Posted 12 years ago
Endoftheroad
(1 item)
Hi,
I collect old oil lamps, and use them during our frequent power outages in the winter. I purchased this lamp recently at a flea market. The seller didn't know anything about it's history. It has a very large, cylinder shaped wick. The center of the lamp is hollow, I suppose to allow air to flow up the tube to the wick. I took it apart and cleaned the old sticky buildup off the working parts. When I fired it up, I was thrilled to find that it burns kind of like an Alladin lamp - much brighter than a normal lamp. The top of the burner reads "Royal PA Dorset Thomaston Conn Patd Aug 14, 1888". I would appreciate any information you can give me about this lamp.
thanks,
Jeannette
The reason it burns brighter than a normal lamp is because it is a center draft lamp and, just as you suspected, the air flows through the holes in the base and up the inner wick tube to provide draft for the wick. The round wick has a much larger surface area than a flat wick lamp, creating the brighter light. These lamps also use a flame spreader to disperse the flame even more. Unfortunately, it also uses more fuel to do this than a flat wick lamp. Aladdin combined a smaller round wick with the fabric mantel to achieve a bright light and still be fuel efficient. Any pictures of your lamp burning? I have pictures of my Rayo lamp at rest and also burning on the site. I only have new Aladdins so I didn't post any. This is supposed to be for antique oil lamps. Maybe some day I will find a nice old Aladdin. Do you have any antique Aladdins?