HEATING AND LIGHTING UTENSILS IN NATIONAL MUSEUM 71 



A brass gilt gimbel lamp for table or bracket was patented also in 

 1864, The lamp swings in a ring pivoted on the arms of a bell 

 bracket mounted on a base. (PI. 64, fig. 13. Cat. No. 75,368, Glou- 

 cester, Mass.; U. S. Fish Commission; 13 inches (23 cm.) high.) 

 Figure 14, plate 64, is a lamp of japanned tin with burner, patented 

 in 1864. It is swung in a U-shape support riveted in the bottom of a 

 pan like a candle dish, having a ring on the edge by which the lamp 

 may be hung as a wall light. Used in the forecastle of whalers and 

 made by F. M. Loring. (Cat. No. 75384, Gloucester, Mass.; J. T. 

 Brown; 7.9 inches (20 cm.) high.) A lard lamp in which the flat 

 wick and round wick are set in the same reservoir was patented by 

 D. Kinnear, February 4, 1851, shown in Figure 11, plate 64, by a 

 specimen which was used in Pennsylvania many years ago. The 

 round wick tube has a brass rod running down at the side conducting 

 heat to melt the fat. (Cat. No. 75351, Bainbridge, Pa.; George 

 Bean; 7.3 inches (18.5 cm.) high.) The lamp (fig. 12, pi. 64) is a 

 fine specimen of the period 1860-1870. It is of silver, made by Hinks 

 & Sons, Birmingham, England. The wick is flat, the burner venti- 

 lated, and the chimney tubular, swelled out in the lower portion. 

 (Cat. No. 316029, England; Kendrick Scofield; 13.8 inches (35 cm.) 

 high.) Some of the early flat-wick lamp models are shown on 

 plate 64. Figure. 5 has the sinumbra, " without shadow," type of 

 reservoir, three inclined wick tubes holding coarse woven wicks 

 i-aised by picking through slots in the metal, and posts with a set 

 screw for securing the globe which acted as a chimney. This lamp 

 was patented March 23, 1831, as a chandelier lamp by William Law- 

 rence. (Cat. No. 251760, United States; U. S. Patent Office; 7.5 

 inches (19 cm.) diameter.) Figure 6, of the same type, has four 

 wick tubes mounted in inclined position on a ring reservoir having 

 brackets for suspension. This quaint device was patented March 13, 

 1833, by Couch and Fray. (Cat. No. 251453, United States; U. S. 

 Patent Office; 6.7 inches (17 cm.) diameter.) Figure 8 is a glass 

 lamp with flat wick raised and lowered by the familiar toothed- 

 wheel device. 



The flat wick has evidently a more limited history than the tubular 

 wick. It superseded, as has been noticed, the round wicks of the 

 heavy oil lamps which had persisted to the middle of the nine- 

 teenth century in defiance of the fact that Argand's great invention 

 had come into the world long before. The reason for this is that 

 Argand's invention and the long line of improvements thereon by 

 known and unknown inventors catered to luxury and not to the needs 

 of the people. These needs were indeed small and easily satisfied. 

 Lamps made for the most part by hand and a modicum of machinery 

 were costly and beyond the means of the many. Therefore, forms of 

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