Posted 11 years ago
susandemay…
(2 items)
I received this from an old landlord of mine about 45 years ago. He was about 85 at the time and it was out in his garage. I know he grew up on a farm in New England (maybe the Litchfield Hills as I recall) It wasn't polished then and I never wanted to spoil the aged look so I have done nothing to it. The wick is the original from back then as well. I can find no markings on it. I don't see any way to adjust the wick except manually after the flame is put out (with that snuffer that is attached).
Can anyone tell me what this was for and about how old it may be?
I was looking at this and thought it was an old oil can, the type that you push in on the bottom to use. Perhaps someone made it into a lamp? I'll be anxious to see if anyone has seen one like it before!
That's kind of what I was thinking. The bottom has the feel of the old oil cans and it does push in like that. I'd love to find out more such as was this a common creation. Thanks for your feedback chinablue!
What you have is an alcohol lamp. It was used to produce a torch like flame to melt glass. Not made to provide light. A rubber tube was connected to the tube and you would blow air using your mouth. As the air blew into the alcohol flame a hot torch like flame would be produced. I had a similar one not as fancy but you could melt glass and pull it into fancy shapes. I connected mine to an inflated inner-tube so I did not have to use my breath. Just squeeze the rubber tube to adjust the flame size..