398 ANNUAL REPORT S]\nTHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1951 



recorded in the United States Patent Office between 1830 and 1860 

 for lighting devices alone. Scarcely 50 had been listed between 1790 

 and 1830 (Hubbard, 1935). It is true that improvement upon what 

 was already in existence was a leading motive for this inventive 

 activity; but there were also underlying economic reasons, of which 

 one was the state of the whaling industry. Even before the demand 

 for whale oils had reached its height in the middle 1840's the whaling 

 industry, while seeking to supply a growing demand, had found itself 

 faced with diminishing returns. TSHiales became scarcer, voyages in 

 search of them gi-ew longer, and the risks of both the owners and 

 the crews increased with each voyage. Hohman states (1928, pp. 

 273, 302, 330), "It was estimated that during the middle years of the 

 nineteenth century approximately ten percent of all American 

 whaling vessels made voyages which resulted in a net loss to their 

 owners." Between 1846 and 1861 the whole fleet declined from 735 

 to 514 ships. Meanwhile, the wholesale price of sperm oil fluctuated 

 upward in increasing peaks. In 1848, to cite an extreme contrast, 

 the dockside price in New Bedford was 95 cents a gallon, while in 

 1855 it was $1.70. Earlier than this, however, whale oils had been 

 expensive, although they could be burned comparatively cheaply in 

 the simple common lamp. As early as 1821 winter-strained sperm oil 

 had cost the city of Boston $1.07 a gallon on a contract basis. In 1843 

 the price of fall-strained oil was quoted by the Franklin Institute 

 Journal (ser. 3, vol. 5, p. 105 ff.) at 90 cents a gallon, and the winter- 

 strained variety at $1. It is easy to see why farm folk preferred to 

 rely on lard and tallow from their own animals. 



A few of the inventors sought to improve the efficiency of lamps in- 

 tended to burn sperm oil. Samuel Rust, of New York, took out 

 several patents involving the use of ribbon wicks and chimneys to 

 increase combustion, wick raisers to permit finer adjustments, and 

 other modifications of the common lamp which sought to improve 

 its function. In 1831 William Lawrence designed a hanging lamp 

 wath a reservoir in the shape of a hollow truncated cone and with 

 slanting ribbon-wick burners enclosed in a glass shade. This pro- 

 vided, in theory at least, proper draft-fed combustion and a good 

 central light. Closely related in form was Couch & Frary's lamp 

 patented two years later. 



It remained for Isaiah Jennings in 1830 to patent a new fuel and 

 thereby make the outstanding contribution to the development of 

 lighting prior to the discovery of kerosene. His "burning fluid" 

 combined alcohol and spirits of turpentine in a proportion of eight 

 to one. It was the first chemically made, volatile illuminating fuel. 

 The Franklin Institute Journal, a regular commentator and fre- 

 quently severe critic of new inventions, was enthusiastic: "We have 



