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Lamp, Camphene

Lamp, Camphene


Title	Lamp, Camphene
Coverage / Year	1840 to 1865
Description	A pewter lamp with a circular saucer shaped base, a bulbous reservoir and a semicircular handle. The double wick holders are pointed away from one another, characteristic of the camphene lamp.
Interpretation	Camphene, a combination mineral spirits and alcohol was used as a lamp fuel for a short time in the middle of the 19th century. Because whale oil was so expensive camphene was used as a replacement. Camphene was extremely volatile. If the flame from one wick heated the other wick the heat could travel back into the reservoir and explode. Thus, camphene lamps have either single wicks, or double wicks pointed away from one another. The lamp canted (pivoted on a hinge) so as not to spill when moved.
Lesson Plans / Themes	American Communities in History; Communities and Geography; How we learn about communities; Whaling Slide Show; Inventions Multimedia Time Line; School Museum; Introduction of artifacts as a primary source; What's That Relic?; Settling in the Midwest;
Learning Standards	16 History; 18 Social Systems; 13 Science, Technology and Society;
Author or Creator	Unknown
Subject / Keywords	Whale; Whales; Whale oil; Light; Lighting device; Lamps; Camphene
Collection Publisher	Early American Museum
Further Information	For any further information related to this record, please contact the Collection Publisher. See http://images.library.uiuc.edu/projects/tdc for more information about this project.
Rights Management Statement	http://images.library.uiuc.edu/projects/tdc/conditions.htm
Resource Identifier	1968.001.1122b
CONTENTdm file name	79615192422004_68.1.1122b.jpg

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