The collection of the Urazovo Local History Museum includes a kerosene table lamp with a narrow, long cylindrical bulb, with a reservoir and a base. It was and remains a true decoration of any museum collection.
The design of a kerosene lamp is simple: kerosene was poured into a metal container, into which a wick was immersed. The other end was used to light the lamp. As an additional traction and protection from the wind, the wick was covered with a glass flask.
The first prototype of the kerosene lamp was the ‘oil lamp’. This apparatus was described by the famous Baghdad scientist, physician and philosopher Ar-Razi in the ninth century. Unfortunately, this device did not solve the lighting problem at all, so oil lamps were not used.
The history of the kerosene lamp is more successful. Pyotr Mykolyash, a businessman and pharmacist from Lvov, made a deal with businessmen from Drogobych. They were supposed to supply him with distillate, and he would distill his cheap alcohol. The traders promised him a good deal. The distillation was carried out by the laboratory assistants of the Lvov businessman Jan Zeh and Ignatiy Lukasevich. They started experimenting with petroleum products. After some time, the discoverers managed to obtain kerosene. They began to use this liquid in a modernized oil burner. As a result, the first kerosene lamp lit the shop window of their employer’s pharmacy. Later, laboratory assistant Zeh opened his own shop that sold kerosene. In just one year, his small company managed to sell more than 60 tons of fuel. This fuel was mainly intended for lighting Lvov’s streets.
The design of a kerosene lamp is simple: kerosene was poured into a metal container, into which a wick was immersed. The other end was used to light the lamp. As an additional traction and protection from the wind, the wick was covered with a glass flask.
The first prototype of the kerosene lamp was the ‘oil lamp’. This apparatus was described by the famous Baghdad scientist, physician and philosopher Ar-Razi in the ninth century. Unfortunately, this device did not solve the lighting problem at all, so oil lamps were not used.
The history of the kerosene lamp is more successful. Pyotr Mykolyash, a businessman and pharmacist from Lvov, made a deal with businessmen from Drogobych. They were supposed to supply him with distillate, and he would distill his cheap alcohol. The traders promised him a good deal. The distillation was carried out by the laboratory assistants of the Lvov businessman Jan Zeh and Ignatiy Lukasevich. They started experimenting with petroleum products. After some time, the discoverers managed to obtain kerosene. They began to use this liquid in a modernized oil burner. As a result, the first kerosene lamp lit the shop window of their employer’s pharmacy. Later, laboratory assistant Zeh opened his own shop that sold kerosene. In just one year, his small company managed to sell more than 60 tons of fuel. This fuel was mainly intended for lighting Lvov’s streets.
