As things turned out, of course, the China factory was the only one to survive. The Dietz company went on to produce millions of cold blast kerosene lanterns, eventually starting production in China in 1957-at the time more in an effort to capture developing-world sales than to save production costs. While Dietz makes a retro hot blast model, virtually all hurricane lanterns you find today are of the cold blast type. Another happy characteristic of the cold blast style is that if the lantern is tipped over, the flame extinguishes itself, an enormous benefit in safety. In a cold blast lantern, the hot air rising from the flame, which is depleted in oxygen, is vented away from the tubes, which draw in only fresh air to feed the flame, significantly enhancing efficiency. Robert Dietz, a manufacturer of oil lamps in New York, quickly bought the rights to produce the hot blast lantern.įour years later Irwin introduced the even more revolutionary cold blast lantern, which has survived nearly unaltered to this day. These tubes returned some of the heated air from the burning wick to the base, and by providing this draft-free supply almost completely shielded the flame from gusts or movement. In 1869 a young man named John Irwin, whose father had complained about oil lamps that blew out, received a patent for the “hot blast” lantern, which employed hollow tubes arcing from the base of the burner assembly to the vented top. These lamps are referred to as “dead flame” lamps, since they rely on a simple, unchanneled supply of air. These were still susceptible to gusts, however. Later oil lamps incorporated perforated rings at the base of the globe, which allowed fresh air to enter at the base of the flame, creating a hotter and thus brighter light. Also, if tipped over or broken it could easily start a fire. It was a huge improvement on earlier, open-flame oil lamps with no control, which flickered with the slightest air movement, but not very bright due to poor oxygen supply, and still susceptible to gusts of wind. His lamp employed a fuel tank at the bottom, of metal or pottery, with a wick controlled by a knob, and a glass globe to provide some protection for the flame. The first moderately efficient oil lamp was invented by Francois-Pierre Aime Argand, the son of a Swiss watchmaker, in the late 1700s. It came about as a product of evolution and ingenuity. The hurricane lantern-that is, the universal style you’ll recognize that incorporates a hollow tube on each side of the glass globe, and a perforated cap above-is not the simple device most people believe. I’m referring to the classic kerosene lantern (aka hurricane lantern or storm lantern). This is a specific bit of camp lighting, however, and one we keep coming back to no matter how much we experiment with alternatives. Perhaps I need to wait a bit before actually turning on any metaphorical lights in the darkness.) (Edit: I started this piece before January 7. After a (very) leisurely holiday break, I thought I would bring in the new year with an eye-rollingly obvious metaphorical piece on camp lighting, symbolizing 2021’s new beginning in either calendar or political terms, or both if you prefer.
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