Wikipedia

Camphine

Not to be confused with Camphene, a bicyclic organic compound.

Camphine was the British trade name of a 19th-century lamp fuel made from purified spirits of turpentine. Generally prepared by distilling turpentine with quicklime,[1] it gave off a brilliant light. It was burned in chimney lamps that produced a strong draft to prevent smoking.[2] Invented in 1838, it was a popular domestic lamp fuel until the 1860s. Camphine was alternatively spelled camphene, especially in the United States.

History

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On November 25, 1838, Luther Jones of New York City filed a patent for a lamp for burning spirits of turpentine,[3] but it was Augustus Van Horn Webb, another New York inventor, who first used the term "camphene" when he filed a patent, antedated to November 23, 1838, for a "new and improved burner, together with a glass or chimney of a peculiar construction, for burning a composition which I denominate 'camphene.' "[4] In England, an advertisement in an East Yorkshire newspaper in 1843 referred to William Oxley English "having obtained Her Majesty's Letters Patent for the Distilling of Camphine Oil."[5] Other early inventors included Americans John S. Tough (a hanging camphene lamp, 1839) and Michael Dyott of Philadelphia (a “camphene-oil” lamp, 1840).[6][7]

By the 1840s, camphene was one of the most widely used lamp fuels in the United States. According to historian Jeremy B. Zallen, for "households and businesses that could not afford sperm oil (at more than twice the cost) or the still rare and capital-intensive gas lighting systems, camphene was the overwhelming favorite."[8] Advertisements for camphine (or camphene) that promoted its bright illumination and low cost were carried in newspapers in the United States and the Western World from the late 1830s through the 1860s. In July 1838, the New York Daily Herald carried an advertisement for "Webb's New Burner," described as producing "the greatest light . . . at the least expense.”[9] Three months later, the Herald described a camphene chandelier on display at the American Institute Fair that was "invented and manufactured in this city, and . . . will give a light equal to gas, at the moderate price of one cent per hour for each burner."[10] In London, "Clark and Co.'s New Spirit for the Camphene Lamps" was advertised for "only 3s. 9d. imperial gallon" in 1844.[11] Similar ads were common in newspapers in the 1840s and 1850s.[12][13][14]

Advertising aside, not all of camphine's qualities were universally appreciated. The British satirical magazine Punch reported that in the 1840s, "For domestic purposes the commonest illuminant was 'camphine,' an oil distilled from turpentine. Miss Mulock in The Ogilvies speaks of it as being always either 'too dull or too bright,' and Punch is not enthusiastic as to its virtues."[15] An article published in a Dublin newspaper in August 1863 wrote of a "display of illuminations" in Paris that included colored camphine. "Unfortunately, while the eye was afforded the utmost gratification, another sense was painfully assailed by the fearful smell."[16]

Camphine vs burning fluid

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The term camphine (or camphene) was often used interchangeably—and incorrectly—with a lamp fuel called burning fluid. Camphine, made of spirits of turpentine, had a high carbon content and tended to smoke unless burned in a lamp with a chimney.[6] Burning fluid was a blend of alcohol and turpentine (one part spirits of turpentine and four parts highly distilled alcohol, according to a 1897 report for Congress[8]) which allowed the turpentine to burn without smoking, but also made the fuel more volatile and more prone to explosions. Isaiah Jennings of New York[17][18] was given credit in a 1858 Scientific American article for inventing burning fluid in 1830.[19] In 1835, Henry Porter of Bangor, Maine, patented a mixture of camphene and alcohol that he called “Porter’s Patent Portable Composition Burning Fluid."[20][21]

The two lamp fuels required different lamps. Burning fluid could be used in a simple small table and hand lamps, requiring no chimney.[22] Burning fluid lamps had two long tapering wick tubes that looked like the letter V. The tubes had caps resembling thimbles to extinguish the light and prevent evaporation when the lamp was not in use. Camphine lamps had a single fixed wick with a flame spreader and a central draft system.[6] One type of camphine lamp was called a Vesta lamp.[23]

An 1853 article in Scientific American tried to dispel the confusion between the two fuels. "Camphene is highly rectified spirits of turpentine, contains no alcohol, and is not explosive. It will not burn in a common lamp without a chimney . . . [burning fluid] is a mixture of rectified turpentine, with about five or six times its quantity, by measure, of alcohol. . . . It is the volatile nature of the alcohol which is the cause of danger."[24]

Because of its volatility, burning fluid was implicated in a spate of deaths and injuries from explosions and flash fires. In 1851, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle listed almost 60 accidents in the previous year involving camphene and burning fluid[25] and a similar list appeared in the New York Times in 1852.[26] In Jonesboro, Illinois, a newspaper reported 424 deaths and 623 injuries in Illinois between 1850 and 1860 due to burning fluid accidents.[27] The Wilmington [NC] Daily Herald reported on a fatal accident in 1859, and added, "Will no experience, however painful, have the effect of banishing this dangerous fluid from common use?"[28]

New "safety" lamp designs, such as Newell's Patent Safety Lamp,[29][30] promised to prevent accidents, but when accidents and deaths continued, newspapers printed instructions on the safe use of oil lamps. A Nashville, Tennessee, newspaper warned In 1868, "The carrying of lamps about the house, thereby subjecting them to agitation and changes of temperature, should be strictly forbidden."[31] John Lee Comstock, in the 1853 edition of his book Elements of Chemistry, listed eight steps to reduce the risk of explosion with burning oil lamps, starting with "Fill the lamps in the morning."[6]

Burning fluid continued to be sold into the 1860s, according to Leib, but its cost increased during the Civil War when a federal tax on alcohol was reenacted.[32][33] Sales of both camphine/camphene and burning fluid declined in the late 1800s as other sources of domestic illumination, including kerosene made from petroleum, gas lighting and electric lighting, began to predominate.[34][35]

References

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  1. ^ Liebig, Justus (1850). Handwörterbuch der Reinen und Angewandten Chemie. Vieweg und Sohn. pp. 699–700.
  2. ^ "The Camphine Lamp". The Magazine of Science and School of Arts. Vol. VI. 1845. pp. 97–98.
  3. ^ Jones, Luther (November 25, 1838). "Lamp for Burning Spirits of Turpentine". Google Patents. United States Patent Office. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  4. ^ Webb, A.V.H. "US1083A". Google Patents. United States Patent Office. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  5. ^ "By Her Majesty's Royal Letters Patent, Patent Camphine Oil". The Hull Packet and East Riding Times. March 31, 1843. p. 1. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d Leib, Charles (June 2009). "Did You Mean Camphene or Burning Fluid?" (PDF). The Rushlight: 9–18. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  7. ^ "A biographical sketch of Michael B. Dyott". The Lampworks. Hurleyville, New York. February 11, 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  8. ^ a b Zallen, Jeremy Benjamin (2019). American Lucifers: Makers and Masters of the Means of Light, 1750-1900. University of North Carolina Press. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  9. ^ "Webb's New Burner". New York Daily Herald. July 11, 1838. p. 3. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  10. ^ "Fair of the American Institute". New York Daily Herald. October 17, 1838. p. 2. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  11. ^ "Camphine Lamps and a New Spirit at Clark & Co". Greater London, England: The Morning Post. December 5, 1844. p. 8. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  12. ^ "Camphine Lamps Improved". Caernarfon, Gwynedd, Wales: Caernarfon and Denbigh Herald. November 29, 1845. p. 6. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  13. ^ "The Birmingham Journal". Birmingham, West Midlands, England. January 5, 1850. p. 4. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  14. ^ "Young's Vesta or Camphine Lamp". Exeter, Devon, England: Devon and Exeter Gazette. December 20, 1845. p. 1. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  15. ^ Graves, Charles L. (1841–1857). Mr. Punch's History of Modern England (Volume 1 ed.). London: Cassell and Company, Ltd. p. 146. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  16. ^ "The Fetes in Paris". Dublin, Ireland: Freeman's Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser. August 20, 1863. p. 3. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  17. ^ "Isaiah Jennings". Smithsonian. National Museum of American History. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  18. ^ Jennings, Isaiah (September 11, 1841). "Vapor Burner". Google Patents. United States Patent Office. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  19. ^ "Artificial Illumination—Burning Fluids". Scientific American (17): 133. January 1858. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  20. ^ "Brilliant, Beautiful, Unrivaled Porter's Patent Portable Composition Burning Fluid". Brooklyn, New York: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. April 29, 1842. p. 3. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  21. ^ B.A. Wells and K.L. Wells (April 29, 2017). "Camphene to Kerosene Lamps". American Oil & Gas Historical Society. Washington, DC. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  22. ^ Leib, Charles (Winter 2011). "Did You Mean Camphene or Burning Fluid?" (PDF). The Pewter Collectors' Club of America Bulletin. 14 (6): 28.
  23. ^ "Patent Vesta Lamp". New York, New York: The Evening Post. September 23, 1844. p. 1. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  24. ^ Burning Fluid and Camphene (Vol. VIII, No. 27 ed.). New York: Scientific American. March 19, 1853. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  25. ^ "Accidents by Camphene &c". Brooklyn, New York: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. July 24, 1851. p. 2. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
  26. ^ "Statistics of Camphene. Explosions &c. for the Year". The New York Times. July 23, 1852. p. 3. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  27. ^ "The Horrors of Burning Fluid". Jonesboro Gazette. Jonesboro, Illinois. April 21, 1860. p. 4. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  28. ^ "Burning Fluid". Wilmington, North Carolina: The Wilmington Daily Herald. August 25, 1859. p. 2. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
  29. ^ "Newell's Patent Safety Lamp & Lamp Feeder". The Tri-Weekly Commercial. Wilmington, North Carolina. August 21, 1855. p. 4. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  30. ^ "Cheap and Safe Lights! Newell's Patent Safety Lamp and Lamp Feeder". The Enterprise and Vermonter. Vergennes, Vermont. October 30, 1857. p. 3. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  31. ^ "Illumination. Coal Oil vs. Aurora, Oriental, Camphene, Turpentine, and all other Oils". Nashville Union and American. Nashville, Tennessee. January 26, 1868. p. 3. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  32. ^ Veach, Michael R. "Whiskey Taxation, Part Two: The American Civil War And Beyond". Bourbon History. Bourbon Veach LLC. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  33. ^ Edwards, Phil (August 7, 2015). "The horrific spike in whiskey prices during the Civil War, in one chart". Vox Media. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  34. ^ "The latest illuminant". Galena, Kansas: Galena Weekly Republican. April 12, 1890. p. 6. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  35. ^ "Kerosene is fast taking the place of camphene and other burning fluids". Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer. January 29, 1862. p. 8. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
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