For many years, kerosene lamps have brought light to homes. Lviv pharmacists invented them. They lived in the last century. These lamps then gained real popularity. What can I say, the first surgical operation was carried out under their illumination. Everything changed, of course, when the era of electricity began. The history of the creation of a kerosene lamp for children and adults will be told further.
Candle as the only source of light
As the story of the appearance of a kerosene lamp for children tells, its first prototype was the "oil lamp". This apparatus was described by the famous scientist, physician, 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, mankind actively used candles. Initially, to illuminate an apartment or street, peoplebought tallow candles. After some time, wax appeared, and then - stearin and paraffin. In this evolution, the end point was the spermaceti suppository. It burned much longer than the previous ones. It also gave less smoke and soot. However, sometimes these light sources have caused serious fires.
Fortunately, the advent of oil lamps has eliminated some of these problems.
Oil lamps
The first oil lamps originated in the early nineteenth century in Europe. First they appeared in France, then in Germany. Then the wave of distribution of such lamps reached the coast of North America.
Note that animal and vegetable fats were used in these devices for lighting. But the wick did not absorb them very well. Then, for these purposes, the fat container was placed a little higher, under the lampshade itself.
Craftsmen continued to upgrade the design. So, they moved, among other things, the reservoir directly under the burner. But before that, kerosene was discovered…
Discovery of kerosene
Today, it is quite difficult to draw a line between kerosene and oil burners. Scientists claim that the first kerosene lamps date back to 1853. This story of the kerosene lamp is quite remarkable.
Pyotr Mikolyash lived in Lvov in those days. He was engaged in business and owned one of the largest city pharmacies. Two businessmen from Drohobych offered him a deal. The pharmacist buys distillate from them, and he allegedly distills it into a fairly cheap alcohol. Dealerspromised him an astronomical gain. So the deal went through.
The distillation process was carried out by a laboratory assistant of a Lvov businessman, whose name was Jan Zeh. It was he, together with his colleague Ignatius Lukasevich, who began to spend the night and day in the laboratory, experimenting with petroleum products.
After some time, the discoverers managed to get kerosene. They began to use this liquid just in a modernized oil burner. As a result, the first kerosene lamp illuminated the window of their employer's pharmacy. By the way, the place was called "Under the Star".
Zeha Firm
The story of the kerosene lamp continued. The laboratory assistant Zeh was more than pleased with the discovery of the fuel, and the success, and the prospects. Literally right away, having quit the pharmacy, he was able to open his own shop, which offered kerosene to potential buyers. In just one year, his small firm managed to sell about sixty tons of this fuel! This fuel was mainly intended for lighting Lviv streets.
However, in 1858 Zeha's warehouse exploded. Firefighters arrived at the scene in time. But there was no one left to save. The wife of the businessman and his sister died in the fire. After that, the inventor completely curtailed a promising project. He returned to his pharmacy business again.
Lukasiewicz Enterprise
Lukasiewicz also benefited from his invention. According to the history of the kerosene lamp, inIn 1856, he managed to organize oil production near the city of Jaslo. After that, he erected a number of installations for the purpose 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. "brotherly box office". From each salary, the workers had to contribute a small amount to her fund. Thus, these funds were used to treat the sick and support orphans and widows. Not only that, thanks to the fund, 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 assign scholarships to talented artisans and help in the construction of roads in the region. It is not surprising that in 1866 he was elected to the regional Galician Seim. In this field, he continued to develop 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. This production was taken up by a Viennese company called Ditmar. 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, the Lviv innovators failed to patent theirinvention.
It is curious that when the Austrian counterparts began to be sold in their homeland, in Lvov, they were called exclusively "Viennese".
By the way, the very first instance 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, lighting with kerosene began to spread with enviable speed. Moreover, the indicators of the volume of oil grew, kerosene was available and cheap. Well, in the end, some spare parts for kerosene lamps began to be mass-produced in many enterprises. Also began to appear like mushrooms after the rain, the corresponding workshops. Lampshades, burners, lamp glasses were produced separately. In a word, exactly what failed most often.
In addition, the craftsmen began to change not only the materials for making, but also the technique of decorating with decor. There were lamps made of gold, glass, porcelain. Actually, we althy people decorated with such lamps. As for ordinary peasants, they also used them. But cast iron, iron, and even wood served as materials.
Thus, towards the end of the nineteenth century, a number of large factories flourished, producing kerosene burners and parts for them. But the decorations for them were produced by well-known Meissen and Sevres porcelain enterprises. The kerosene lanterns of Zech and Lukasiewicz, in fact, conquered the whole world for a long time. Moreover, it is not only aboutcities, but also remote villages. True, such lamps, of course, had their obvious drawbacks. So, at the end of the 19th century, there was a colossal fire in Chicago. They say the fire was in the barn. The reason is a kerosene lamp broken by a cow.
New era
At the same time, kerosene burners had more than a serious competitor. It's about electricity. Although such lighting could already compete with everyone. It also competed with carbide, gas…
From such an active offensive, kerosene lamps first of all tried to defend themselves by adding stearin candles. Another means was the so-called. Auer mesh. In fact, it was a kind of similarity, borrowed from the design of gas jets. In the first case, the light intensity of ordinary kerosene lanterns began to amount to tens of candles. And when they began to apply this "Auer grid", 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 console themselves with 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 history of the kerosene lamp. One need only add that in the twentieth century the kerosene lamp continued todevelop. Innovators have created completely new modifications of 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 finally supplanted all the previous ones. Although then electricity appeared far from everywhere. Therefore, kerosene lamps served humanity for quite some time…
