Natural light vis artificial light, a historical perspective (solar, organic, gas)

[B'ichela]

The following was a message I sent to Forest Breath. It was in reguards to lighting; use of natural light vs artificial lighting and how people managed before electric lighting became an option:

I can only agree with your observation of flat wick kerosene lamp light. I have three of them. I had a Aladdin Kerosene lamp in the past that was just great for puzzle work. Only the chimminy broke as did the mantle. I will eventually rebuild it. It drinks Kerosene like a Alchie drinks beer though! Bright as a 60 watt bulb.

The lamps are expensive though! Flat wicks are cheaper but again.... you get what you pay for.

During the early years before Electric and Gas lighting. the average family did their detailed indoor work during the daytime, near a window. Their homes had plenty of windows to let in natural light for this reason. It was with the introduction of Electric and gas lighting (mantle type) that people began to build housing with less and less windows. That also, unfortunatly, cut back on ventilation options. As you may know... Especially if cooking on a wood cookstove... You want your windows open in the summer! More air the better!

(back to current message) Given how many homes don't seem to have much natural light...what is the best way to use what natual light is available. I know of solar tubes, skylights and even mirrors. How can one easily use the natual light that is available?

In the original message she was talking about how dim the flat wick lamps are (rayo burners). How about those natural gas or propane interior lights do they work as well as the aladdin lamps do?

[arctichomesteader]

Interesting subject. I collect pre-electric lamps/lights. My favorite lamps for reading by are my Coleman table lamps (not lanterns, table lamps, they work about the same but are designed for indoor use, they haven't been made in decades). 300 candlepower of light is a lot. Here's my favorite, made in 1912 (shade is from a later Coleman lamp though):

I also have lots of kerosene lamps...the central draft lamps (round wick, air tube up the center) are the brightest without using a mantle but burn a lot of fuel. I also have an angle lamp. It hangs on a wall (they also made ceiling ones) and the burner is at an angle to eliminate the shadow from the lamp. I like reading by it too, I have it on the wall near my bed. It puts out more light than a regular flat wick lamp too though nothing near what an Aladdin will do. There's a pic of one someone else restored burning at (I don't have any pics of mine on my computer yet): Angle Lamp Repair | The Steampunk Workshop

I also have early lamps...whale oil, burning fluid, lard, grease lamps...none of which are very bright but they're adequate unless you spend long hours reading by them. Here's a few of my lamps to give an idea of what they were like; whale oil lamp circa 1840 (burning peanut oil):



Burning fluid (a rather dangerous mix of turpentine and alcohol in certain proportions...lots of people blew up lamps and burned homes down trying to make their own improperly) lamp, the burner was made about 1855, the lamp btwn. 1850 and 1860:


Lard oil lamp from 1856 (lard oil is the oil pressed out of lard under high pressure):

Candles...different types. The best were spermacetti candles, made from a hard waxy substance from the sperm whale. No longer available, obviously, unless you happen across an old one or a jar of spermacetti and make some...I burned one once, quite bright for a candle. Beeswax is the next best thing. Tallow is the worst, they drip, the wick needs constant trimming or you lose half the candle, but they can be dirt cheap if you have a source of fat to render...a few candles I made. The green is pure bayberry wax (the bushes grow wildly but it takes a lot of them to make a little wax, the wax is very brittle and tricky to get a candle just right with the right wick, etc.), the white one is tallow, the other one is beeswax:

Gas lighting...I have open flame type burners and mantle ones. Those propane/natural gas wall lights made these days are about as good as an Aladdin. Still, the open flame types are interesting. Here's an open flame type, burning wood gas:



Acetylene lamps are bright, they use calcium carbide and water to make the gas. It burns bright white. Not as good as a mantle but quite bright nonetheless. They're still available actually, though they're made in India the ones that are and quality is a bit unpredictable...my table lamp I bought from lehmans works fine, I've heard others have issues with the drippers not working right making it unsteady. The biggest downsides to acetylene are the carbide is expensive and hard to get a hold of sometimes, and there's nothing instant about it...it can take a long time for the lamp to run out of acetylene after shutting off the water control. I always dump the water out of mine when I'm done using it, I had one antique acetylene lamp malfunction and all the water ran into the carbide...a full load of carbide lost, acetylene leaking out for who knows how long...

As much as I like the various kerosene and gasoline lamps I have, I do find myself more and more attracted to the earlier lamps (and natural candles) because they can burn fuels I can supply myself from natural sources (right from my own land if need be).

[B'ichela]

Love that gas table lamp! BTW you are aware, I am sure, you can make wood gas at home? Love to have one of those. How well does it run on Propane or natural gas? How is the brightness compared to a 60 watt incandesant bulb? You has the first working gas table lamp I ever saw, in use. I am green with envy.

As for the pressure Colman lamp. that silver thing in front of the lamp itself must be the fuel pump right? I should go look for some of these for myself. I love gas chandeliers, wall sconces and table lamps.

Is the use of wood gas environmentally friendly? I know Coal gas certainly had its problems in the 19th century. I know some modern coal plants use coall gas production to cut down on toxic emissions.

[arctichomesteader]

Originally Posted by B'ichela

Love that gas table lamp! BTW you are aware, I am sure, you can make wood gas at home? Love to have one of those. How well does it run on Propane or natural gas? How is the brightness compared to a 60 watt incandesant bulb? You has the first working gas table lamp I ever saw, in use. I am green with envy.

As for the pressure Colman lamp. that silver thing in front of the lamp itself must be the fuel pump right? I should go look for some of these for myself. I love gas chandeliers, wall sconces and table lamps.

Is the use of wood gas environmentally friendly? I know Coal gas certainly had its problems in the 19th century. I know some modern coal plants use coall gas production to cut down on toxic emissions.

Yes, I made that wood gas myself. That gas hose ran outside to where I rigged up a little gasifier to experiment with. It runs just as good on propane or natural gas. I'd say it's maybe 1/3 as bright as a 60 watt bulb, but also a softer light too. Not a harsh white. The biggest problem with the open flame types is controlling the flicker. Globe size and shape has a big effect on this, a more ball shaped globe would make a steadier light than the globe I have on that one. But that burner (made in 1871, the lamp base is from the 1890's) actually has a regulator built into it which makes it steadier after it warms up for about 10 minutes. Hard burner to find though. There's more working gas lamps like this around than you might think. But you must be careful to stay safe and have all valves and such re-greased and those and any joints tested to be sure they're gas tight. One gas light (wall fixture) I have actually had a gas tube inside it split so that had to be fixed, not something you'd expect to find). Wood gas is very poisonous if you breathe it in unburnt because a large part of the gas is carbon monoxide (safe when it burns, not safe to breathe in). Propane and natural gas aren't really toxic but obviously gas leaks are not safe. As far as the environment and wood gas goes...depends on how you handle the byproduct which is a tar like substance, rather toxic. It is quite flammable and could be burned with the fuel (wood or charcoal) in the gasifier to heat another batch of wood and make gas, or, if you're ambitious, you could refine it into something else. Coal gas was quite a dirty process (I'd say more toxic than wood gasification) and early on in the 19th century they just dumped the coal tar into rivers, lakes or the ground, quite bad obviously. Later the coal tar was refined into fuels and chemicals (such as coal oil, before kerosene from crude oil became more popular). How clean the gasifier burns obviously depends on how well designed it is. So, basically, wood gas can be quite environmentally friendly, or it could be very unfriendly. It depends on how everything is built and done and handled.

That's an air pump in front of the Coleman lamp. The early lamps and lanterns did not have built in air pumps to pressurize the fuel tank. There's a little valve you open and hold the tip of the pump to tightly to pump air in, then close. Air can go in but not out while it's open if it works correctly (sometimes they get dirty and don't work right anymore...). That table lamp is an early one that takes an alcohol torch to pre-heat the burner for it to light. If you get one for use I'd get a later one, either a quicklite (just takes a couple matches to preheat it) or an instant lighting one. This site (not mine but it's the best out there I think) shows the various lamps and lanterns made (many other brands too, but the Coleman lamps were probably the best made which is why they lasted and the others didn't): Gas Pressure Lanterns, Lamps, Stoves, and Irons

[B'ichela]

Is there anyway to practicallly make wood gas without the Carbon Monoxide? Carbon Monoxide is flammable. Since you are using it for illuminating gas that should not pose a problem, as long as... your burner doesn't go out!

I do know that early Coal gas users would sometimes be aphyixiated by their illuminating gas. Never mind the occasional BOOM! as coal gas doesn't have a smell and it could be flowing from a gas lamp that was left open and unlit.

How do you make wood gas? How long do you get on a full tank of the stuff?

I ask as I have lots of wood laying around here.

while we are on the subject of making your own illuminating gas... how was Coal gas made. Similar process in a gasifier?

I wonder if one took grass clippings and other organic mater and put it into a gasifier if it could also make useful fuel that postibly could be distilled to make ethanol. and illuminating gas.

If you rather email me the details, just PM me, I don't want to get vec101 upset.

[arctichomesteader]

Originally Posted by B'ichela

Is there anyway to practicallly make wood gas without the Carbon Monoxide? Carbon Monoxide is flammable. Since you are using it for illuminating gas that should not pose a problem, as long as... your burner doesn't go out!

I do know that early Coal gas users would sometimes be aphyixiated by their illuminating gas. Never mind the occasional BOOM! as coal gas doesn't have a smell and it could be flowing from a gas lamp that was left open and unlit.

How do you make wood gas? How long do you get on a full tank of the stuff?

I ask as I have lots of wood laying around here.

while we are on the subject of making your own illuminating gas... how was Coal gas made. Similar process in a gasifier?

I wonder if one took grass clippings and other organic mater and put it into a gasifier if it could also make useful fuel that postibly could be distilled to make ethanol. and illuminating gas.

If you rather email me the details, just PM me, I don't want to get vec101 upset.

I'm not aware of any easy method to eliminate the carbon monoxide. I'd just have a gas valve outside that could be shut off when the gas isn't being used, and similarly, valves to shut off the gas to each room not using it. That was commonly done with coal gas in the 1800's to make it safer.

The way it's made is fairly simple...the easiest method, the oldest, is to pack wood in an airtight container, and heat it up very hot over a charcoal fire. Initially steam and oxygen remaining in the container will come out, release that. Then gas starts coming out. You want to be sure all the oxygen is purged from the gasifier so let the gas come out a bit before saving the gas or burning it (but avoid breathing it in). Or else it could explode if there's oxygen left in the gasifier. Storing it is the hard part. One cheap way is to use large (truck or tractor) tire innertubes as gas bladders, with plywood over top and a weight to keep it pressurized as the gas runs down when it's used. The rubber may not hold up long to use though.

What you describe would possibly work better in a biogas device. Basically, fresh animal manure and other organic matter mixed in is decomposed in an airtight container (digester), making biogas, very similar to natural gas. But, it's not great for lighting unless you use a mantle since it doesn't have the impurities in it needed to burn with a bright flame.

[B'ichela]

Thanks for the info! You answered several of my questions these are:
1. How to make wood gas
2. Biogas doesn't work well without mantles
3. wood gas could be stored with some effort

Now the one you didn't answer. Is Coal Gas made the same as wood gas?

Lastly should the wood for the gasifier be in chips or can you use whole pieces of split wood?

[arctichomesteader]

Coal gas is made the same way, substituting coal for the wood. Sorry I forgot to answer that.

You can pack it in better chipped but whole wood works too.

[thecoalman]

That coleman lamp is interesting but I'd imagine it makes a lot of noise? The lard lamps are familiar as I have modern version for camping. It comes in plastic container about the size of a soda can. When you take it out the glass completey encases everthing, you slide the glass up and the legs expand. Must hold about 4 or 5 .oz of fuel. The burn time is easily 24 hours maybe as long as 48. It provides a little light but the reason we used them was for inside the tent. That little bit of flame went a long way in keeping moisture at bay and providing a little heat. When it's 0 out it makes a difference.

As far as the CO it's created any time you burn things, CO poisoning usually results from a malfunctioning heating appliance (or whatever you have burning) because it will increase with incomplete burn of the fuel. It's odorless, colorless, and tasteless and since it's specific gravity is almost identical to that of air it will flow with the natural air currents inside a home. Usually by the time people realize something is wrong it's too late. You can be overcome quite quickly. People have made it out of their houses in a lot of cases only to die, it bonds to your hemoglobin preventing oxygen and your body starves for oxygen. Emergency personnel can do very little to help.

As far as the houses go I live in a neighborhood that was built before the turn of the last century and all the houses here have huge windows and plenty of them. There's probably a window about every ten feet and they start about knee high and go almost to the ceiling.

It wasn't just houses that tried to use natural light but industry as well. The coal breakers of Northeastern Pennsylvania are a prime example. Here's the "Huber" circa 1940ish




This FYI is the last one standing of that era out of hundreds. They are trying to make it museum.

Huber Breaker Preservation Society

[arctichomesteader]

It does hiss like a coleman lantern but after a while you don't even notice it...