Lamp/Lantern terminology
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Lamp/Lantern terminology
by Robert and Beverley Isdale (Australia) (robev@zip.com.au)
Posted: October 14, 1998 @ 10:03.
Greetings Fil, Many thanks for your reply, the copies of the
Radiolite LANTERN sales brochure, and your appreciated comments.
Well, the benefits of international communication are abundantly
obvious already! Are there defintion guidelines for lamp / lantern
terminology? When I read through the internet pages on this subject,
I occasionally find a reference to a specific part of a lamp /
lantern, where I am not entirely certain which part is being
discussed. Would the Guild be interested in compiling a dictionary of
terms? Beginners would love it, and it would certainly overcome
parochial/regional idiomatic differences.
For instance - naphtha!
Your description sounds like the product that I know as Shellite, or
do you have a product called Shellite, as well as one called
naphtha?
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On October 14, 1998 @ 10:15, Fil Graff, Guild Secretary (fgraff@comcast.net) wrote:
'Ey Mates!: The "Dictionary" idea is superb! I'll gte started on
one, and contact the other specialist p[ages to see if a single
dictionary could appear on each page, or at least have a common link
to all almping pages! Great idea!!! I'll post the suggestion as a
QUESTION on the Q&A Page.
On terms like "Naphtha": it is an
accepted CHEMICAL name, where "Shellite" is a brand name! There are
lots of differences in "generic" terms between the "Old Country,
Mother England" and us upstarts in the "former" Colonies. Not the
least of which are the various common terms for lamp fuels:
"paraffin" is UK, "Kerosene" is US; "Petrol" is UK, "Gasoline" is US;
"Spirits", or "methylated spirits" is UK and Europe, "Alcohol" or
"rubbing alcohol" is US ("Spirits" here is grain alcohol, the
drinkable form.) But the petroleum distillate NAPHTHA is just that
everywhere, I think. Look on the can of Shellite, and see if it
doesn't say Naphtha as (one of) the content(s).