Paraffin lamps with glass chimneys (or kero-seen lamps in America) or hurricane lanterns (hurricane lamps, ditto) in such productions invariably have the glass coated with a thick layer of soot, so that only a dim glimmer of light penetrates. The wick is usually turned up too far as well, so that what light there is flickers crazily.
Paraffin or oil lamps with chimneys need to have the wick trimmed so it burns evenly when it's lit, and when the chimney is lowered into place, the wick must be turned down immediately, before it covers the glass with soot, because the increased draught produced by the chimney causes the flame to burn higher, producing more smoke.
Incidentally, the crops of rape which blanket the countryside, burning the retina with its violent yellow blossom and assaulting the nose with its glutinous aroma, nowadays in pursuit of EU subsidies for the benefit of the processed food and biofuel industries, and looking so alien and out of place in the landscape, were, surprisingly, previously a feature of the Victorian countryside.
Before the oil and petrochemical industries existed, fuel for lamps was extracted from rape seed, known as colza oil (from the Dutch/German for 'cabbage seed', rape being a member of the brassica or cabbage family), and whale blubber, known as train oil (from the Dutch/German for 'tear', from the way blubber 'weeps' oil when heated).
No comments:
Post a Comment