Betty Lamps Now Cast in a Good Light
The Betty lamp came over to American on the Mayflower, was improved upon by Benjamin Franklin and today is prized by collectors.
In 1620, according to an article in the current issue of Country Living, it was at the forefront of lighting technology.
The Betty was a small, open iron lamp whose name was taken from the German word besser, meaning “better.” It was a big improvement over its predecessor--a hollow stone or shell with a bit of twisted moss for a wick and animal fat for fuel.
The Betty lamp consisted of a small, shallow bowl. At one end the lip of the bowl was shaped like a spout, holding a piece of rag or cotton that formed a wick. The other end of the wick lay submerged in a pool of fish oil.
The lamp was smelly, smoky, burned unevenly, dripped hot oil and tipped over easily, yet it served the colonists for another 150 years. The discovery of tin in England made the lamps lighter, less expensive and led to some superficial style changes, but they remained dim, smoky and smelly.
The first major change saw the wick enclosed in a tight-fitting circular tube, concentrating the flame and increasing the amount of light produced.
The next advance came when the thriving New England whaling industry led to the discovery that refined whale oil produced a brighter, cleaner flame.
Candles in those days were a luxury used only for special occasions. Oxen, whose fat made good candles, were too scarce to be used for food rather than farming. Bear and deer fat, beeswax and whale blubber all proved unsatisfactory. Hog’s lard candles were smoky and foul-smelling.
In the 18th Century, Ben Franklin made the next big improvement. Franklin, who as a child had worked in his father’s tallow shop, devised the double wick, which increased the lamp’s light and heat and enabled it to burn off the carbon that previously had accumulated on Betty lamp wicks.
Nearly 100 years later an unknown designer created a dual-wick lamp for Noah Webster with an added improvement--a circular reflector. Webster’s lamp burned lard oil, a popular fuel by 1850, and provided him with the light required to work on his dictionary.
Both whale oil and refined lard oil became obsolete after 1880 when the discovery of underground oil in Pennsylvania led to the full-scale production of cleaner, safer kerosene.
The development of pewter encouraged lamp makers to experiment with a variety of shapes and styles--one reason why identical, authentic Betty lamps are seldom found.
Collectors should know that lamps designed to burn whale oil used narrow wicks, while those that burned lard oil had wider wicks. Betty lamps hammered from a single sheet of iron are apt to be older than tin or pewter varieties.
Among the many lamp styles that pewter made possible was the tavern lamp with a handle, wide base for stability and totally enclosed fuel tank for safety.
These acquired the nickname “sparking lamps” because when the small fuel tank became empty, it was time for a gentleman caller to leave. The lamp’s dying flame signaled a suitor’s departure--or maybe even an opportunity to steal a good-night kiss in the dark.