Lamp Parts
A lamp is a very simple vessel used to produce light continuously for a period of time from a fuel source. The history of the oil lamps extends for about 10,000 years, from prehistory to as late as the 19th century, or even until now in some remote rural communities.
Olive oil lamps continued in wide use in countries around the Mediterranean Sea well into the early 19th century, with the lamps being mass produced out of metal, but otherwise little has changed in design from lamps of some 2,000 years earlier. In the year 1780 the Argand lamp was invented and quickly replaced the ancient form. It was in turn replaced by kerosene lamp in about 1850. In small towns and rural areas, these continued in be used well into the 20th century. The light given by an olive oil lamp is significantly brighter than a candle, but significantly less than a Argand lamp or the kerosene or paraffin burning lamp.
oil lamp
Oil lamps were used not only used for lighting, but also for funerary and votive purposes. Lamps were used for domestic purposes in homes and for public purposes in temples and public buildings also.
By studying the lamp's designs, symbols, structure and decorations, and the material of which it is made, we can identify the age and perhaps even the locality of the lamp. The lamp can also give us insights into the culture of its users and their social status as well.
Occasionally the design of the lamps also akin to a feminine reproductory system. Indian bronze lamps with a protruding central portion are supposed to project the masculine genital on a feminine womb with light representing 'origin of life' in most cases.
The components are Shoulder and the Pouring hole, the hole through which fuel is put inside the fuel chamber. Its width ranges from 0.5 -5 cm. There may be a single or multiple holes.
Wick hole or the nozzle is just an opening in the body of the lamp, or an elongated nozzle. In some specific types of lamps there is a groove on the superior part of the nozzle that runs to the pouring hole to collect back the oozing oil from the wick.
Lamps do come with and without a handle. The handle comes in different shapes and sizes. The most common of the lamps is a ring shaped for the forefinger surmounted by a palmette on which the thumb in pressed to stabilize the lamp. The other handles are crescent shaped, triangular and semi-oval.
A wick is placed over the penis and extends into the fuel chamber. Most of the lamps come with one nozzle, few lamps have more from two to twenty nozzles. However, the more the nozzles, the more is the consumption of fuel.