glass chimney to the lamp.
Design
The Argand lamp had a cylindrical candle wickCandle wick
A candle wick is a string, cord, or wooden object that holds the flame of a candle. A candle wick works by capillary action, drawing the fuel to the flame. When the liquid fuel, typically melted candle wax, reaches the flame it then vaporizes and combusts. The candle wick influences how the...
mounted so that air can pass both through the center of the wick and also around the outside of the wick before being drawn into cylindrical chimney which steadies the flame and improves the flow of air. Early models using ground glass which was sometimes tinted around the wick.
An Argand lamp used whale oil
Whale oil
Whale oil is the oil obtained from the blubber of various species of whales, particularly the three species of right whale and the bowhead whale prior to the modern era, as well as several other species of baleen whale...
, colza, olive oil
Olive oil
Olive oil is an oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps...
or other vegetable oil as fuel which was supplied by a gravity feed
Gravity feed
Gravity feed is the use of earth's gravity to move something from one place to another. It is a simple means of moving a liquid without the use of a pump. A common application is the supply of fuel to an internal combustion engine by placing the fuel tank above the engine, e.g. in motorcycles,...
from a reservoir mounted above the burner.
A disadvantage of the original Argand arrangement was that the oil reservoir needed to be above the level of the burner because the heavy, sticky vegetable oil would not rise far up the wick. This made the lamps top heavy and cast a shadow in one direction away from the lamp's flame. The Carcel lamp of 1800 and Franchot's moderator lamp of 1836 avoided these problems.
The same principle was also used for cooking and boiling water due to its 'affording much the strongest heat without smoke'.
History
The Argand lamp was new to Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
in Paris in 1784 With "a light equall to six or eight candles", according to Jefferson.
These new lamps, which more complex and costly than the previous primitive oil lamps were first adopted by the well-to-do, but soon spread to the middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
es and eventually the less well-off as well. Argand lamps were manufactured in a great variety of decorative forms and rapidly replaced all other types oil lamps.
It was the lamp of choice until about 1850 when kerosene lamp
Kerosene lamp
The kerosene lamp is a type of lighting device that uses kerosene as a fuel. This article refers to kerosene lamps that have a wick and a tall glass chimney. Kerosene lanterns that have a wick and a glass globe are related to kerosene lamps and are included here as well...
s were introduced. Kerosene
Kerosene
Kerosene, sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage, also known as paraffin or paraffin oil in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Ireland and South Africa, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid. The name is derived from Greek keros...
was cheaper than vegetable oil, it produced a whiter flame
Flame
A flame is the visible , gaseous part of a fire. It is caused by a highly exothermic reaction taking place in a thin zone...
, and as a liquid of low viscosity
Viscosity
Viscosity is a measure of the resistance of a fluid which is being deformed by either shear or tensile stress. In everyday terms , viscosity is "thickness" or "internal friction". Thus, water is "thin", having a lower viscosity, while honey is "thick", having a higher viscosity...
it could easily travel up a wick eliminating the need for complicated mechanisms to feed the fuel to the burner.