32 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
FROM PINE KNOT TORCH TO 
ELECTRICITY 
P erhaps the most 
interesting of the many 
art treasures in the library 
of Thomas A. Edison is a 
sculptured marble sym¬ 
bolizing the triumph of 
electricity. It represents 
a mound composed of 
broken and discarded 
specimens of all the vari¬ 
eties of lighting apparatus 
known to the past, upon 
which, half sitting, half 
standing, is the slender, 
exquisitely modeled figure 
of Youth, bearing in one 
hand an electric torch. 
Wrought into that chis¬ 
eled stone is the entire 
history of the evolution 
of lighting, and an inter¬ 
esting tale it is, not only to the home-maker, 
but to the collector of antiques. We who 
have long ceased to be impressed by the 
wonder of evoking a flood of light by the 
mere pushing of a button must read that 
story chapter by chapter if we would learn 
to appreciate our own good fortune in liv¬ 
ing in the same century with the modern 
Prometheus who harnessed Jove’s Light¬ 
nings for the convenience of mankind. It 
will not be dry reading, for it constitutes 
an important phase of the world’s progress. 
Tracing the course of invention and de¬ 
velopment back to its earliest beginnings in 
our own land, we find our forefathers, just 
landed in the New World, confronted with 
the problem of lighting the rude log cabins 
which it was their first hurried act of occu¬ 
pation to erect. For a time the cavernous 
fireplaces, which served alike for heating 
and cooking, supplied the only illumination, 
save in instances where a few families had 
Before the invention of matches, 
flint, steel and tinder were used to 
strike the fire 
One type of Roman lamp, adjusted 
for two wicks. This is a hand lamp 
The other style of Roman lamp was 
hung hy two chains from the ceiling 
The conch shell was the earliest style of 
oil font used. The wicks floated in the oil. 
After this came the Roman lamp above, 
and the “Betty lamps ” to the left 
brought overseas small 
stocks of candles. Likely 
enough it was to their In¬ 
dian neighbors (later 
foes) that the newcomers 
were indebted not only 
for their first lessons in 
wilderness lore, but in the 
proper use of torches and 
candlewood. The former 
were dry branches of 
pitch pine, cut to conve¬ 
nient lengths, each ending 
in a knot. Metal sockets 
of iron rings fastened to 
the walls served to sup¬ 
port them when these 
torches were burned in¬ 
doors, and none would 
dream of setting foot be¬ 
yond his own threshold 
after nightfall unless armed with a blazing 
torch in lieu of the unobtainable luxury of 
a lantern. Indeed, the history of many a 
famous American family would never have 
been written but for the flaring pine knot 
which saved some remote ancestor from 
falling a prey to wolves in time of winter 
famine, when the prowling beasts waxed 
bolder in proportion as their lean sides 
grew more gaunt with hunger. 
Closely akin to the torch was candle- 
wood, the name bestowed on the heart of 
“fat” wood of well-seasoned pitch-pine 
logs. This candlewood was divided into 
thin strips which in turn were cut in eight- 
inch lengths, tied in small bundles, and 
stored in dry places in anticipation of the 
long winter evenings. Candlewood sur¬ 
vived in New England until after the open¬ 
ing of the 19th Century, and is in use even 
today in certain remote sections of the 
South, where primitive conditions prevail. 
The “Betty lamp ” was a 
modification of the Roman 
style, the wick resting in 
the narrow lip 
Meantime the candlestick 
continued in favor. This 
shows a prod for knock¬ 
ing off melted wax 
With Suggestions and 
Illustrations for Adapting 
Them to Modern Use 
Above are three types of very early hand lamps, shoiving the 
transition to the closed oil font. By introducing a wire through 
the shaft, these types can be adapted to modern use 
