Book 4: Kerosene Lamps

Publisher Marketing: This book covers wick-type kerosene lamps and lanterns. It's for users, not antique dealers. How can we generate LIGHT? That is the question. Fuel substitutes, safety, operating procedures, maintenance, repair, and various lamp styles are the topics. Things to look for when buying used. Cost effectiveness. Homemade lamps. Candlepower. Those are the subjects discussed. Collector value? Never mentioned. This book covers, of course, the simple flat-wick lamps sold today in every Walmart and Family Dollar. But there's quite a bit more to it than that. As a young adult, I happened to be at my parent's home one evening when a blackout occurred. My mother sent me to check on an elderly woman, a 90-year-old family friend, who lived alone. When she came to the door, I was dazzled by the kerosene lamp she had burning in the living room. Whereas the kerosene lamp my parents kept tucked away for emergencies gave off light on par with a 7-watt nightlight, this woman's lamp was more like a 40-watt light bulb. It was not a Coleman lantern that hissed or needed pumping up. It was merely a wick-fed table lamp that ran on kerosene, a Rayo. I later discovered that Rayos were on the market twenty years before Colemans. The Rayo wick, instead of being flat, was tubular, like a sock. The fire at the top of the wick formed a ring. Light output was striking. When I got home and told my mother about it, she said, "Oh yes. And in England they used to have Duplex lamps. They had two wicks instead of one. That's what they used during the War." Turns out Duplexes were around thirty years before Rayos. What?! How could I get to be so old and yet be so ignorant? This is technology from Grandpa's day. Surely I should be a step ahead of Grandpa, no? Then again, maybe not. Maybe it's time to just back up a step and see what we've forgotten. I think most folks will be surprised. Contributor Bio:  Levy, Gaye Gaye Levy grew up and attended school in the Greater Seattle area, graduating from the University of Washington. She spent many years as an executive in the telecommunications software industry and later as a CFO to emerging technology and service companies. While still working in her chosen field, Gaye abandoned city life and moved to a serenely beautiful rural area on San Juan Island in NW Washington State. Recognizing the risks of being in a remote area served primarily by Washington State ferries, she soon realized that a disaster of any type, be it natural or man-made, would soon leave her community cut off from goods and supplies from the mainland for days or even weeks. As a result, she learned everything she could about living a preparedness lifestyle and began the process of acquiring goods and skills which would allow her and her family to survive on their own for an extended period of time and without the need for outside assistance. Gaye teaches the principles of preparedness and a self-reliant lifestyle through emergency preparation and disaster planning at her website BackdoorSurvival.com. As a blogger, she shares her nuts-and-bolts knowledge and common sense perspective in a way which is non-intimidating, friendly and easy to understand. Gaye's emphasis is on prepping for the mainstream while doing so with compassion for others and optimism for a positive outcome, no matter what. In her spare time, Gaye and her husband are avid ballroom dancers and enjoy hiking, kayaking, gardening and living life to the fullest along with their dog, Tucker, in their island home along the shores of San Juan Island in Washington State.