Miner's Cap Lamp
Miner's Cap Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- This oil-wick mining lamp would have been in use from around 1850-1920. 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.
- Object Name
- lamp, oil, cap, mining
- mining lamp
- Measurements
- overall: 3 in x 3 3/4 in x 2 in; 7.62 cm x 9.525 cm x 5.08 cm
- ID Number
- AG.MHI-MN-7725
- catalog number
- MHI-MN-7725
- accession number
- 235036
- Credit Line
- William Henderson
- See more items in
- Work and Industry: Mining
- Mining Lamps
- Work
- Industry & Manufacturing
- Natural Resources
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.
If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.
Note: Comment submission is temporarily unavailable while we make improvements to the site. We apologize for the interruption. If you have a question relating to the museum's collections, please first check our Collections FAQ. If you require a personal response, please use our Contact page.