For many years, kerosene lamps carried light to homes. Invented by their Lviv pharmacists. They lived in the century before last. These lamps then gained real popularity. What can I say, the first surgical operation was carried out precisely with their coverage. Everything changed, of course, when the era of electricity began . The story of the creation of a kerosene lamp for children and adults will be described later.
Candle as the only light source
As the story of the appearance of a kerosene lamp for children tells , its first prototype was an “oil lamp”. This device was described by a famous scientist, doctor, philosopher Ar-Razi back in the ninth century. He lived in Baghdad. Unfortunately, the creation of this device did not solve the lighting problem at all, since oil lamps were not widely used.
By and large, until the nineteenth century, humanity actively used candles. Initially, in order to illuminate an apartment or a street, people acquired greasy candles. After a while, wax appeared, and then - stearic and paraffin. In this evolution, the endpoint was a spermaceti suppository. It burned much longer, unlike the previous ones. Also gave less smoke and soot. However, sometimes these light sources caused serious fires.
Fortunately, the advent of oil lamps has eliminated a number of such problems.
Oil lamps
The first oil lamps arose in the early nineteenth century in Europe. At first they appeared in France, then - in Germany. Then the wave of propagation of such lamps reached the shores of North America.
Note that in these devices for lighting used animal and vegetable fats. But the wick absorbed them very poorly. Then, for these purposes, the fat container was placed slightly higher, under the lampshade itself.
Craftsmen continued to upgrade the design. So, they moved, including the tank directly under the burner. But before that they discovered kerosene ...
The discovery of kerosene
Today it is quite difficult to draw a line between kerosene and oil burners. Scientists claim that the first kerosene lamps are dated 1853. This story of a kerosene lamp is quite remarkable.
In those days, Pyotr Mikolyash lived in Lviv. He was engaged in business and owned one of the largest city pharmacies. Two merchants from Drohobych offered him a deal. The pharmacist buys distillate from them, and he allegedly distills it into a rather cheap alcohol. Dealers promised him an astronomical gain. Thus, the deal took place.
The distillation process was carried out by the laboratory assistant of the Lviv businessman, whose name was Jan Zeh. It was he, along with his colleague, Ignatius Lukasevich, who began to spend the night and sleep in the laboratory, experimenting with petroleum products.
After some time, the discoverers managed to get kerosene. They began to use this liquid just in the modernized oil burner. As a result, the first kerosene lamp illuminated the pharmacy window of their employer. By the way, the institution was called "Under the Star."
Firm Zeha
The history of the kerosene lamp continued. Laboratory assistant Zekh was more than pleased with the discovery of fuel, and success, and prospects. Literally right away, he quit the pharmacy and was able to open his own shop, which offered potential buyers kerosene. In just one year, his small company managed to sell about sixty tons of this fuel! This fuel was mainly intended for lighting Lviv streets.
However, in 1858, an explosion occurred at Zekh's warehouse. Firefighters arrived at the scene on time. But there was no one to save. In the fire killed the wife of the entrepreneur and his sister. After that, the inventor completely curtailed a promising project. He returned to the pharmacy business.
Company Lukasevich
Lukasevich also benefited from his invention. According to the history of the kerosene lamp, in 1856 he managed to organize oil production near the city of Jaslo. After that, he erected a number of installations with the aim of distilling oil. The inventor turned out to be a very capable entrepreneur. For example, he created excellent working conditions for his employees. So, he became the organizer of the so-called "Fraternal cash desk." Workers had to deduct a small amount from each paycheck to its fund. Thus, these funds were spent on treating patients and supporting orphans and widows. Not only this, thanks to the cashier, veterans began to receive a pension, which in those days was generally an unprecedented rarity. Also, due to the turnover of products, the entrepreneur began to award scholarships to talented artisans and help in the construction of roads in the area. It is not surprising that in 1866 he was elected to the regional Galician Diet. In this field, he continued to engage in the development of the oil industry. And almost ten years later he organized the corresponding oil society.
Patent
The history of the origin of the kerosene lamp contains information that when the fame of it spread throughout the territory of neighboring states, the Austrians became seriously interested in this type of lighting. Without hesitation, they began to release it at home. A Viennese company called Ditmar took up this production. This factory then began to produce about 1000 models of such burners. The company's warehouses were located not only in the capital of Austria, but also in Trieste, Milan, Prague, Lyon, Krakow and even in Bombay. Unfortunately, Lviv rationalizers were not able to patent their invention in a timely manner.
It is curious when the Austrian analogues began to be sold in their homeland, in Lviv, they were called exclusively “Viennese”.
By the way, the very first copy of a kerosene lamp is still kept in the pharmacy-museum of Lviv (the history should be preserved for our descendants).
Kerosene revolution
Be that as it may, kerosene lighting began to spread with enviable speed. Moreover, indicators of oil volume were growing, kerosene was available and cheap. Well, in the end, some spare parts for kerosene lamps began to be mass-produced in many enterprises. Also, workshops began to appear like mushrooms after rain. Separately produced lampshades, burners, tubes. In a word, exactly what most often failed.
In addition, craftsmen began to change not only materials for manufacturing, but also the decoration technique with decor. There were lamps of gold, glass, porcelain. Actually, prosperous people decorated such lamps. As for ordinary peasants, they also used them. But the material was cast iron, iron, and even wood.
Thus, by the end of the nineteenth century, a number of large factories that produced kerosene burners and parts for them flourished. But the jewelry for them was produced by the famous Meissen and Sevres porcelain enterprises. The kerosene lanterns of Zekh and Lukasevich for a long time, in fact, conquered the whole world. Moreover, we are talking not only about cities, but also remote villages. True, such lamps, of course, had their obvious drawbacks. So, at the end of the XIX century in Chicago there was a huge fire. They say that the source of ignition was in the barn. The reason is a broken kerosene lamp.
New era
At the same time, more than a serious competitor arose in kerosene burners. It's about electricity. Although such lighting could already compete with everyone. It also competed with carbide, gas ...
Kerosene lamps were first of all tried to protect themselves from such an active attack by adding stearin suppositories. Another means has become the so-called. Auer grid. In fact, it was a kind of similarity borrowed from the design of gas horns. In the first case, the light intensity of ordinary kerosene lamps began to amount to dozens of candles. And when they started to use this “Auer net”, about 300 candles were added to the lighting effect.
Unfortunately, these innovations did not help kerosene lamps. The victorious procession of electricity became truly triumphant. It was simply impossible to stop him. Conservatives could only be comforted by the fact that the shape of the very first kerosene lamps practically copied exactly the shape of those lamps.
Instead of an epilogue
Now you know the story of a kerosene lamp. It is worth adding that in the twentieth century, a kerosene lamp continued to develop. The innovators created completely new modifications to it. Thus, additional air was supplied to the combustion zone through a through tube. However, all these efforts were in vain. For by this time the method of electric lighting had completely replaced all the previous ones. Although then electricity did not appear everywhere. Therefore, kerosene lamps have served humanity for quite some time ...