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Lamp, Camphene
Lamp, Camphene
TitleLamp, Camphene
Coverage / Year1840 to 1865
DescriptionA red "japanned" lamp with a saucer base, a circular handle, a tall cone shaped reservoir body and two splayed wick channels as is typical of a camphene lamp.
InterpretationCamphene, 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.
Lesson Plans / ThemesAmerican 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 Standards16 History; 18 Social Systems; 13 Science, Technology and Society;
Author or CreatorUnknown
Subject / KeywordsWhale oil; Whale; Whaling; Miners; Lighting device; Light; Camphene;
Collection PublisherEarly American Museum
Further InformationFor 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 Statementhttp://images.library.uiuc.edu/projects/tdc/conditions.htm
Resource Identifier1968.001.1212
CONTENTdm file name75013172422004_68.1.1212.jpg
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