O.T Gas lighting in early lifts

My granny who lived in a top floor "flat" in Highgate in the early 50's had gas lighting. I remember noticing the cream mantle on a wall mounted light, positioned between the two windows of her living room. She had a range in the kitchen and there was sink on the landing down the first flight of stairs. I don't remember the lavatory. My grandad had been killed in WW1 and she never remarried. Looking at old photographs from around 1900 of workshops there were gaspipes running everywhere across the room, sometimes feeding work lights positioned about 8 feet over the benches where all of the employees were working standing up. .

michael adams

...

And what do you suggest the OP does with the fully functioning Campingaz lanterns he's been using for years and the stock of Campingaz refills with an indefinte shelf life he possibly bought at a sale some time ago ?

Put them on eBay or give them to a charity shop ?

You don't give backdated share tips as well, by any chance, do you Rod ?

michael adams

...

instead.

Keep 'em as there is no bettery LED light that comes anywhere near the performance of a gas lantern. 800+ lm of nice quality omni directional light for 5 or 6 hours from an energy source that can sit on a shelf for decades without any reduction in energy available.

they had clockwork mechanisms but still required a ? winder upper? every so often. Although the main part of the pillar was cast iron they were fitted with a projecting bar just below the shade for the ladder to be propped on. I guess this must have been steel as inevitably most of the street lights acquired a rope or even a swing.

Berlin still has lots of gas street lights, thousands, apparently. Automatic lighting at dark, cutoff if the mantle breaks, etc.

Thomas Prufer

During the 1970s power cuts (electric workers and miners) all the candles ran out so I had to buy ones imported from Germany. After that I bought a Campingaz lamp and cooker thing. I never needed them, and left them behind somewhere. I still have the German candles somewhere.

There's not really any point in preparing for exigencies that may never happen, and that includes the dreaded 'self isolation'. It'll never work, as the Italians will discover. (Most) humans are much too gregarious.

That'll be why I used 'em twice if not three times in the last 5 years then.

There was an article in a local paper re a family who?d self isolated for all of a few days following returning from holiday in Italy. They were whining already how bad it was and they weren?t ill, just supposedly waiting for test results. Imagine if Boris decides people should observe an extended curfew. The first thing that will happen is someone will challenge it screaming ?human rights?, next will come demands for freebies/compensation etc. , exemptions for certain groups (no, I don?t mean the ones which should be exempt like medical staff etc) .......

should mediacl staff be exempt? I read in today's Times that a surgeon, who hoildayed in Italy has got the didease. How many patients has he infected - letab lone other medical staff?

Who will man the hospitals etc?

So it was all the electric workers and miners fault, for going back to work too early, then ?

They could never really win, could they ? No matter what they did.

Stay out and they brought the country to a halt.

Or go back to work and leave people such as yourself lumbered with useless Campingaz gear.

michael adams

...

Yes. I was very annoyed when I knocked mine off a shelf last year and broke it. The cylinder still had plenty of gas left since it was last used on 16 October 1987.

A Tilley lamp is better in terms of light output (I believe around

I've even seen fisherman warm up things like pies and pasties wrapped in foil by placing them on top of a Tilley lamp- they get darn hot. You can certainly warm your hands while night fishing on a cold beach with one.

I think Coleman do a petrol (well Coleman Fuel) version but I've never tried one. They don't need the meths to start them. I'd imagine they are excellent, I've used a Coleman stove and they certainly are. Unfortunately, someone else thought so and decided they wanted mine....

Mine got broken some years ago. I think it was a Coleman. It was designed to run off paraffin or (very conveniently) unleaded petrol.

SteveW

It was a common the way of producing light on horse drawn carriages and motor vehicles up to the 1930's. That includes motorcycles. The carbide hydrogen gas generator was a cylinder held on the handlebars by a bracket. It had with an upper tank containing the water and lower space with the carbide. A metering valve in the bottom of the water tank, operated by a knob on the top of the tank could be opened and set to drip water on to the carbide to produce hydrogen. Rubber hoses conducted the hydrogen to the headlamp and tail lamp. As it was burnt as fast as it was made, the amount of hydrogen in the system when in operation wouldn't fill the cap of an aerosol can and was under very little pressure.

Acetylene, not hydrogen. A hydrogen flame would be pretty useless for illumination.

Tim

No it was Acetylene (which burns with a bright yellow flame) not hydrogen (which burns with a clear very pale blue flame)

Just saying

Avpx

I still have two Aladdin lamps easy to light and just as bright as camping gas or tilley lamp also have two of them all from a time where we were so hard up with a huge jump in mortgage rates we had the electricity disconnected

I assume you mean the type with mantles? I've never owned one but I've seen a similar lamp working. I understand they are prone to sooting of the mantle if the flame isn't correctly adjusted- as are Tilley lamps but, the 'sweet spot' is more obvious with the latter, once you've found it a few times.

Yes. I've used those when visiting the Ice Caves near Salzburg.

SteveW