Jean Claude Bolay Popular Books

Jean Claude Bolay Biography & Facts

A kerosene lamp (also known as a paraffin lamp in some countries) is a type of lighting device that uses kerosene as a fuel. Kerosene lamps have a wick or mantle as light source, protected by a glass chimney or globe; lamps may be used on a table, or hand-held lanterns may be used for portable lighting. Like oil lamps, they are useful for lighting without electricity, such as in regions without rural electrification, in electrified areas during power outages, at campsites, and on boats. There are three types of kerosene lamp: flat-wick, central-draft (tubular round wick), and mantle lamp. Kerosene lanterns meant for portable use have a flat wick and are made in dead-flame, hot-blast, and cold-blast variants. Pressurized kerosene lamps use a gas mantle; these are known as Petromax, Tilley lamps, or Coleman lamps, among other manufacturers. They produce more light per unit of fuel than wick-type lamps, but are more complex and expensive in construction and more complex to operate. A hand-pump pressurizes air, which forces liquid fuel from a reservoir into a gas chamber. Vapor from the chamber burns, heating a mantle to incandescence and also providing heat. Kerosene lamps are widely used for lighting in rural areas of Africa and Asia, where electricity is not distributed or is too costly. As of 2005, kerosene and other fuel-based illumination methods consume an estimated 77 billion litres (20 billion US gallons) of fuel per year, equivalent to 8.0 million gigajoules (1.3 million barrels of oil equivalent) per day. This is comparable to annual U.S. jet-fuel consumption of 76 billion litres (20 billion US gallons) per year. History In 1813, John Tilley invented the hydro-pneumatic blowpipe. In 1818, William Henry Tilley, gas fitters, was manufacturing gas lamps in Stoke Newington. In 1846, Abraham Pineo Gesner invented a substitute for whale oil for lighting, distilled from coal. Later made from petroleum, kerosene became a popular lighting fuel. Modern and most popular versions of the paraffin lamp were later constructed by Polish inventor and pharmacist Ignacy Łukasiewicz, in Lviv in 1853. It was a significant improvement over lamps designed to burn vegetable or sperm oil. In 1914, the Coleman Lantern pressure lamp was introduced by the Coleman Company. In 1919, Tilley High-Pressure Gas Company started using kerosene as a fuel for lamps. Types Flat-wick lamp A flat-wick lamp is a simple type of kerosene lamp, which burns kerosene drawn up through a wick by capillary action. If this type of lamp is broken, it can easily start a fire. A flat-wick lamp has a fuel tank (fount), with the lamp burner attached. Attached to the fuel tank, four prongs hold the glass chimney, which acts to prevent the flame from being blown out and enhances a thermally induced draft. The glass chimney needs a "throat", or slight constriction, to create the proper draft for complete combustion of the fuel; the draft carries more air (oxygen) past the flame, helping to produce a smokeless light, which is brighter than an open flame would produce. The chimney is used for a more important duty. The mantle/wick holder has holes around the outer edges. When the lantern is lit and a chimney is attached, the thermally induced draft draws air through these holes and passes over the top of the mantle, just as a chimney in your house. This has a cooling effect and keeps the mantle from over heating. Without a properly installed chimney, a definite safety condition exists. This is even more important if using Aladdin lamps. They also have a thinner chimney to induce a faster air-flow. This information should be adhered to regardless of the type of lantern in use. The lamp burner has a flat wick, usually made of cotton. The lower part of the wick dips into the fount and absorbs the kerosene; the top part of the wick extends out of the wick tube of the lamp burner, which includes a wick-adjustment mechanism. Adjusting how much of the wick extends above the wick tube controls the flame. The wick tube surrounds the wick and ensures that the correct amount of air reaches the lamp burner. Adjustment is usually done by means of a small knob operating a cric, which is a toothed metal sprocket bearing against the wick. If the wick is too high, and extends beyond the burner cone at the top of the wick tube, the lamp will produce smoke and soot (unburned carbon). When the lamp is lit, the kerosene that the wick has absorbed burns and produces a clear, bright, yellow flame. As the kerosene burns, capillary action in the wick draws more kerosene up from the fuel tank. All kerosene flat-wick lamps use the dead-flame burner design, where the flame is fed cold air from below, and hot air exits above. This type of lamp was very widely used by railways, both on the front and rear of trains and for hand signals, due to its reliability. At a time when there were few competing light sources at night outside major towns, the limited brightness of these lamps was adequate and could be seen at sufficient distance to serve as a warning or signal. Central-draft (tubular round wick) lamp A central-draft lamp, or Argand lamp, works in the same manner as the flat-wick lamp. The burner is equipped with a tall glass chimney, of around 12 inches (300 mm) tall or taller, to provide the powerful draft this lamp requires to burn properly. The burner uses a wick, usually made of cotton, that is made of a wide, flat wick rolled into a tube, the seam of which is then stitched together to form the complete wick. The tubular wick is then mounted into a "carrier", which is some form of a toothed rack that engages into the gears of the wick-raising mechanism of the burner and allows the wick to be raised and lowered. The wick rides in between the inner and outer wick tubes; the inner wick tube (central draft tube) provides the "central draft" or draft that supplies air to the flame spreader. When the lamp is lit, the central draft tube supplies air to the flame spreader that spreads out the flame into a ring of fire and allows the lamp to burn cleanly. Mantle lamp A variation on the "central-draft" lamp is the mantle lamp. The mantle is a roughly pear-shaped mesh made of fabric placed over the burner. The mantle typically contains thorium or other rare-earth salts; on first use the cloth burns away, and the rare-earth salts are converted to oxides, leaving a very fragile structure, which incandesces (glows brightly) upon exposure to the heat of the burner flame. Mantle lamps are considerably brighter than flat- or round-wick lamps, produce a whiter light and generate more heat. Mantle lamps typically use fuel faster than a flat-wick lamp, but slower than a center-draft round-wick, as they depend on a small flame heating a mantle, rather than having all the light coming from the flame itself. Mantle lamps are nearly always bright enough to benefit from a lampshade, and a few mantle lamps may be enough to heat a small building.... Discover the Jean Claude Bolay popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Jean Claude Bolay books.