ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING IN AMERICA — WATKINS 403 



and brass also are represented in the United States National Museum. 



John Grannis's patent of the same year claimed the application of a 

 "forcing" pump, or hand plunger, "to the construction and use of 

 lard lamps." Very similar, but embodying a key-propelled worm 

 shaft with piston instead of a force pump, was Smith & Stonesifer's 

 patent of 1854. Another mechanical piston lamp had been previously 

 patented by Williams & Tew. 



Most of the foregoing were crude looking and were more suitable 

 for use in the farm kitchen than in the city parlor. A device called 

 the solar lamp, however, answered all the requirements of "elegance" 

 demanded by Victorian taste. Capable of burning any viscous oil, 

 but especially suited to lard oil, the solar lamp was a modified Argand 

 lamp. Its burner was fitted with a convex plate having a hole in the 

 center to direct the flame upward in a tall column of light, plus a 

 tapering glass chimney. It was in every respect a superior lighting 

 device. Although used for many years previously in England, it was 

 not introduced in America until 1841. From the Franklin Institute's 

 aforementioned experiments of 1843 it was concluded: "The solar 

 lamp, although not so steady as the Carcel, approaches very nearly, 

 if it does not equal, that of the Carcel, in intensity. It is compara- 

 tively cheap, simple in its construction, not liable to get out of repair, 

 and easily cleansed" (1843, ser. 3, vol. 5, p. 105 ff.). Since its initial 

 cost was not great, and the cost of lard oil was less than that of sperm 

 oil, and since the appearance of the solar lamp was agreeable in 

 "genteel" surroundings, its success was assured. It probably displaced 

 many of the less efficient and more expensive astral lamps. The solar 

 lamp was made by several manufacturers. 



Taste in the 1830-60 period was reflected in lighting devices as in 

 other objects of furnishing. There were to be found handsome execu- 

 tion of good design on the one hand and esthetic atrocity on the other. 

 The more expensive the lamp the more ornate and meretricious the 

 decoration. Hand lamps of pewter and glass were essentially simple, 

 as were most of the smaller types other than patented lard lamps. 

 Astral lamps at the beginning of the period usually reflected the 

 rather severe classicism of the Greek Revival, bronze Ionic columns 

 and square plinths having been favorite forms for their pedestals. 

 After the introduction of the solar lamp the multiple-unit assembly 

 principle led to increasingly incongruous combinations of mass-pro- 

 duced bases and supporting shafts. Globes for solar lamps became 

 spheres of frosted glass, etched or engi-aved with Gothic arches and 

 arabesques. The classic column gave way to cast-brass fantasies in 

 pseudorococo, and the marble base was introduced to the lamp for a 

 long association. 



As early as 1833 the tendency of metal workers to outdo themselves 

 in ornamental excess was already being felt. In the Eighth Exhi- 



