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[INDEX: Gasoline Gravity Lamp]

Please Help! I don't know where else to turn [INDEX: Gasoline Gravity Lamp] by Diana Marvel (dmarvel@BrandyTrust.com)
Posted: July 14, 1998 @ 00:28.
Date: Fri, 22 May 1998 11:41
Diana Marvel wrote:
Have you ever heard of a Camp meet light or a Campaign lamp. At least that is what someone said it was. I hear it could have been used for night time advertising for campaigns/whatever -or- to light an area at which to meet.
It's black and looks like a bed warmer at first. The top "pan" looking part is about 12 inches in diam and aprox 5-6 inches thick and has a fill hole at the top for oil/kero. Then there is a pipe that runs down about 2 feet, then bends and sticks straight out about 1 foot. The extension piece that sticks out has two small ornate square valves. There is a piece on the end that might have been used for reflection, but I'm not sure.
The name across the top edge of the "pan" part says:

"James H (or N) Lanrie (or Lauire) Co. New York Avenue"
1845 (printed in the middle)
Washington, Ill (around bottom edge)
I have not been to the library yet. Having no luck searching the internet, I have been everywhere. I am in the process of scanning a photo, so as to make it easier. I'm starting to get tired of typing. I'm beginning to think people think I'm nuts. Any info you can toss my way would be greatly appreciated.
PS. I know now that oil/kero was not used until 1850's and prior to that whale oil was used. Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree, but everywhere I have turned has been a dead-end. Arrghh ! Any direction you can point me in would be appreciated. Thanks, Diana

Additional Information; Posted May 23, 1998 dmarvel@BrandyTrust.com wrote:
Thanks for the reply. I have literally sent out 100+ e-mails with little help/response. I just received a response yesterday from someone that thinks he has one similar. He said if it was like the one he has, it's gasoline. What he described was very similar. The light hangs from a nail/hook on the wall and appears to be gravity fed and the valves control the flow of fuel. He said that it also works with a sponge type wick which was intended for slow distribution and fuel consumption. It appears to have a carburetor type thingy on the end where the fuel burns. When hanging, it forms sort of an "L" with a lip or "C" shape.
I found the web site very interesting and never would have found it if it had not been recommended. Look forward to contacting you again.
Thanks, Diana

On July 14, 1998 @ 00:30, Fil Graff (fgraff@comcast.net) wrote:

Guild Response
Diana: OK, I've saved both letters, but will wait for the photo to post them on the Q&A Page.
What you have DOES sound like the wall hanging version of a gasoline gravity lamp (the "frying pan" font is the giveaway), although the manufacturer/sales agent name isn't familiar. These lamps were usually made to convert gasoline into a gas that burned just like "city gas", and used a mantle, not a wick! When you do your photo, get a closeup of the "carbuerator"...that may well be the gas burner and mantle support.
:: Fil Graff ::
On July 14, 1998 @ 00:35, Diana Marvel (dmarvel@BrandyTrust.com) wrote:

Further Questions
dmarvel@BrandyTrust.com wrote [5/26/98]:
Thanks sooooo much. Can you tell me the difference between a mantle & a wick, so I will know what to look for on the lamp. I'm not too "up" on lantern parts. I am however an avid antique freak (for lack of a better word) that was dragged everywhere by my grandparents and my mom. Since marriage, I have driven my husband into it as well, and boy is he getting an education! Since I grew-up on a farm and my grandfather was a rail road (PA) mechanic, I'm sort of a mechanically inclined tool freak. With my husband in the construction business, this works well. I have several RR lanterns that I treasure and with which I will never part. I pride myself in finding "gadgets", (so to speak) and explaining to my husband & boys what they were used for, sort of a cramming session like I used to get (ha ha). I look forward to talking to you soon.
Thanks ! Diana
- On July 14, 1998 @ 00:36, Fil Graff (fgraff@comcast.net) wrote:
  
  Guild Answer
  Diana: A WICK is a woven cloth strip (you know, the every day "wick", like candles (round and string-like) or regular kerosene lamps (flat ranging from 1/2 to 2' wide) to pull fuel from a font to where it is burned. A MANTLE is the bag of ash suspended on a frame of some sort (upright or inverted...ie: the mantle is "up" or "down" facing) that is made of a material soaked in several reare earth minerals that glows ("incandesces") when exposed to the high temperatures (1500 to 2200 deg F.) produced by a Bunsen flame (remember the old chem lab "Bunsen Burner"? It's the blue intensely hot flame of that impliment, giving much HEAT and little if any LIGHT). Most familiar MANTLE is the bag mantle on a Coleman Lantern, or on the lamps inhouses with "city gas" lighting.
  :: "Professor" Fil ::