Gas Lamp
Earlier methods of lighting fuels consisted of olive oil, beeswax, fish oil, whale oil, sesame oil, nut oil, and similar substances. These were the most commonly used fuels up until the late the late 18th century. The first known gas light was made by the ancient Chinese collecting natural gas in skins that was used for the purpose of illumination.
Public illumination preceded the discovery and adoption of gaslight by many centuries. In 1417, Sir Henry Barton, the then mayor of London, ordained "lanterns with lights to be hanged out on the winter evenings between some important junctions. Later Paris was first lit by an order issued in the year 1524; and in the beginning of the sixteenth century the inhabitants were ordered to keep lights burning in the night.
Gas lamps have been using the natural gas for the purpose of lighting and were used extensively before the arrival of electricity as we know today. Before electricity became wide used, gas lamps were the choice of the people in cities as well as the suburbs of the city. These gas lamps were lit manually but were soon technology was developed that allowed them to light themselves.
With popularity of electrical bulbs increasing, more and more people became interested in the electric bulb rather than the gas lamp.
These gas lamps were becoming highly unviable and soon the factories began to use the electric bulbs and people could thus work for real long hours. By the time of early 20th century, a major portion of the cities in America were using the sodium and high-pressure mercury lighting. This led to the discovery of the incandescent electric lamp, which replaced these sodium and mercury vapor lamps and completely transformed the landscape.
Slowly but surely the gas lamps began to disappear from the cities, but gas lamps are also found still in a number of streets in central London and, the exterior of Buckingham Palace is still lit by such devices, which can also be found in many small streets of Berlin.
It is also very common for gas utility companies to quote a fixed rate for customer using gas lamps and many homeowners are still able to use them in their homes. However, the higher operating cost of the gas lamps is one major reason why almost all the gas lamps have been converted into electricity as of today.