Vigo County Historical Society

Lamp sheds light on old technology

Simply put, were jaded. Technology has advanced so rapidly and given us so much that we tend to take its benefits for granted.

Flip a switch; light floods the room. Stay up all night? That’s not a problem because modern lighting allows not only interiors to be as bright as day, but often exteriors, too. Yet only 100 years ago technology had just begun to push back the limits of the dark.

People always have searched for ways to produce brighter lighting that also was safe. One method was developed in England in 1825 by Thomas Drummond. He found that when an oxy-hydrogen flame was directed towards pieces of lime a brilliant incandescent light was produced. By placing a lens over the lamp’s opening, people were able to produce floodlight used at circuses, fairs, theaters and other public events. Those performing wanted to be "in the limelight."

Fire had burned in a variety of ways to create light in buildings, but from the 1850s until the beginning of the 1920s, when Thomas Alva Edison’s "bottled sunshine" was found in all new homes, one source of lighting that proved popular was gas.

Gas, both natural and produced, was piped from gas companies through underground mains to the home or office. From there it ran through a smaller system of pipes laid in the walls and ceilings to either ceiling fixtures, called gasoliers, wall sconces or table lamps. Table lamps were dangerous because they required a rubber tube attached between a gas cock on the wall and the lamp, wherever it sat.

When gas first was introduced as a lighting source the flames emitted about the same amount of light as a regular candle or oil lamp. They just were a little more convenient than the older methods of lighting. One didn’t have to trim wicks or clean up blobs of dropped wax; to get light you just turned a knob and applied a flame.

Gas lighting did have problems. It was smelly, especially producer gas, which was made in a factory, often from coal. It also would make a hissing noise as it burned. If you wanted to room brightly lit the hissing could become a muted roar.

Left unattended, gas also could kill. Rooms had to be well ventilated because a tightly-sealed room would quickly use its oxygen, killing anyone in the room. Or the flame itself might die while the gas continued to flow. An unchecked, unlit gas get could create a room sized-bomb! In 1885, gas fixtures became much more efficient when a practical incandescent mantle was produced by Dr. Carl von Welsbach in Vienna. These mantles produced light 60 to 70 times brighter than a single candle flame. The mantles were improved in the 1890s and remain much the same today when used on propane camping fixtures.

Edison’s invention of the light bulb didn’t instantly kill the gas lamp industry. In fact, for a number of years fixtures were built that used both sources of illumination. At the beginning, both gas and electric companies were notorious for fluctuations in their supply.

Lights--gas and electric--would dim and brighten without being touched. Some companies only ran for set hours of the day and then shut down. The consumer then went without lights until business began again the next day. People were unsure which type of illumination, gas or electric, eventually would dominate from the 1890s until just after this century began.

Because of the uncertainty of both electricity and gas, lamp makers made fixtures that could use both. If the gas flames began to die down, just switch on the electric bulbs, and vice-versa. The period from 1900 until the mid teens was the golden age of the gas-electric combination fixture but it was evident to everyone that electricity would be the light source of the future. In the early 1920s, gas light fixtures still were offered in stores and catalogs, but they were rare.

The fixture that is this week’s historical treasure originally was a gasolier. A spectacular piece made of cast iron and turned brass, it is original to the house, the only fixture left that is original.

Modified to use electricity, it has been slightly changed. The gas valves now are gone, and the fixture has been shortened by about two feet. The glass shades are not original. The first shades would have had a large opening at the top to allow the gas to burn without breaking the glass.

Flip a switch, light the room. It’s so easy now. Yet the first incandescent gas lamps also made the ease of lighting a room seem unbelievable. How far we’ve come since the days of open flames. We have to wonder: what comes next?