Mining Lights and Hats - Oil-Wick Cap Lamps
 Oil-Wick Cap Lamp with Drip Ring |
The oil-wick lamp first came into use in Scotland around 1850, and remained in use until the 1920’s. Before oil-wick lamps were popularized, candles were the main source of illumination in the mine. The candles were set into spiked metal candle holders, and either hammered into the framing timbers or precariously attached to a miner’s hat. The design of oil-wick cap lamps were simple and consistent, an appropriation of the teapot style of lamps available at the time.
The lamps were usually made of brass, with a hinged lid over the font and a hook on the back to mount the lamp on a miner’s cap. The font contained a mix of fat and oil for fuel, which would be pulled through the wick to the top of the spout, where the lamp would be lit. Miner’s would use the cheapest type of fuel they could get their hands on, often using lard oil cut with kerosene that gave off an extremely smoky flame, irritating the miner’s eyes and leaving his face coated with soot. The collection of oil-wick lamps shows a variety of attachments that were made to the spout. A drip ring could be added to catch any oil falling from the wick, and a reflector could be attached in and attempt to direct the light to the miner’s work surface.
 Miner's wearing Oil-Wick Lamps, Consolidated Coal Co. No. 204, Jenkins, KY July 19, 1912 |
The oil-wick cap lamp held a variety of advantages over candles—the light burned brighter, lasted longer, and was easier to carry and wear. But the oil-wick cap lamp also had several drawbacks. The flame, while brighter than a candle’s, was much smokier, and the open flame of the oil-wick lamp could ignite the flammable gasses in mines resulting in deadly explosions. The threat of explosions prompted the development on the safety lamp for use in potentially combustible mines, and the invention of the carbide lamp generally phased out the use oil-wick lamps by the 1920s.
"Mining Lights and Hats - Oil-Wick Cap Lamps" showing 72 items.
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Miner’s Cap Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- This oil-wick cap lamp was made by George Anton & Son in Monongahela, Pennsylvania during the second half of the 19th century. It has as double spout, indicating that it burned "Sunshine" fuel, a mixture of paraffin wax and 3% mineral oil produced by the Standard Oil Company. Called a "Sunshine Lamp," the outer spout served to insulate the wick in the inner spout, thereby conducting enough heat to melt the wax in the Sunshine fuel. This kind of lamp hooked onto a miner’s cap, and produced an open flame.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- AG*MHI-MN-9714
- accession number
- 299293
- catalog number
- MHI-MN-9714
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Oil-Wick Miner’s Lamp Patent Model
- Description (Brief)
- This oil-wick cap lamp is a patent model constructed by John H. Gable of Shamokin, Pennsylvania that received patent number 217,791 on July 22, 1879. Gable’s claim in the patent filing is a miner's lamp “having a rear attachment-hook, a transversely-flattened spout-burner that extends upward from the front of the body, having a small diameter in the plane of the hook, and spreading laterally to form a flame thin at the sides and broad in front.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- patentee
- Gable, John H.
- ID Number
- AG*MHI-MN-9736
- accession number
- 088881
- catalog number
- MHI-MN-9736
- patent number
- 217791
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center