Coil oil lantern / lamp
Object NameCoil oil lantern / lamp
MediumMetal
Dimensions13 3/4 × 6 1/4 × 6 in. diameter (34.9 × 15.9 × 15.2 cm)
ClassificationsHousehold, Kitchen, Miscellaneous
Credit LineTransferred from the Applied Arts Department. In the Farm House Museum Collection, Farm House Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
Object number74.32.130
Status
On viewLabel TextIn May of 1862, Philadelphian John H. Irwin created the first design for a coil oil lamp to be used with coal oils. Coal oil is a shale oil obtained from the destructive distillation of cannel coal, mineral wax, or bituminous shale, once used widely for illumination. Irwin designed an air-intake chimney to provide the necessary oxygen to the fuel source thus keeping a well illuminated light. Coal oil initially emitted a smoky flame until it was refined into kerosene. This refinement allowed lamps that were only previously used outside to be used indoors.
Russell, Loris S. 1976. “Early Nineteenth-Century Lighting.” In Building Early America: Contributions toward the History of a Great Industry, ed. Charles E. Peterson. Radnor, PA: Chilton Book Company. Norton, C. A. Quincy. 1904. “Artificial Illumination as a Factor in Civilization.” Connecticut Magazine VIII(III): 529–42.
Maril, Nadja. 1989. American Lighting: 1840-1940. West Chester, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd. https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_304996
Locations
- (not entered) Iowa State University, Farm House Museum
Object Name: Railroad lantern shade for the Aitcheson Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad.
Object number: UM2022.57
Object Name: Owl Lantern / Night Light
PifCo
c. 1930
Object number: UM2016.696
Object Name: Whale Oil Hand Lamp
Boston & Sandwich Glass Co.
1825-1840
Object number: UM2012.317
