The History of Oil Lamps
It seems that around 70,000 BC the first oil lamps were invented. It likely consisted of a hollow rock or some other object that would be filled with animal fat and some sort of wicking device. The shapes that were found in nature were then fabricated by men from materials like metal and pottery.
They found that with the proper wicks, these lamps could be controlled in terms of burn rate. The Greeks began making lamps from a terra cotta base at about 700 BC and they would use these in place of the old hand held torches. In fact, this is how the name lamp was born. Lamp is from Greek and means "torch".
Lamps stayed pretty much the same for many centuries until the idea of a central burner was developed. That became a big improvement in oil lamps. With this improvement, the oil was better contained and an adjustable center wick was used to control the amount of fuel used as well as the light brightness.
It seems that maybe at nearly the same time, someone attached a glass chimney to further help control the flame and protect it from the wind. This is similar to the way we use lampshades in our modern lamps.
A Swiss chemist named Ami Argand is likely to be the first person to develop the idea of using a hollow wick and this was in the late 1700's. Talking about the lamp oil that was used, it was a little of anything that would burn. Many oils from nuts as well as whale oil and fish oil were used.
Olive oil is still a favorite today as it gives off very little smoke and allergic particles. It was around 1859 that fuels changed dramatically for oil lamps. Drilling for oil began and oils like kerosene became cheap and plentiful. Other types of lamps that used both coal and natural gas were developed around the same time and natural gas is still in use to power some lamps today.
Street lamps were almost exclusively natural gas and coal powered. A German inventor Freidrich Winzer is credited for being the first person to patent coal gas lighting in 1804. Most cities in the US in the early 19th century used a version of gas lighting for their street lights.
Still the charm of the old fashioned oil lamp is hard to beat, even with all our new inventions and fuels. Oil lamps will be with us for a long time to come.