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Oil Lamps in Back Cabins


LindisfarneOneDay

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I'm currently obsessing myself on eBay looking at oil lamps to go into the back cabin of my (dream) boat.

Were there any popular/favourite makes & models of oil lamps that boatmen would use?

Were lamps ever issued to boatmen or fitted as standard in cabins?

Or have I just bought a ticket to Nostalgiaworld?

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I bought one a few years back from Evelyn Booth, Lockside antiques - clicky, at the time

she had a choice of three, and yes the mounting brackets were converted piano

sconces.

 

Whilst an aladdin mantle lamp gives a much brighter and whiter light, I'm not sure

how well the mantle would cope with life on a boat.

 

springy

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It will Not, I repeat NOT, I repeat NOT have a B*w Thr***er.

Ever.

Have you seen this month's comics... a 35 footer with a bow t**ust** ?

WHATTT???

 

Where are my tablets?

 

I think I've finished your tablets after having the same reaction as you to a bowthruster in a 35' boat intended for rivers...

 

Richard

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I'm currently obsessing myself on eBay looking at oil lamps to go into the back cabin of my (dream) boat.

Were there any popular/favourite makes & models of oil lamps that boatmen would use?

Were lamps ever issued to boatmen or fitted as standard in cabins?

Or have I just bought a ticket to Nostalgiaworld?

The type of lamp most commonly fitted to back cabins was a brass bracket lamp with either a fixed or drop in fount. (type "boatmans cabin" into Google image search you will find a few pictures if you trawl down).They would almost certainly have been a single or double flat wick type rather than a tubular cental draught buurner such as Aladdin. The Aladdin lamps were considerably more expensive than simple 1" slip lamps, and the cost of replacing both the wicks and mantles would have been prohibitive when compared to the cost of a sinple flat wick, which could be bought by the inch in any hardware shop. This equally true today as all Aladdin spares are now produced only in the U.S. and have to be imported making them very expensive.

 

Traditional brass bracket lamps are like hen's teeth these days, and finding one complete is quite a challenge. Christopher Wray used to sell a modern reproduction, however I camnnot find any oil lamps on their current web catalogue, it might be worth giving your local branch a phone call. I have looked up all the suppliers of reproduction lamps known to me but as yet have not come across any bracket lamps. I have found a few gimble lamps but they were normally fitted to sea going vessels rather than Narrowboats and bear very little physical resemblence to traditional bracket lamps.

 

Piano Sconces have been suggested, but you still need to find a basket and fount to complete it. Sconces were originally designed to accomodate candles and are usually insufficiently strong enough to carry the weight of a normal oil lamp full of paraffin. Some enterprising manufacturers did produce small glass peg lamps to fit sconces, but they are even rarer than bracket lamps and are so small that they will last less than a couple of hours before they need re-filling.

 

As far as finding a suitable lamp. I would suggest trawling local flea markets and antique fairs, but take someone who understands oil lamps with you, most general dealers do not understand them and will be quite happy to sell you a lamp which is either incomplete, does not work, or for which you cannot obtain spares. To guarantee the availability of spares you need to look for single wick Slip burners, Twin wick Duplex burners, or Tubular wick Kosmos burners. These names hardly ever appear on the burner itself so you will need to familiarise yourself with them. The discovery series book "Discovering Oil Lamps" is a useful and modestly priced reference book (available for under a fiver from Amazon).

 

Sorry to be such a damp squid but it took me nearly twenty yeas to aquire the two bracket lamps in my collection and it is some years since I have seen one for sale, although I do not look as much these days as I used to. Another alternative is to email some of the Antique Lamp Restorers who advertise on the internet and give them details of your requirements, but be prepared to pay a lot of money.

 

Good luck.

Edited by David Schweizer
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You may not find what you want amongst these sites, but they are useful to gain knowledge on what is available with regard to spares and lamps in general.

Base Camp: http://www.base-camp.co.uk/

Stuga Cabana: http://www.hytta.de/

The second are in Dortmund, Germany, and the site can be translated.

The Lamp Guild may also be of interest, an independent and International organisation specialising in the study of liquid fuelled lamps.

The 'Repairs & Restorations' & 'Links' pages may be of use:

http://lampguild.org/Default.html?Defaulttext.shtml&1

 

Derek

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Mine came out from under the floor of a Wesleyan Chapel. The swans neck was still there, but the original fixing was on the pulpit and had not survived. I made a purpose built bracket which allowed the lamp to be turned back out of the way when not in use. I got a number of their hanging lamps at the same time, of which one still hangs here.

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The type of lamp most commonly fitted to back cabins was a brass bracket lamp with either a fixed or drop in fount. They would almost certainly have been a single or double flat wick type rather than a tubular cental draught buurner such as Aladdin. The Aladdin lamps were considerably more expensive than simple 1" slip lamps, and the cost of replacing both the wicks and mantles would have been prohibitive when compared to the cost of a sinple flat wick.

 

Traditional brass bracket lamps are like hen's teeth these days, and finding one complete is quite a challenge.

To guarantee the availability of spares you need to look for single wick Slip burners, Twin wick Duplex burners, or Tubular wick Kosmos burners. These names hardly ever appear on the burner itself so you will need to familiarise yourself with them. The discovery series book "Discovering Oil Lamps" is a useful and modestly priced reference book (available for under a fiver from Amazon).

 

Sorry to be such a damp squid but it took me nearly twenty yeas to aquire the two bracket lamps in my collection and it is some years since I have seen one for sale. Another alternative is to be prepared to pay a lot of money.

 

Good luck.

 

Thank you David. I was trimming my search down towards Bracket lamps - which, as you say, are quite rare.

As to Aladdin lamps, although they are very elegant, I note your comment on expense. Not trad for poor boatmen.

I suppose while I look around for "the" lamp I can keep saving...

 

ps - I've already ordered "Discovering Oil Lamps". It should arrive today.

Edited by LindisfarneOneDay
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Can anyone please post pictures of these things - sconce, basket, fount, (hen's teeth) so that I can recognize one IF I ever see one on a car boot or jumble sale.(Or can recognize something that could be adapted to the purpose).

Mike

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Thank you David. I was trimming my search down towards Bracket lamps - which, as you say, are quite rare.

As to Aladdin lamps, although they are very elegant, I note your comment on expense. Not trad for poor boatmen.

I suppose while I look around for "the" lamp I can keep saving...

 

ps - I've already ordered "Discovering Oil Lamps". It should arrive today.

 

I bought myself a bracket oil lamp (complete with 2 brackets so it can be moved around) on ebay a few months ago for a reasonable sum - so they do come up. Most bracket oil lamps are however too big for back cabins and I am of the opinion that most of them you see in back cabins were cobbled together from piano sconces and oil lamps brazed/soldered on to them. Boatman's Cabin Co (Laurence Hogg's old business) used to sell reproductions which were 21 ins high from the bottom of the bracket to the top of the chimney which is about right. Maybe he can tell you where they came from.

 

 

Aladdin lamps are not IMHO really suitable for boats, certainly not hanging high up on a wall. The mantle type produce a lot of brightness but also a lot of heat and whould soon scorch/set fire to your roof.

 

A good place for lamps and bits is the gloriously named (but misspelt) www.parafinalia.biz

 

Paul

 

I saw (and missed) a swivel bracket recently.

The idea of being able to swing the lamp out to illuminate the bed space seems good to me.

Does anyone know if these are authentic, or am I trying too hard?

 

When we talk about bracket oil lamps i think we all (or at least I do) mean the swing out type. Many modern boatman cabin replicas are fitted with gimballed bulkhead lamps which are quite different and not really authentic..

 

Paul

Edited by Paul H
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I bought myself a bracket oil lamp (complete with 2 brackets so it can be moved around) on ebay a few months ago for a reasonable sum - so they do come up. Most bracket oil lamps are however too big for back cabins and I am of the opinion that most of them you see in back cabins were cobbled together from piano sconces and oil lamps brazed/soldered on to them. Boatman's Cabin Co (Laurence Hogg's old business) used to sell reproductions which were 21 ins high from the bottom of the bracket to the top of the chimney which is about right. Maybe he can tell you where they came from.

 

 

Aladdin lamps are not IMHO really suitable for boats, certainly not hanging high up on a wall. The mantle type produce a lot of brightness but also a lot of heat and whould soon scorch/set fire to your roof.

 

A good place for lamps and bits is the gloriously named (but misspelt) www.parafinalia.biz

 

Paul

 

 

 

When we talk about bracket oil lamps i think we all (or at least I do) mean the swing out type. Many modern boatman cabin replicas are fitted with gimballed bulkhead lamps which are quite different and not really authentic..

 

Paul

 

Swinging Bracket Lamps came in a range of sizes, including some fairly compact ones. I have a small one which is original (illustrated centre left on p 31 in the Discovering Oil Lamps book) These seem to have been particulrly popular as pulpit lamps, because of thier compactness and easy of movement in a cofined space,

 

With regard to scorching the roof, I agree with you observations about Aladdin lamps, but all a oil lamps put out far more heat than light, and any lamp less than three or four feet away from the ceiling should have a smoke bell above it to absorb the heat, and to prevent sooting. With fixed lamps such as Harp Frames, Vestibule, or Suspension lamps this is normally suspended from the ceiling, but with Swivel Lamps the smoke bell should be suspended from a stem running up from the rear of the fount basket.(as illustrated top & bottom right on p 31 in the Discovering Oil Lamps book). The absence of a fixed smoke bell on the small lamp in my collection is probably explained by its poular usage as a pulpit lamp.

Edited by David Schweizer
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David's mention of a 'smoke bell' is most important. Without such a heat deflector, kiss good-bye to your boat.

 

A small 'Tea candle' as are very popular with small lanterns and fragrant oil diffusers, is quite capable of scorching woodwork seven and a half inches above it.

 

A Kosmos burner lamp I have has not just scorched, but charred a wooden beam a clear fourteen and a half inches above the chimney top.

 

Yet the gas mantle lamps we had that had an aluminium inbuilt shield directly over the unit prevented any signs of overheating of woodwork just six inches above.

 

Within the confines of any boat cabin such as we are used to, it is absolutely vital to suspend by some means or another, heat shielding in the area above which the lamp will be placed, especially with regard to any swinging facility.

 

Derek

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David's mention of a 'smoke bell' is most important. Without such a heat deflector, kiss good-bye to your boat.

 

A small 'Tea candle' as are very popular with small lanterns and fragrant oil diffusers, is quite capable of scorching woodwork seven and a half inches above it.

 

A Kosmos burner lamp I have has not just scorched, but charred a wooden beam a clear fourteen and a half inches above the chimney top.

 

Yet the gas mantle lamps we had that had an aluminium inbuilt shield directly over the unit prevented any signs of overheating of woodwork just six inches above.

 

Within the confines of any boat cabin such as we are used to, it is absolutely vital to suspend by some means or another, heat shielding in the area above which the lamp will be placed, especially with regard to any swinging facility.

 

Derek

 

I agree that a smoke bell (is that what they're called?) is vital even if as on working boat it was often just an old tin lid nailed to the roof. Whilst itis nice if the lamp can swing this is not usually that desirable in the confines of boat cabin particularly if this is unexpected when, say, you go aground. Most people therefore have a small piece of brass chain to limit if not to actually stop the swinging.

 

Given the comprarative difficulty in obtaining lamp oil or paraffin these days and the various dangers involved there's a lot to be said for electric light in a back cabin with the oil lamp purely for decoration and emergency back up.

 

Paul

Edited by Paul H
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I hadn't realised until we were some way into this thread, that the Aladdin lamps under discussion might be the pressure lamps with mantles.

If this is the case, personally, I wouldn't have one on my boat even for emergency lighting. OK if for purely decorative only purposes, but:

 

The oil burner needs pre-heating with meths; the mantles and glass can be expensive to replace (and they are disposable items); you can light a cigarette instantly at the top of the glass. I reckon they are extrememly dangerous on boats ............. BUT, I can see the attraction if they are converted to battery operation!

 

Apologies if I have got the wrong end of the stick with the type of lamp under discussion, but I have experience of those lamps when it was the only lighting in my Uncle's holiday home and we had a few potentially dangerous incidents.

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