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Traditional Oil Lamp
They were in the background, while I was growing up.
Mother would service them occasionally. She would take the lamps apart. The base of each lamp contained an oil reservoir. She would fill each lamp base with oil.
The glass lamp chimney was a clear tapered cylinder. Each time the lamp was used, the glass chimney would be covered on the inside with a thin layer of soot.
The soot was extremely black,and would greatly reduce the
amount of light the lamp would give out.
From time to time my mother would wash the glass chimneys in a sink of warm soapy water. When clean, she wipe them
dry with a tea towel. These lamps were used as a low tech light source back up, during a power outage. Sometimes the power could be off for half the night. The lamps gave off a ghostly aura. The light had an ethereal quality. The glow was feeble. Not
robust like an incandescent glare. Any breeze made the light flicker. The good part was it would last through the hours of darkness. Lighting the lamp was done as like this:
The glass chimney was removed from the lamp base. The wick adjustment wheel was turned to raise the woven cotton wick. It was raised about a quarter of an inch above the wick adjustment assembly. A match or lighter, brought flame to the wick. The wick sucked up the oil from the reservoir.
The flame started out as sputtering feeble thing. Then it grew tall. A long thread of black, sooty, smoke would rise off the top of the yellow flame. The wick adjustment wheel above the lamp base, was turned to lower the wick to a position were the light was bright, but the smoke was minimal. In practice this involved a bit of trial and error. Several up and down adjustments of the wick were needed to get the ideal flame height.
Then the glass chimney was delicately inserted between the holding forks, mounted on the wick adjustment assembly. When the power came back on the flame in the lamp was put out. This was done with a puff of forceful air from the mouth. The blast of air was directed down the glass chimney of the lamp. Blowing out the flame, left behind an aroma of oil filled smoke. The departure of the flame, unleashed an acrid haunting, essence in the room. The lamp became a specter in the present, from an era long passed. |
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Evocative not only of an era long passed, but also of a childhood also, sadly, long passed.
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May, 2012
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