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Oil-Wick Miner’s Lamp Patent Model
From the collection of National Museum of American History. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
This oil-wick lamp is a patent model constructed by John Fleming of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania that received patent number 219,352 on July 24, 1879. Fleming claimed as his invention “a miner's lamp provided with a hard-metal bottom having a flange that supports the lower edge of the body of the lamp, and the flange bearing against the inner wall of the body.” Miner’s would strike the bottom of their lamps against a hard surface to raise and lower the wick, and this extra bottom prevented damage to the lamp’s body.
National Museum of American History’s own descriptionCredit lineOil-Wick Miner’s Lamp Patent Model. 1879-09-09. Fleming, John. National Museum of American History. CC0.
