It's sort of a way of telling time. Fill the font of an Aladdin mantle lamp, it should burn for about eight hours.



I'd be happy to describe these things for anyone who wants to know.

 

Without the shade as it was warming up...

 

We had such a lamp when I was a kid. I always got excited when the power went out so we could use it. We called it a hurricane lamp.

 

Hurricane lamps just had a flat wick, we had a couple when I was kid and they'd get used when the power went out.



The @SkunkPrince one has a mantle (cloth of some sort) and works on the heating and vapourisation of the kerosine and gives a much brighter light.

I think. It's been a long time since I used either style.

 

You're right, ours had the flat wick, but was fancier than the lantern type you showed.

 

On a family farm, before electricity, telephone, natural gas, running water, and indoor plumbing, that was how my family lit their homes. That was about 75 years ago.

 

The Aladdin lamp uses a thoriated mantle as does the gas lantern, except the Aladdin has a round wick much like a more common oil lamp and does indeed burn kerosene, while a gas lantern such as the Coleman uses white gasoline, white meaning unleaded. This term "gasoline" is used loosely, it is not the same as what you put in your lawn mower.

 

Naphtha?

 

Some quick research suggests yes, with the constituents having between five and nine carbon atoms... pentane to nonane.

"Naptha" appears to be a category of petroleum distallates generally consisting of one or more of the above "-anes".

 

Still use these camping @JimInOz “hell of a lot cheaper than batteries”

 

With LEDs now, might be worth another look! I have a Rayovac lantern with the giant-ass 6V battery, replaced the incandescent with LED, and it might well be a wash for cost.

 

I use these all the time when we spend time outside.


The oil hurricane lamp on the end I use with lavender or citronella oil in the summer to keep the bugs away.



This one has lived on my front porch for 19 years- still use it when we do summer nights on the front porch.

 

Vintage Adams and Westlake (Adlake) railroad lantern, marked for the Chicago and Norh Western Railway.* Burns K1, but never indoors... you will regret it to your dying day, which might easily be that night.

* My mother would take the Chicago and North Western's Peninsula 400 from Milwaukee WI to Menominee MI; she came to Milwaukee after high school graduation to get a job. She worked as a secretary at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, where she met my father.

 

less bugs where I live with old style lanterns. Tried LEDs and they attract too many bugs. ( Northern Australia you don’t want the amount of bugs a LED will bring ) Do have good LED flashlights and LEDs in the boat....
Do spend a few weeks in remote places at a time....

 

That is indeed a point! Those very LEDs are used in bug zappers because they attract bugs. Jw above said they use citronella in some of the lanterns to keep the bugs away...

 

Citronella is the biggest con for insect repellent.
Mrs STANDY is a entomologist and it’s proven it does the least of any repellent.

https://www.gardenmyths.com/citronella-plant-keeps-mosquitoes-away/

Above mentions about oil as well....


I use these for mozzies and midges and stand by them

 

It smells nice, and we don’t get eaten as much...so it’s doing something in the lanterns.

I used to use Deet regularly (Off Back-woods) for work. On one assignment to the southwest for 3 weeks, I applied every morning as I headed out to the rental car by the 4th day I realized that the vinyl on the door arm rest was peeling up!
Deet on my hands would also remove the painted surface from pencils....yes it works, but what the hell is that doing to us??!

 

One wonders why you didn't wash your hands after application because otherwise your daily donuts were contaminated?!

 

With public policy demanding the switch from fossil fuels and natural gas to electric powered automobiles and homes it would seem we will face power outages in the future. The infrastructure has not developed the ability to generate and save that much electricity and there isn't enough copper for all the electric automobile engines. Maybe to benefit all of us, create a section on lamps we can use indoors for future power outages.

 

Middle of the desert with no civilization nearby- water is more valuable for consumption than for hygiene.