
As the kerosene burns, capillary action in the wick draws more kerosene up from the fuel tank. When the lamp is lit, the kerosene that the wick has absorbed burns and produces a clear, bright, yellow flame. If the wick is too high, and extends beyond the burner cone at the top of the wick tube, the lamp will produce smoke and soot (unburned carbon). Adjustment is usually done by means of a small knob operating a cric, which is a toothed metal sprocket bearing against the wick. The wick tube surrounds the wick and ensures that the correct amount of air reaches the lamp burner. Adjusting how much of the wick extends above the wick tube controls the flame. The lower part of the wick dips into the fount and absorbs the kerosene the top part of the wick extends out of the wick tube of the lamp burner, which includes a wick-adjustment mechanism. The lamp burner has a flat wick, usually made of cotton. This information should be adhered to regardless of the type of lantern in use. They also have a thinner chimney to induce a faster air-flow. This is even more important if using Aladdin lamps. Without a properly installed chimney, a definite safety condition exists. This has a cooling effect and keeps the mantle from over heating. When the lantern is lit and a chimney is attached, the thermally induced draft draws air through these holes and passes over the top of the mantle, just as a chimney in your house. The mantle/wick holder has holes around the outer edges. The chimney is used for a more important duty. The glass chimney needs a "throat", or slight constriction, to create the proper draft for complete combustion of the fuel the draft carries more air (oxygen) past the flame, helping to produce a smokeless light, which is brighter than an open flame would produce. Attached to the fuel tank, four prongs hold the glass chimney, which acts to prevent the flame from being blown out and enhances a thermally induced draft. A flat-wick lamp has a fuel tank (fount), with the lamp burner attached. If this type of lamp is broken, it can easily start a fire. New Zealand Railways lamp on the Weka Pass RailwayĪ flat-wick lamp is a simple type of kerosene lamp, which burns kerosene drawn up through a wick by capillary action. In 1919, Tilley High-Pressure Gas Company started using kerosene as a fuel for lamps. In 1914, the Coleman Lantern pressure lamp was introduced by the Coleman Company. It was a significant improvement over lamps designed to burn vegetable or sperm oil. Modern and most popular versions of the paraffin lamp were later constructed by Polish inventor and pharmacist Ignacy Łukasiewicz, in Lviv in 1853. Later made from petroleum, kerosene became a popular lighting fuel. In 1846, Abraham Pineo Gesner invented a substitute for whale oil for lighting, distilled from coal. In 1818, William Henry Tilley, gas fitters, was manufacturing gas lamps in Stoke Newington. In 1813, John Tilley invented the hydro-pneumatic blowpipe. jet-fuel consumption of 76 billion litres (20 billion US gallons) per year. As of 2005, kerosene and other fuel-based illumination methods consume an estimated 77 billion litres (20 billion US gallons) of fuel per year, equivalent to 8.0 million gigajoules (1.3 million barrels of oil equivalent) per day. Kerosene lamps are widely used for lighting in rural areas of Africa and Asia, where electricity is not distributed or is too costly. Vapor from the chamber burns, heating a mantle to incandescence and also providing heat. A hand-pump pressurizes air, which forces liquid fuel from a reservoir into a gas chamber.

They produce more light per unit of fuel than wick-type lamps, but are more complex and expensive in construction and more complex to operate. Pressurized kerosene lamps use a gas mantle these are known as Petromax, Tilley lamps, or Coleman lamps, among other manufacturers.
#BEST OIL LANTERN PORTABLE#
Kerosene lanterns meant for portable use have a flat wick and are made in dead-flame, hot-blast, and cold-blast variants. There are three types of kerosene lamp: flat-wick, central-draft (tubular round wick), and mantle lamp. Like oil lamps, they are useful for lighting without electricity, such as in regions without rural electrification, in electrified areas during power outages, at campsites, and on boats. Kerosene lamps have a wick or mantle as light source, protected by a glass chimney or globe lamps may be used on a table, or hand-held lanterns may be used for portable lighting.

The knob protruding to the right adjusts the wick, and hence the flame size.Ī kerosene lamp (also known as a paraffin lamp in some countries) is a type of lighting device that uses kerosene as a fuel.
