Open Pottery Lamp
Open Pottery Lamp
Usage conditions apply
- Description
- This is an open clay lamp with rolled sides and a flat bottom to prevent any fuel spilling. The wick can be seen inside the lamp. The center of the lamp would have been filled with oil, with the wick running from the spout down into the font.
- Electric cap lamp inventor Grant Wheat’s personal collection of mining lamps was donated to the museum in 1962. Many of these objects were depicted in his “Story of Underground Lighting” published in the “Proceedings of the Illinois Mining Institute” in 1945. This lamp is fourth in his chronological development of underground lighting which he describes as a “pottery lamp with sides rolled in to provide an outlet for the wick and prevent spillage. Following this came the complete covering of the top of the vessel which left a hole for the wick and one for replenishing with olive oil.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- lamp, pottery
- Measurements
- overall: 2 in x 3 1/2 in x 4 1/2 in; 5.08 cm x 8.89 cm x 11.43 cm
- ID Number
- AG.MHI-MN-8170
- accession number
- 239148
- catalog number
- MHI-MN-8170
- Credit Line
- Mary R. Wheat
- See more items in
- Work and Industry: Mining
- Work
- Industry & Manufacturing
- Grant Wheat Collection
- Mining Lamps
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
Nominate this object for photography.
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.
