Design and Components
– Argand lamp had a sleeve-shaped wick
– Wick allowed air to pass through the center and around the outside
– Cylindrical chimney steadied the flame and improved airflow
– Early models used ground glass, sometimes tinted around the wick
– Lamp used whale oil, seal oil, colza, olive oil, or other vegetable oil as fuel
Advantages and Disadvantages
– Argand arrangement required the oil reservoir to be above the burner
– This made the lamps top heavy and cast a shadow in one direction
– Carcel lamp and Moderator lamp avoided these problems
– Same principle used for cooking and boiling water
– Strongest heat without smoke
History
– Argand lamp introduced to Thomas Jefferson in Paris in 1784
– Jefferson claimed it gave off a light equal to six or eight candles
– Initially adopted by the well-to-do, then spread to middle and lower classes
– Popular in America, manufactured in various decorative forms
– Used as theatrical footlights until the introduction of kerosene lamps
Related Inventions
– Bude-Light: a bright vegetable oil lamp with oxygen introduced into the center of an Argand burner
– Lewis lamp
– Astral lamp, an Argand lamp designed without a separate shadow-casting reservoir
References
– Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition (2011)
– Encyclopædia Britannica, 6th ed. 1823
– Thomas Webster, An Encyclopędia of Domestic Economy: Comprising Such Subjects As Are Most Immediately Connected with Housekeeping (1844)
– John E. Crowley, The Invention of Comfort: Sensibilities & Design in Early Modern Britain & Early America (2000)
– Hollis Koons McCullough, Telfair Museum of Art: Collection Highlights (2005) Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argand_lamp
The Argand lamp is a type of oil lamp invented in 1780 by Aimé Argand. Its output is 6 to 10 candelas, brighter than that of earlier lamps. Its more complete combustion of the candle wick and oil than in other lamps required much less frequent trimming of the wick.
In France, the lamp is called "Quinquet", after Antoine-Arnoult Quinquet, a pharmacist in Paris, who used the idea originated by Argand and popularized it in France. Quinquet sometimes is credited with the addition of the glass chimney to the lamp.