I am a Brit and 77 hrs. As a child I remember gas lighting in the streets. Yes they were bright enough to see sufficient to walk the streets. However, not so good for driving. Car lights were not too good, as a result pedestrians were encouraged to wear or carry something white, better still a flash light, (torch to us Brits) to be seen at night. I also recall the valve to the lamp was fitted with two chains that the street lighter would pull to turn the gas on or off. I also remember a mechanical device to some lamp that could switch the lamps on automatically. I aslo remember the gas lamps being replaced by electric lighting. Some town just replaced the gas piping with electric cables and a bulb and holder. We didn't have a bath room in our working class home. We used a steel galvanised bath, that we would place in the living room fill with hot water from the adjacent fire range. We attempted to practise modesty while bathing.
Gaslighting in other words addling your victims brains comes from a late 40s movie in which someone commits a crime but tries to confuse his victim by telling her she can't trust her senses.
1944 movie. Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotten. Directed by George Cukor. It is a fantastic film with an incredible Oscar-winning performance from Ingrid Bergman, my favorite actress.
@@wildsmileyIt's a remake of the 1940 British movie starring Anton Walbrook, which is much closer to Patrick Hamilton's stage play. The play isn't perfect, but is still a good evening's entertainment. Anton Walbrook, in my opinion, is much better than Charles Boyer in the role, but Ingrid Bergman is sublime.
Interestingly the term "gas lighting" in regards to deception refers to a specific type of deception where the deceiver is attempting to make the victim doubt their own sanity and judgement but I've noticed as the term became more popular more people began to just use the term to describe just any kind of lying or deceit in general.
@@Strideo1 I can't stand the people online who immediately jump on you with "stop gaslighting me!" if you even happen to tell them something that they even slightly doubt. I don't know how it came to mean any kind of lying, but TikTok or other social media are probably to blame. That's what happens when people use a term for something and they have absolutely no clue what it means, and are too ignorant to check first.
Hi Alex, I am from Germany, Frankfurt.We still have street gas lamps in the town.They are still very common in many streets. Most of them were installed in the late 1950/60th and still work. Berlin seems to be the capital of gas lamps , they are everywhere . They give a great warm yellow light. Thanks for your great video.
Acetylene gas lighting was the brightest illumination. It came into wide use in 1892. It was said to be brighter than early electric lighting. Our cousins mansion in Scotland had acetyle gas lighting. The acetylene gas generator is still there but the house has been left an empty shell after a fire damaged it in 1941. One drawback was that the glass globes in the lights sooted up and had to be cleaned every day keeping the maids busy. I don’t think acetylene was practical for use in street lights. Nowadays it’s mostly used for welding.
Miner's carbide lamps used an acetylene flame. Portable units, mounted on a hard hat, with a 2 oz reservoir, 5'' reflector and an upper chamber that held water. Water dripped over Calcium Carbide at an adjustable rate, creating acetylene gas. The gas came out a nozzle and was ignited by a flint striker. They were pretty bright. We used them in search and rescue, especially cave rescue, as late as the 1980s.
@@HootOwl513 Early automobile headlights used to be acetylene as well; first with carbide generators, then bottled gas, until electric headlights became common. Then there was the acetylene flame, directed upon a piece of calcium (lime), which was used in theaters as 'limelight'...
Another lost skill is changing out a flat tire on your own car. Another lost skill is the "Making" coal gas form lumps of coal. Quite the process. Another fine watch from Alex the Historian, thanks for your time and hard work.
@@AlextheHistorian It's our fault not the content. I look forward to your impressions of New Orleans. I haven't been since the year before Katrina. Only later did I explore Magazine street and see further than Garden district and French quarter. You gotta see (many x) 1950 Streetcar Named Desire before going.
@@AlextheHistorian What was different about this watch was the various subjects in one video. The gas lamp section covered Disneyland, Boston, New Orleans and so on. The lost skills section went from baking to being careful around horses and other lost skills. Maybe try it again. People today have short attention spans -- maybe four or five shorter story blocks may be better than one longer vid on the same subject??? Just thinking.
I bet many folks recall how very bright Coleman camping lanterns could be, and yes, they had/have a mesh sleeve. We had kerosene lanterns. which came in handy when we lost power regularly in storms before the utilities started trimming branches away from the lines. Nice job researching. A younger guy at work wondered what time it was. I pointed to the clock on a turret nearby and he said he couldn't read time by the dial and hands. Dunno if he was joking or not.
@@AlextheHistorianAnother problem is some analog clocks these days are so cheap the gears are misaligned or skip causing the hour hand to pass the hour mark early making the clock look off by an hour towards the end of each hour. This is especially aggregious if the numbers or marks are huge relative to the face (or whatever it has instead). It's easy to compensate when you know it's broken or off a bit but many people I could see getting frustrated and give up on analog clocks if they keep being wrong. But that leads to a catch 22, the more people who refuse to read analog clocks, the worse clocks are made to the point they are just decoration. That and Roman numerals, people seem to hate Roman numerals these days.
The Coleman lantern I have now (takes size D batteries) is not nearly as good as the old kerosene ones we took hunting with us as a kid. Still bright enough for maybe the first night though.
My house was built in the 1880s and still has fixtures for coal gas lamps. That's also why I have 4-meter-high ceilings, which is not an exaggeration, by the way. I have to stand on a ladder to open the top windows. I’m told this was for ventilation and to help cool the place in summer when the gas lamps were burning. I also have the original masonry heaters (cocklestove), which still work and are maintained, but are mostly just decorative these days. It must have been pretty stinky and stuffy in this building back in the day! People get nostalgic, but imagine how bad the carpets and curtains must have stunk after absorbing those odors for years on end - not to mention that everyone and their dog smoked like chimney stacks in those days!
This video explains so much! Having (obviously) grown up seeing gas lamps only at Disneyland I was always so confused how they managed to light a street with them in the old days. Now I know!
My Coleman gas lantern uses a mantle and it's amazingly bright. And yes, my grandparents had kerosene lamps put aside to use during power outages. A few years ago, in the aftermath of a hurricane, we had a power outage for several days, and you can bet we were very happy we still had those lamps and some kerosene. I trimmed the wicks a bit, and they served our needs adequately until the power was back on. Of course, a 10kW or bigger Generac standby generator would have been nicer, but we didn't have one at the time.
To build on your point about horses (since the automobile replaced the horse for many), another skill that is fading is the ability to repair your own car, and how an automobile works. There are a couple of different factor that go into this, the most impactful being that starting around 2000, cars became increasingly difficult for the driveway mechanic to work on, and by 2010, they were designed for certified technicians to repair with lots of proprietary tools. It used to be that anyone willing to learn a little about cars and with a basic set of tools could replace spark plugs, sand the points on the distributer, change a serpentine belt, flush the coolant system. Now, they make cars where you have to remove the whole front bumper to change a headlight bulb, and go to a certified technician to change the oil.
You are totally right. My first car was an '87 Ford 1-ton van and it didn't run when I bought it, I changed out a lot of the parts myself. Years later a friend was having trouble with their car, I don't remember what kind of car, but they asked me to look under the hood. I didn't recognize anything or even how to disassemble it. I told them they had to get a professional lol!
One can still change the oil and filter, the air and cabin filters, the brake pads and rotors, and wiper blades. Luckily, there are no more points, and plugs and coolant last 100K miles. Also, LEDs don't fail often, and plastic timing belts are gone. The only oil hangup is that you need to remove a bottom cover. That cover helps milage and keeps things cleaner. Thankfully, I don't have all that stuff to do that I used to do on my 1979 Ford.
@@ByWire-yk8eh While some may see those as advancements, others see it as forced obsolescence. All of those things are much more difficult to get to, require specialty tools, and specialty knowledge. Computer controlled ignition is much more difficult and expensive to repair, and computer controlled fuel injection makes problems difficult to chase. Distributers and carburetors will always be easier to repair, tune, and upgrade. I agree that timing belts are ludicrous; chains or gears & pushrods will always outlast a timing belt. LEDs may last longer than halogens and sealed beams, but they do still fail eventually. Plugs may last 100k miles, but they will still need to be replaced eventually, too. The removal of the bottom cover to change the oil is one more part requiring specialty tools, and one more step for a job that shouldn't take longer than a haircut to complete. Despite the "advancements" in the technology, parts _will_ eventually fail, and they _will_ need to be replaced. Drivers are being separated from the complete experience of car ownership itself, including the operation and repair.
@@sptownsend999 I'm in my 70s. I used to do ALL the work needed on my vehicles, since the first one I owned. I've 'ground up' restored several vehicles. In the 1990s I had a 1986 Subaru that needed an engine rebuild. FORGET IT!!! I'm now reluctant to do more than open the bonnet on any post-1980 vehicle. My heart breaks every time I have to hand over the keys to my current Subaru to a 'mechanic'. Fortunately I've found a 'good' one - but I still check his work. Any machinery operator will be more effective - and safer - if they know how their machinery works - in detail. The likelihood of today's drivers having ANY idea - or interest in - how their vehicle actually works is negligible.
That's a relief to hear because my channel has been in need of something that holds people's attention, so many people who click on my videos end up leaving in the first minute!
One thing most people don't understand are the role of bathhouses. It's funny how oblivious people are to the fact that three or four generations ago running water and electricity were only a thing in major cities! A village may have a single well for everyone to use and it wouldn't be the bucket well, as that one takes too long... Towns had often springs with running water (since the Middle Ages, as they knew that running water is safer to drink) which were decorative, but meant for you to fill up buckets which you would use at home to wash yourself, do your kitchen work, etc... Cities had a bathhouse for pretty much every few blocks and people may go there after work every day before going home! This was both for washing yourself with some comfort, but also for socializing!
Never seen your channel before and this video was awesome. I always wonder about things like this through history that most people would find boring or uninteresting. Keep it up! living in New England, I always see tons of old lamps scattered about. If anyone wants to listen to a really nice and old song about lamplighters, search "The Old Lamplighter by Sammy Kaye". One of my favorites. Edit: I wanted to add that I am 33 and was also raised calling people Mr., Mrs., and Miss. I'd even call my friends parent's up the road Mr. and Mrs Jacobs and never by their first name. I honestly still do this when I meet someone new, unless they tell me not to. Also, Sir and Ma'am were common growing up. I don't understand how just since the 90's, society has de-evolved so much so quickly. I blame internet and social media. Got rid of my cell phone 4 years ago!!
Well it also proliferated with the common addage "Mr/Mrs (Smith), was my Father/Mother, my name is (first name)". I never saw anything wrong with people calling me by my last name, I didn't feel old or anything, but for some reason, people just don't like to be called by their last names anymore.
Having a gas lamppost in the front yard was pretty common in my old neighborhood. They weren't terribly bright but did provide nice illumination for driveways and sidewalks and added a nice touch to the area. My Dad was one of the few who rejected them for some reason. They went out of style around the Mid East Oil Embargo time frame.
Another interesting thing I've noticed about Victorian fashion is that men always wear hats outside. I don't think I've ever seen picture of men from the early 20th century without hats. Even people who do hard labor wear hats.
I would account many customs to practical walking conditions. My guess is cars were not popular as today, mass transport not enough, so when walking was practical to have cover for hair and round part to shade eyes from sun or even to prevent rain drops. Umbrella wasn't always at hand. Also popular was using rain coat cloak for heavy rainy weather. Now people have much less chances to walk far or use often opened type carriage in bad weather.
YES! I agree! People didn't have cars or sunblock back then. Also it kept hair cleaner longer from dirt ask and smoke. You would be considered naked without a hat back then.
From some etiquette I know, this is how you would address people outside your family; Mr. Bennet (Father & Husband) Mrs. Bennet (Wife & Mother) Miss Bennet (Oldest Daughter, first name excluded) Miss Elizabeth Bennet (2nd oldest daughter, first name begins to be added) Miss Mary Bennet (3rd oldest daughter) Miss Lydia Bennet (Youngest daughter) Young Mister Bennet (If oldest son had same first name as father) Mr. George Bennet (First names added for all sons) *You would only be first name basis with someone if your are immediate family related by blood or marriage. People were very conscious of one's class ranking, sex, and age. This makes our pronouns simple compared to years past.
What a great video sir! It hits home for me, as I am a country kid, and much of what you said is on subjects I learned as time went by growing up! From gas lamps to horse sense and even oil lamp usage! But even the bathing and other subjects were interesting. Although corset usage never caught on with the girls and women in our neck of the woods, and they were prone to go as the boys and men with what we wore, comfortable and lose fitting. But one thing I disagree on, is the bathing three or more times a day, and having to slather on lotion afterwards. A person who had to have lotion after a bath, had to have very poor soap that stripped the natural oils from their skin. In those cases where I will have to get a third shower, I will forgo any shampoo or soap, as the water alone is able to get the dirt and dust off without any help from soap. But if I do use soap and shampoo, it is a gentle product that doesn't damage the skin or hair. Otherwise, the video seems spot on! And although you didn't get super technical about the gas used in the early days for illuminating, the fact you had a chart showing the danger of burning the gas having a poisonous effect shows you did your homework, as the gas in the early days of illumination needed high levels of carbon in order to get a bright flame, and that carbon turned into carbon monoxide which builds up in the body and can slowly poison someone. Fortunately, with today's oil and gas lamps, we use much safer products and fuels. Keep up the great work! It is very entertaining, and I hope you enjoy Nawlans, as the locals call it!
Fun fact: Big Ben was originally lit by gas lamps. If you see videos of inside the clock face, you'll see a couple of metal ladders embedded in the wall. Gas probably was cheaper at the time and more reliable than electricity. My cousin owned a building downtown and the second and third floor had apartments. Most of these were one room apt, had a window and transom. From the ceiling was a pendent lamp hanging down that was probably combo gas/electric fixture. I looked under the staircase and there was a bank of gas pipes that originally went to gas meters for each little apt. BTW, there were maybe six apt on that floor, one sink in the common area and one bathroom for everyone.
This was interesting my company actually services and installs gaslights and I knew you were going to discuss the mantles. I would say 20% of the lights we put in still have one. There’s two different types, soft and hard, the hard mantle are much brighter, but more fragile. This is my first time hearing that Gas has changed over time. I was unaware of that. I also want to get one of those lighting stick so I’m gonna be heading to eBay.
Actually, natural gas wasn’t a thing in Europe until after WW2. In the first post-war years most gasworks first replaced coal as feedstock by oil or nafta. When natural gas became more widely available most utilities started a transition that included replacing or adjusting all appliances. At this time a lot of gas streetlights were replaced by electric ones, as the cost of adjusting them to natural gas was deemed to be prohibitive. One of the few areas where a changeover to natural gas did occur quite lately was Northern Ireland, where the Tory government simply had the gas industry shut down for good in the 1980s. Piped gas became available again in the 1990s when a gas pipeline between Scotland and NI was opened. Another interesting case is Copenhagen, Denmark. They kept using manufactured gas until the early 2000s and then switched over to a blend of natural gas and atmospheric air, called Bygas2 (“town gas second generation”). Apparently, this limited the cost of the changeover as newer appliances could use the new gas without any adjustments
@@babicka1 that’s pretty fascinating. I had no idea and I’ve been working with natural gas and propane for the last 25 years only really in the United States. I do appreciate history and these are a lot of questions I’ve always had. I will say that mantle gaslight were far more common until about the year 2000 when open flames started becoming trendy after a time it just became the standard. I still import mantles from India, but I don’t sell nearly the volume. I once did.
People that lived out in the country didn't have access to gas lines. My great grandfathers house had a carbide generator in the yard that made acetylene gas for lighting and cooking
I am nearly 60 and I think that I was brought up at the end up the time where experience with horses was more common among older people, but not necessarily with my parents generation. But I consciously made an effort to get to know horses because I happened to live near where horses were kept, and I am comfortable with them. And it was kind of instilled into me as I learned to drive a car, as a carryover from the horse days by the older people who I knew who taught me. You see, a horse is aware of its surroundings and wouldn’t just crash into a wall. It would see it not sense it was getting close to something and the person driving the horse kind of got a connection going with the horse, and there was a kind of trusting communication going on. It was a sense, and not a real communication if you know what I mean. You kind of had to be aware that another horse was coming up alongside you, or coming from a side road and you had to be aware that the horse you were on might not see it or the other person might not see you or they might not have full control of their horse and you needed to be aware of that and be able to anticipate it and prepare for it in case it happened. And today, with cars, and with younger people learning to drive and were taught by people younger than me, they seem to not have that “horse sense” carryover that I have. And you combine that with the distractions of today and the modern sensors in cars that alert you to lane changes or if you are drifting etc and the young people are just not as skilled at driving as older generations were. It’s not a knock on young people, mind you. It’s dealing with the cards you were dealt. I could go on about it but I don’t want people to get upset about it. But be aware that there are older people out there who drive cars without any sensors in them and they are totally aware of where their cars are in space and they see most young people doing things and they are shaking their heads. And they would never let a young person drive their older cars because they know the young people would assume the car would alert them that they are about to crash into a wall. And it just won’t and the car would be ruined and the person hurt or worse.
My truck has an anti theft device. It's called a clutch. It also has manual locking doors, and roll down windows. It's not a convenient vehicle for those people addicted to convenience. Several convenience items don't work. It's too old and doesn't have much value to anyone but me. Maybe that's anti theft it's self. Fortunately I can work on it myself. I have paper manuals that will still work when the internet goes down.
The original gas lit Moon Towers in Austin Texas originally came from Detroit. The design of them comes from Paris. Luckily Austin has been able to keep a few of them alive. Alright alright alright
Interestingly during that time period when they had those Moon Towers running in 1884-1885 there was a serial killer on the loose in Austin called the Servant Girl Annihilator who did just that; murdered mostly servant girls. This was before Jack the Ripper's killing spree in London and like Jack the Ripper the killer was never caught. Funny enough some people theorize that the Servant Girl Annihilator and Jack the Ripper could be the same killer but that seems far fetched to me.
Those little carbide lamps (calcium carbide and water) like the miners wore on their hardhat make acetylene gas and produce a surprisingly bright light. Extremely simple tech yet it produces a very effective light -- as long as you're not in a methane or other volatile gas atmosphere, where having a glowing bright open flame is not a good idea.
Thanks Alex! Early Disneyland publicity often stated that there would be actual lamp lighters on Main Street. Not sure if that ever happened. Also, there was a time when mantles were used on Main Street. Imagineer Eddie Sotto told me they stopped using them because they liked the flame effect better (although I think it was probably more a cost issue!)
Yeah I'm in agreement that it was probably a cost issue. Although I will say, that despite all the talk I gave about gas lamps using modern gas and it not being bright enough, open flame gas lamps still look more interesting than a gas mantle!
Interestingly I have a vague notion that there are other kitschy "old timey" reproductions of things that don't work as well as the real things because they're more about nostalgia and fascination with the feeling of the past than actual functionality but I just can't think of any good examples off the top of my head right now.
Gas cylinders used indoors are usually butane. It is cleaner burning, but does not work at low temperatures. Propane gas cylinders are usually used outside, because it is not as clean burning but works at much low temperatures. Camping gas cylinders are usually a mix of butane and propane, so they will light at freezing temperatures
In Germany, horses were subject to military service. So oxen pulled the cart. Poor farmers often had their dairy cows pull the cart, which meant poor milk production. Once a year the dairy cow has to go to the ox so that she can calve and produce milk again. The young calf must soon be weaned from milk so that the farmer can milk the cow. The young calf also had to learn to pull the cart.
CHEERS ALEX,, GREAT INTERESTING VIDEO ,, THANK YOU FOR WORKING SO HARD TO BRING THIS OLD HISTORY TO MY FAMILY TO LEARN ABOUT THE OLD DAYS.. MY SON MAX 9 YR.S OLD SAYS HE LIKES THE LIGHTING BUGS FLYING AROUND WITH THERE LITTLE LIGHT SHUTING OFF THEN ON ,,, THERE SO FUN TO SEE IN NATURE .. THANK YOU...
The horse part reminds me of what just happened to me today: I was walking and heard something from the bushes and something seemed to be darting in my direction. Without thinking I went into a boxer stance with clenched fists and my forearms protecting my neck. Out came a small cat and it saw my response and instantly froze up. We exchanged looks, which I can only interpret as _R U cool? Yes, how about you?_ and the cat ran past me. Cats, dogs, horses, and probably a few wild animals such as ravens, pigeons, and raccoons have learned to read humans and we have become familiar with them. This means that they can thrive in urban environments either with us or among us, whereas other animals cannot judge the threats of urban areas and the threat of us humans and thus rather stay away despite the opportunities it offers in terms of food and shelters... That's something to think about...
I remember how surprised I was to learn that lantern mantles could be used on kerosene lamps. I was familiar with Coleman lanterns but didn't realize that mantles pre-dated petrol lamps.
My great-grandmother only gave measurements in her cookbook such as "a fingertip," a pinch of salt, and "a teaspoonful," or a handful. No information in grams or ounces.
Boston has eliminated her historic gas lamps out of environmental concerns. I was shocked when my wife and I went to Prague how many beautiful and bright gas mantle streetlights were still being used.
Your post reminds me how funny it is that the U.S. is always being told it isn't doing enough for the environment and global warming by most the rest of the world, especially Europe, when they can't even see their own hypocrisy for their gaslighting! Lol
When I was 5 yrs. old, our house had a gas light in the front yard. Later, I learned that that was to let people know your house had gas appliances. Wasn't that special 😮. LOL. If I remember correctly, if a mantle went bad, the gas company would come and replace it for free.
lived in a village that changed all gas lamps to use methane generated from village landfill. village at night is majical, especially during a snow storm.
Gas lamps still exist in the form of camping lanterns. They use white gas fuel, but the still uses a mantle. It's still the densest fuel source for portable lighting.
Well...gas lamps still exist in general. There are plenty of places, especially across the US where gas lamps, both open-flame and mantle variety exist and are kept operable.
These camping lanterns are the closest thing to classic gas street lights we have today, they are really bright. Careful with the mantles though, they're slightly radioactive, so don't keep them where you spend a lot of time. Still have an oil lantern in my garden shack, nice even light for when the bbq stretches till after dusk and into the night, never runs out of battery.
natural gas is almost entirely methane around here they do not add anything extra to it except and odorant for safety. Call gas is also mostly methane but it had a lot of impurities which caused uneven burning and a more yellow bright flame just like kerosene does. Deodorized kerosene that has removed a lot of the sulfur which produces much of the odor does not burn as bright in your lanterns and hurricane lamps. household and street gas lights often had multiple burners in them each producing about 6 W of light like a night light. And you could turn the gas up to get a little more light but it cost you a lot more and they produce heat which is great in the winter or in a cold climate but not so good here in Texas. My old hometown of Galveston Texas had an article in the newspaper in 1930 talking about switching over to natural gas from the cold gas generation plant. You took Cole and heated it and sprayed it with steam and hot oil and stuff to force the natural gas or methane out of the blocks of coal and this created a certain amount of pressure and it was stored in gigantic tanks that were heavy which pushed down on the store gas providing pressure to push it out across the city. All cities had these gigantic tanks suspended in big steel frameworks which allowed the open bottom steel tank to rise and fall with a water seal around the bottom held in a concrete foundation which prevented leakage very ingenious. There's a big article about it on Wikipedia. So remember your gas lights had multiple burners in them so you would have 3 to 5 or six flames turned up pretty high
In England there are a few places that use Gas lights. There are some in parts of London, also Malvern in Worcestershire, maybe other places. However, electric lights are common place, many now being changed to LED lights which are cheaper to use also longer lasting so they require less maintenance.
I just converted a beautiful old kerosene lamp I have into electric. i made it to where I can convert it back to kerosene if need be. I do keep a few kerosene lamps around incase of power outages. Always good to have back up 😊
Baltimore is an interesting city when it comes to history, there is SO much history there hidden underneath the graffiti and drug dens lol. One of my favorite things is Edgar Allen Poe's house is still there! If I ever go to Baltimore, I plan to see that.
Really interesting info on the gas lamps. Thanks! Oh, and I can verify the main reason women wore corsets is for support; Bras hadn't been invented yet. 😊
When all the homes in the subdivision where I live, were built, in 1970, they all had natural gas lights in front or the homes. By the time I bought the house, in 1979, more than two thirds of the gas lights were inoperable. By 2024, I believe that I have the only gas light operable, in the subdivision. Changing the mantles every few years, takes less than 5 minutes, and replacing the glass sides of the lamp, can be done for $10.
14:58 It should also be noted that, just like today, photographs were often touched up to remove blemishes and change contours. It is almost certain that this picture was hand painted to slim the already tightly synched waist.
True many photographs where touched up, however that woman was one of the very few women who sought attention by ACTUALLY tight-lacing. So it's an untouched photo.
Thank you for bringing to attention extraordinary value skills learnd by practice, not in theory . I made myself two oil lamps for my home just for keeping in touch with usefull technology which is abandoned not because was faulty but because was pushed by completly new solutions which required (as in case of oil lamps) electricity and grid. I prize oil lamp light for to its relaxing glow in compare to superbright today LED, find my eyes gain from this light too . When I was young in 50ties my street was lighened by gas street lamp - there were two -one was cancelled earlier second was lighting at night and lightened even wall of my sleeping room As children I can remember we had even some talking exchange with latern man and we knew him by look - he came every evening .
Fantastic stuff, an interesting change of style of video, and I like it! I particularly love the gaslight stuff. Always found them interesting. As an astronomy fan, gaslights would be welcome when stargazing because they probably wouldn't emit as much light pollution as modern streetlights today, especially the awful ones that just point the light upwards for no reason. I would love to travel back to rural Victorian England with a modern telescope and enjoy being able to see much more in the night sky.
Couple of corrections: Natural gas IS a mixture of mostly methane (95%) with the remainder being ethane and propane. No other alkanes are added to natural gas. Gas mantles glow by converting the heat flames’ heat into light using candoluminescence. The hotter the flame, the brighter the light output. The only reason modern “decorative” gas lamps are dim is the lack of a mantle. It has nothing to do with the type of gas being burned. In fact, if a mantle were installed, burning natural gas would produce a brighter light because it burns hotter.
The science behind what is in natural gas and the gas the flows into households, and the science behind what makes a mantle glow...I'll take your word for it, I'm not much of a chemist or science guy, I like history and I'm here to discuss the history behind the gas lamps. But what I will say is that, Gas Lamps existed as open-flame lamps BEFORE the use of mantles. So while yes, mantles would make modern open-flame lamps brighter, the use of coal gas and (as some people pointed out) acetylene, was used to make the flames BRIGHTER before the wide use of mantles. So some gas lamps today are remnants of open-flame lamps that existed before mantles.
@@crunchdata you’re probably right. Today people probably like the flickering flame effect for ambiance because regular lights are so good at providing stable light output. The flickering of a flame is rare and thus better to the modern human 😁
@@AlextheHistorian Guilty as charged, I am a chemist and I should have said “minor” corrections. Sometimes I make comments quickly and then upon reflection realize that they sound kinda dickish. That wasn’t my intention.
Lol, I thought you were talking about the gaslamp quarter in Sam Diego. Also, that can be a video idea because there are lots of old buildings, just like the French quarter is mew orleans
Yeah I've been to the Gas Lamp Quarter, it's very nice, but I would need to do more research on it because I couldn't find that many stories about it. Old Town has more stories, if I'm not mistaken.
Yes actually, I had purchased my now recognizable fedora in the Gas Lamp district, just across from Horton Plaza, and then afterwards I went into Horton Plaza to the Nordstrom to buy a belt and I think a shirt as well. I had only recently learned that Horton Plaza is abandoned now.
Lamps with mantles were bright, but they were not very reliable. I have kerosene lamps that use a mantle, usually called Aladdin lamp. The mantles are very fragile and must be replaced every few days. That is why they have not been added back into use.
That's strange, I used to go camping and we used gas lanterns with mantles and We'd use it for a week straight, then put it away and use it again and again for a week at a time. The mantle probably lasted 3 months of use before we needed to change it.
If you've ever used a non-electric Coleman or Tilly lamp, you've seen an old gas lamp as they used to be. Guess it's a country thing, but when I was little both my parents warned me about going behind horses and not to frighten them by being loud or making sudden movements, even though we didn't have any at the time. Personally love oil lanterns, obviously have to take care when using them, but if youn put citronella lamp oil in them they keep the mosquitoes away, no batteries to go dead at inopportune moments.
It's mostly the city folk who have no idea how to act around horses, and they can't even fathom the POWER a horse has when they kick, pull carts/wagons/streetcars, or nudge you with their face. I am a city kid myself, but I've had the great pleasure of roadtripping to various places and picking up knowledge here and there, sometimes even by the books I read. What little knowledge of horses I have was taught to me by the handlers that operate the horse-drawn streetcars at Disneyland, I'd talk with them frequently and ask all kinds of questions. However, to this day I've never pet a horse, I'm too afraid of them lol! But I have fed a wild stallion some apple slices, someone I met claims they caught the stallion themselves and let me go out there to the edge of the paddock and feed him apples. I didn't like that he caught a wild horse, but I also didn't want to pass up the opportunity to feed him apples.
The job of the town watch in early America was to light the towns lamps. The town watch evolved into the today’s police force. This concept came directly from England where they also employed the town watch. The police force was the first to use electricity as a replacement to the gas lamps.
I was lucky as a young kid learning how to act like around horses. After my Grandfather left politics he was a Jockey Agent. So I was lucky enough to wake up early in the morning and go with him on the Backstretch of the track where all the barns were kept at. An I was taught at very young age to NEVER walk behind a horse and also to always walk on the inside of the horse aka the left side when walking the same direction as the horse. Because the horses there normally kicked to the outside of them. I even worked making extra money as a kid by Hot Walking, and Grooming horses. Whenever the exercise boy was finished galloping the horse he’d bring the horse back to the barn and the Hot Walker would walk the horse around the barn for 15-30 minutes as the groomer would clean the stalls and would also wash the horse. Those horses were taken better care of than most humans are
Subscribed because hey when you're gaslighting someone this is the way to do it actually talk about gaslighting😂 . Plus something about the tone of your voice is comfortable to listen to and honestly even if you don't have a university degree in history as your disclaimer says I can understand why they called you historian because you seem to have a passion for history and the way you speak reminds me of history professors trying to get students interested in a topic 😊.
Funny thing about last names. I'm 44 and every time someone calls me Mr. (Last Name) I shudder and absolutely reject that. My grandfather was Mr. (Last Name) and he died in 2007.
@@sundrawhitham5089 That's the funny thing. I don't view using my last name as respectful. I am my first name and that's how I should be addressed. I've confirmed this thought with several coworkers who are all late GenX, or early Millennials. None like being addressed by their last name.
Corsets were worn by women who WORKED HARD ALL DAY. They were basically weight belts. Only upper class women wore them for fashion reasons. They are not only misunderstood, most people have them completely backwards.
Regular coal gas flames are as blue and throw as little light as natural gas. It burns far too clean and there is no soot in the flame. But these fine solid particles is what gets hot and glow and produce most of the light in say a candle or oil lamp flame. So for illumination they would pass it over benzene. The benzene vapour in the gas when burnt would produce some soot, which would glow in the flame, producing a bright yellow light very much like a candle flame, rather than the clean burning gas which just made a barely visible blue flame. Something like benzene isn't needed for lamps with mantles. The thing that glows in them is lanthanide or actinide metal oxide ash which is left after the cellulose cloth soaked in the corresponding nitrate burns away.
before mantles were used on gaslights, they used to use batwing burners, wch gave a long flame. original gas mantles were made using Thorium salts ( which were radioactive)
Funny about lost skills. How about simple manners? I'm not too sure why, never looked into it, ,but my best friends grandfather would absolutely go ballistic on the family if any one of us placed our elbows on the dining table. I rarely do this even 30 years later because it's been implanted into my brain. One of my biggest peeves is people who don't hold the door for someone. I always kinda make it known when it happens to me by slapping the frame or a stumble and ouch just to get a reaction. Rarely does anyone give a turkey. It's sad.
Unfortunately I have to agree with you, I've seen such a decrease in the number of people with basic manners. In my immediately family, all the old folks have long since passed on, and all that's left are the younger generations, but I have noticed that none of us put our elbows on the table, chew while talking, or let doors close behind us when someone else is walking through. We've retained our good manners, and there's something to be said that having good manners can be just as much something to be proud of, as it is commendable.
My parents built a house in the early 60s and had a gas lamp that lights the walk to the front door (the lamp is still there). It used mantles and was quite bright. It burned day and night. I'm not sure if the current owners know how to replace the mantles.
Hi Alex- A Disneyland cast member once told me their gas lamps on Main Street are originals from Baltimore- do you know if thats true? Also really like this new format
I've heard this many times, but I have a problem believing it, because if you look at the base of every gas lamp, they are stamped with the words "St. LOUIS". So I'm sure they came from Missouri. Plus the remaining ones in Baltimore are taller than the ones at Disneyland.
Gas mantles were not coated in lime, limelight was a totally different technology that used hydrogen gas and oxygen gas to heat a piece of limestone (calcium carbonate) to produce quick lime, calcium oxide, that emitted bright white light. If it got wet after the process of calcination, it would turn to slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) and release steam and heat while it swelled and crumbled. (as a side note, putting chunks of quick lime in a double walled container that stored food to be kept warm or cooked once the right proportion of water was added to the quicklime... well, it is actually another thing lost to history for the most part since modern MRE's and hand warmers use a different chemistry alltogether.) Gas mantles, used a hydrocarbon gas or vaporized liquid hydrocarbon fuel and were a woven mesh substrate on which rare earth elements like thorium, yttrium and silicates, once dissolved in nitric acid, were deposited upon the mesh, the nitric acid diluted out and then dried. The mantle woven substrate was usually an organic cellulose or silk based fiber that burnt away and the remaining inorganic rare earth elements melted and fuzed into a fragile ceramic-like skeleton around the mantle substrate fibers that burnt away in its initial firing. The rare earth elements emitted light as the gas burnt around the pores on the surface of the mantle that it passed outward through. Lime would inhibit such light emitting functions under the conditions that rare earth elements do emit in a hydrocarbon flame. Limelights were more dangerous than rare earth mantles due to exploding chunks of lime and leaking bladders of hydrogen and oxygen gas. Although very bright, limelights became pretty much the main fire hazard and fire culprit in every indoor venue they were used i.e.- stage theaters, magic lantern shows, etc.. which is why they were banned un some jurisdictions and/or replace in others by the electric carbon arc light once they became available. Another lost lighting technology based in rare earth ceramic elements was the electric Nernst lamp. Basically, like a mantle lamp only it ran on electricity like an edison bulb instead of a hydrocarbon fuel. It was much brighter than the early edison bulbs and operated at open atmospheric pressure but, it had to be preheated and ballasted unlike the edison bulbs. A Nernst lamp element was opposite in resistance to an edison bulb filament. The hotter a Nernst lamp element got, the less resistance to current it had. Thus, it needed a preheater (electric or flame) to get up to a temp to pass current and a ballast to prevent runaway current once it became a hot, conducting ceramic emitter from a cold, ceramic insulator.
having newer tech makes some skill disappear. reenactors keep the old skills alive mostly for fun or art such as blacksmiths, glassblowing, vintage gunsmithing etc., discoveries about medieval sword use show far more use of the hilt and gloved hand than what hollywood tended to show for the past century.
RE: Mixture of natual gas, propane, and methane... Natural gas IS 95% (approx) methane. It's almost like saying a mixture of methane, propane, and methane.
It's because mantles cost money, and though they last a long time, they eventually need replacing and you gotta pay someone to replace them. But mostly, even though the open flame produces a dim light...it's very attractive to the eye...even I have to admit, I love looking at open flame gas lamps. They add to the antique ambience of historic buildings and districts in a way that a mantle just doesn't.
I am a Brit and 77 hrs. As a child I remember gas lighting in the streets. Yes they were bright enough to see sufficient to walk the streets. However, not so good for driving. Car lights were not too good, as a result pedestrians were encouraged to wear or carry something white, better still a flash light, (torch to us Brits) to be seen at night. I also recall the valve to the lamp was fitted with two chains that the street lighter would pull to turn the gas on or off. I also remember a mechanical device to some lamp that could switch the lamps on automatically. I aslo remember the gas lamps being replaced by electric lighting. Some town just replaced the gas piping with electric cables and a bulb and holder.
We didn't have a bath room in our working class home. We used a steel galvanised bath, that we would place in the living room fill with hot water from the adjacent fire range. We attempted to practise modesty while bathing.
Gaslighting in other words addling your victims brains comes from a late 40s movie in which someone commits a crime but tries to confuse his victim by telling her she can't trust her senses.
1944 movie. Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotten. Directed by George Cukor. It is a fantastic film with an incredible Oscar-winning performance from Ingrid Bergman, my favorite actress.
@@wildsmileyIt's a remake of the 1940 British movie starring Anton Walbrook, which is much closer to Patrick Hamilton's stage play. The play isn't perfect, but is still a good evening's entertainment.
Anton Walbrook, in my opinion, is much better than Charles Boyer in the role, but Ingrid Bergman is sublime.
@@zacmumblethunder7466 That's right. Never saw that one. Gimme Ingrid.
Interestingly the term "gas lighting" in regards to deception refers to a specific type of deception where the deceiver is attempting to make the victim doubt their own sanity and judgement but I've noticed as the term became more popular more people began to just use the term to describe just any kind of lying or deceit in general.
@@Strideo1 I can't stand the people online who immediately jump on you with "stop gaslighting me!" if you even happen to tell them something that they even slightly doubt. I don't know how it came to mean any kind of lying, but TikTok or other social media are probably to blame.
That's what happens when people use a term for something and they have absolutely no clue what it means, and are too ignorant to check first.
Hi Alex,
I am from Germany, Frankfurt.We still have street gas lamps in the town.They are still very common in many streets.
Most of them were installed in the late 1950/60th and still work.
Berlin seems to be the capital of gas lamps , they are everywhere .
They give a great warm yellow light.
Thanks for your great video.
Danke! -I have a friend who teaches me words in German 😁
There are even more gas lamps in Dusseldorf
Acetylene gas lighting was the brightest illumination. It came into wide use in 1892. It was said to be brighter than early electric lighting. Our cousins mansion in Scotland had acetyle gas lighting. The acetylene gas generator is still there but the house has been left an empty shell after a fire damaged it in 1941. One drawback was that the glass globes in the lights sooted up and had to be cleaned every day keeping the maids busy. I don’t think acetylene was practical for use in street lights. Nowadays it’s mostly used for welding.
Miner's carbide lamps used an acetylene flame. Portable units, mounted on a hard hat, with a 2 oz reservoir, 5'' reflector and an upper chamber that held water. Water dripped over Calcium Carbide at an adjustable rate, creating acetylene gas. The gas came out a nozzle and was ignited by a flint striker. They were pretty bright. We used them in search and rescue, especially cave rescue, as late as the 1980s.
@@HootOwl513 Early automobile headlights used to be acetylene as well; first with carbide generators, then bottled gas, until electric headlights became common.
Then there was the acetylene flame, directed upon a piece of calcium (lime), which was used in theaters as 'limelight'...
acetylene was also used for lighting for cars ( made by dropping water onto Calcium Carbide in a closed vessel
Nice photo of the late queen
Another lost skill is changing out a flat tire on your own car.
Another lost skill is the "Making" coal gas form lumps of coal. Quite the process.
Another fine watch from Alex the Historian, thanks for your time and hard work.
Thanks!
@@AlextheHistorian Alex, this watch was a bit different but very enjoyable from start to finish...........
I'm glad to hear it. My content lately has been suffering from not being able to attract viewers and keep them engaged.
@@AlextheHistorian It's our fault not the content. I look forward to your impressions of New Orleans. I haven't been since the year before Katrina. Only later did I explore Magazine street and see further than Garden district and French quarter. You gotta see (many x) 1950 Streetcar Named Desire before going.
@@AlextheHistorian What was different about this watch was the various subjects in one video. The gas lamp section covered Disneyland, Boston, New Orleans and so on. The lost skills section went from baking to being careful around horses and other lost skills. Maybe try it again. People today have short attention spans -- maybe four or five shorter story blocks may be better than one longer vid on the same subject??? Just thinking.
I bet many folks recall how very bright Coleman camping lanterns could be, and yes, they had/have a mesh sleeve. We had kerosene lanterns. which came in handy when we lost power regularly in storms before the utilities started trimming branches away from the lines. Nice job researching. A younger guy at work wondered what time it was. I pointed to the clock on a turret nearby and he said he couldn't read time by the dial and hands. Dunno if he was joking or not.
Unfortunately, I don't think he was joking. Many people who are Millennials or younger, cannot read traditional dial-face clocks.
I have had a Coleman gas lantern that takes those green propane camp cylinders for the past 20 years and it works great. it also has the mesh sleeve.
@@AlextheHistorianAnother problem is some analog clocks these days are so cheap the gears are misaligned or skip causing the hour hand to pass the hour mark early making the clock look off by an hour towards the end of each hour. This is especially aggregious if the numbers or marks are huge relative to the face (or whatever it has instead). It's easy to compensate when you know it's broken or off a bit but many people I could see getting frustrated and give up on analog clocks if they keep being wrong. But that leads to a catch 22, the more people who refuse to read analog clocks, the worse clocks are made to the point they are just decoration.
That and Roman numerals, people seem to hate Roman numerals these days.
The Coleman lantern I have now (takes size D batteries) is not nearly as good as the old kerosene ones we took hunting with us as a kid. Still bright enough for maybe the first night though.
My house was built in the 1880s and still has fixtures for coal gas lamps. That's also why I have 4-meter-high ceilings, which is not an exaggeration, by the way. I have to stand on a ladder to open the top windows. I’m told this was for ventilation and to help cool the place in summer when the gas lamps were burning. I also have the original masonry heaters (cocklestove), which still work and are maintained, but are mostly just decorative these days. It must have been pretty stinky and stuffy in this building back in the day! People get nostalgic, but imagine how bad the carpets and curtains must have stunk after absorbing those odors for years on end - not to mention that everyone and their dog smoked like chimney stacks in those days!
This video explains so much! Having (obviously) grown up seeing gas lamps only at Disneyland I was always so confused how they managed to light a street with them in the old days. Now I know!
Glad I could help, Mateo!
Just used my oil lamps a couple weeks ago during a power outage. Every household should have oil lamps.
Excellent and informative Alex!
Thanks! It's good to see people are enjoying it!
Very nice. I never heard of "Coal Gas" until today. Nice video format as well. Thanks for your efforts.
Glad you enjoyed it!
In the USA, it was sometimes called "City Gas".
It was produced at locations that were often called Illuminating gas plants.
My Coleman gas lantern uses a mantle and it's amazingly bright. And yes, my grandparents had kerosene lamps put aside to use during power outages. A few years ago, in the aftermath of a hurricane, we had a power outage for several days, and you can bet we were very happy we still had those lamps and some kerosene. I trimmed the wicks a bit, and they served our needs adequately until the power was back on. Of course, a 10kW or bigger Generac standby generator would have been nicer, but we didn't have one at the time.
I find it hilarious that i have most of these "lost skills", or practiced them in my youth.
To build on your point about horses (since the automobile replaced the horse for many), another skill that is fading is the ability to repair your own car, and how an automobile works. There are a couple of different factor that go into this, the most impactful being that starting around 2000, cars became increasingly difficult for the driveway mechanic to work on, and by 2010, they were designed for certified technicians to repair with lots of proprietary tools. It used to be that anyone willing to learn a little about cars and with a basic set of tools could replace spark plugs, sand the points on the distributer, change a serpentine belt, flush the coolant system. Now, they make cars where you have to remove the whole front bumper to change a headlight bulb, and go to a certified technician to change the oil.
You are totally right. My first car was an '87 Ford 1-ton van and it didn't run when I bought it, I changed out a lot of the parts myself. Years later a friend was having trouble with their car, I don't remember what kind of car, but they asked me to look under the hood. I didn't recognize anything or even how to disassemble it. I told them they had to get a professional lol!
One can still change the oil and filter, the air and cabin filters, the brake pads and rotors, and wiper blades. Luckily, there are no more points, and plugs and coolant last 100K miles. Also, LEDs don't fail often, and plastic timing belts are gone. The only oil hangup is that you need to remove a bottom cover. That cover helps milage and keeps things cleaner. Thankfully, I don't have all that stuff to do that I used to do on my 1979 Ford.
@@ByWire-yk8eh While some may see those as advancements, others see it as forced obsolescence. All of those things are much more difficult to get to, require specialty tools, and specialty knowledge. Computer controlled ignition is much more difficult and expensive to repair, and computer controlled fuel injection makes problems difficult to chase. Distributers and carburetors will always be easier to repair, tune, and upgrade. I agree that timing belts are ludicrous; chains or gears & pushrods will always outlast a timing belt. LEDs may last longer than halogens and sealed beams, but they do still fail eventually. Plugs may last 100k miles, but they will still need to be replaced eventually, too. The removal of the bottom cover to change the oil is one more part requiring specialty tools, and one more step for a job that shouldn't take longer than a haircut to complete. Despite the "advancements" in the technology, parts _will_ eventually fail, and they _will_ need to be replaced. Drivers are being separated from the complete experience of car ownership itself, including the operation and repair.
@@sptownsend999
I'm in my 70s.
I used to do ALL the work needed on my vehicles, since the first one I owned.
I've 'ground up' restored several vehicles.
In the 1990s I had a 1986 Subaru that needed an engine rebuild.
FORGET IT!!!
I'm now reluctant to do more than open the bonnet on any post-1980 vehicle.
My heart breaks every time I have to hand over the keys to my current Subaru to a 'mechanic'.
Fortunately I've found a 'good' one - but I still check his work.
Any machinery operator will be more effective - and safer - if they know how their machinery works - in detail.
The likelihood of today's drivers having ANY idea - or interest in - how their vehicle actually works is negligible.
I really like this video format, it immediately grabs your attention
That's a relief to hear because my channel has been in need of something that holds people's attention, so many people who click on my videos end up leaving in the first minute!
One thing most people don't understand are the role of bathhouses. It's funny how oblivious people are to the fact that three or four generations ago running water and electricity were only a thing in major cities!
A village may have a single well for everyone to use and it wouldn't be the bucket well, as that one takes too long... Towns had often springs with running water (since the Middle Ages, as they knew that running water is safer to drink) which were decorative, but meant for you to fill up buckets which you would use at home to wash yourself, do your kitchen work, etc... Cities had a bathhouse for pretty much every few blocks and people may go there after work every day before going home! This was both for washing yourself with some comfort, but also for socializing!
I also have 2 oil lamps and lamp oil for emergencies. One winter the power was out for a whole weekend, I was happy to have these old lamps!
Never seen your channel before and this video was awesome. I always wonder about things like this through history that most people would find boring or uninteresting. Keep it up! living in New England, I always see tons of old lamps scattered about.
If anyone wants to listen to a really nice and old song about lamplighters, search "The Old Lamplighter by Sammy Kaye". One of my favorites.
Edit: I wanted to add that I am 33 and was also raised calling people Mr., Mrs., and Miss. I'd even call my friends parent's up the road Mr. and Mrs Jacobs and never by their first name. I honestly still do this when I meet someone new, unless they tell me not to. Also, Sir and Ma'am were common growing up. I don't understand how just since the 90's, society has de-evolved so much so quickly. I blame internet and social media. Got rid of my cell phone 4 years ago!!
Well it also proliferated with the common addage "Mr/Mrs (Smith), was my Father/Mother, my name is (first name)". I never saw anything wrong with people calling me by my last name, I didn't feel old or anything, but for some reason, people just don't like to be called by their last names anymore.
Having a gas lamppost in the front yard was pretty common in my old neighborhood. They weren't terribly bright but did provide nice illumination for driveways and sidewalks and added a nice touch to the area. My Dad was one of the few who rejected them for some reason. They went out of style around the Mid East Oil Embargo time frame.
Another interesting thing I've noticed about Victorian fashion is that men always wear hats outside. I don't think I've ever seen picture of men from the early 20th century without hats. Even people who do hard labor wear hats.
That's true, that should be a topic on my next video.
@@AlextheHistorian Most men in the US, still wore hats until 1960.
I would account many customs to practical walking conditions. My guess is cars were not popular as today, mass transport not enough, so when walking was practical to have cover for hair and round part to shade eyes from sun or even to prevent rain drops. Umbrella wasn't always at hand. Also popular was using rain coat cloak for heavy rainy weather. Now people have much less chances to walk far or use often opened type carriage in bad weather.
YES! I agree! People didn't have cars or sunblock back then. Also it kept hair cleaner longer from dirt ask and smoke. You would be considered naked without a hat back then.
From some etiquette I know, this is how you would address people outside your family;
Mr. Bennet (Father & Husband)
Mrs. Bennet (Wife & Mother)
Miss Bennet (Oldest Daughter, first name excluded)
Miss Elizabeth Bennet (2nd oldest daughter, first name begins to be added)
Miss Mary Bennet (3rd oldest daughter)
Miss Lydia Bennet (Youngest daughter)
Young Mister Bennet (If oldest son had same first name as father)
Mr. George Bennet (First names added for all sons)
*You would only be first name basis with someone if your are immediate family related by blood or marriage. People were very conscious of one's class ranking, sex, and age. This makes our pronouns simple compared to years past.
What a great video sir!
It hits home for me, as I am a country kid, and much of what you said is on subjects I learned as time went by growing up!
From gas lamps to horse sense and even oil lamp usage! But even the bathing and other subjects were interesting. Although corset usage never caught on with the girls and women in our neck of the woods, and they were prone to go as the boys and men with what we wore, comfortable and lose fitting.
But one thing I disagree on, is the bathing three or more times a day, and having to slather on lotion afterwards. A person who had to have lotion after a bath, had to have very poor soap that stripped the natural oils from their skin. In those cases where I will have to get a third shower, I will forgo any shampoo or soap, as the water alone is able to get the dirt and dust off without any help from soap. But if I do use soap and shampoo, it is a gentle product that doesn't damage the skin or hair.
Otherwise, the video seems spot on! And although you didn't get super technical about the gas used in the early days for illuminating, the fact you had a chart showing the danger of burning the gas having a poisonous effect shows you did your homework, as the gas in the early days of illumination needed high levels of carbon in order to get a bright flame, and that carbon turned into carbon monoxide which builds up in the body and can slowly poison someone. Fortunately, with today's oil and gas lamps, we use much safer products and fuels.
Keep up the great work! It is very entertaining, and I hope you enjoy Nawlans, as the locals call it!
Thank you very much Jeffrey!
Fun fact: Big Ben was originally lit by gas lamps. If you see videos of inside the clock face, you'll see a couple of metal ladders embedded in the wall.
Gas probably was cheaper at the time and more reliable than electricity. My cousin owned a building downtown and the second and third floor had apartments. Most of these were one room apt, had a window and transom. From the ceiling was a pendent lamp hanging down that was probably combo gas/electric fixture. I looked under the staircase and there was a bank of gas pipes that originally went to gas meters for each little apt. BTW, there were maybe six apt on that floor, one sink in the common area and one bathroom for everyone.
This was interesting my company actually services and installs gaslights and I knew you were going to discuss the mantles. I would say 20% of the lights we put in still have one. There’s two different types, soft and hard, the hard mantle are much brighter, but more fragile. This is my first time hearing that Gas has changed over time. I was unaware of that. I also want to get one of those lighting stick so I’m gonna be heading to eBay.
Actually, natural gas wasn’t a thing in Europe until after WW2. In the first post-war years most gasworks first replaced coal as feedstock by oil or nafta. When natural gas became more widely available most utilities started a transition that included replacing or adjusting all appliances. At this time a lot of gas streetlights were replaced by electric ones, as the cost of adjusting them to natural gas was deemed to be prohibitive. One of the few areas where a changeover to natural gas did occur quite lately was Northern Ireland, where the Tory government simply had the gas industry shut down for good in the 1980s. Piped gas became available again in the 1990s when a gas pipeline between Scotland and NI was opened. Another interesting case is Copenhagen, Denmark. They kept using manufactured gas until the early 2000s and then switched over to a blend of natural gas and atmospheric air, called Bygas2 (“town gas second generation”). Apparently, this limited the cost of the changeover as newer appliances could use the new gas without any adjustments
@@babicka1 that’s pretty fascinating. I had no idea and I’ve been working with natural gas and propane for the last 25 years only really in the United States. I do appreciate history and these are a lot of questions I’ve always had. I will say that mantle gaslight were far more common until about the year 2000 when open flames started becoming trendy after a time it just became the standard. I still import mantles from India, but I don’t sell nearly the volume. I once did.
Alex...its your favorite psychologist friend here. I Loved the tongue and cheek joke here. Also this video is fantastic!!!
Glad you enjoyed it! Although I don't know what joke you're referring
People that lived out in the country didn't have access to gas lines. My great grandfathers house had a carbide generator in the yard that made acetylene gas for lighting and cooking
My 1920 home originally had no electricity and gas lighting. In the basement and in the walls the plumbing was still there.
I am nearly 60 and I think that I was brought up at the end up the time where experience with horses was more common among older people, but not necessarily with my parents generation. But I consciously made an effort to get to know horses because I happened to live near where horses were kept, and I am comfortable with them. And it was kind of instilled into me as I learned to drive a car, as a carryover from the horse days by the older people who I knew who taught me. You see, a horse is aware of its surroundings and wouldn’t just crash into a wall. It would see it not sense it was getting close to something and the person driving the horse kind of got a connection going with the horse, and there was a kind of trusting communication going on. It was a sense, and not a real communication if you know what I mean. You kind of had to be aware that another horse was coming up alongside you, or coming from a side road and you had to be aware that the horse you were on might not see it or the other person might not see you or they might not have full control of their horse and you needed to be aware of that and be able to anticipate it and prepare for it in case it happened. And today, with cars, and with younger people learning to drive and were taught by people younger than me, they seem to not have that “horse sense” carryover that I have. And you combine that with the distractions of today and the modern sensors in cars that alert you to lane changes or if you are drifting etc and the young people are just not as skilled at driving as older generations were. It’s not a knock on young people, mind you. It’s dealing with the cards you were dealt. I could go on about it but I don’t want people to get upset about it. But be aware that there are older people out there who drive cars without any sensors in them and they are totally aware of where their cars are in space and they see most young people doing things and they are shaking their heads. And they would never let a young person drive their older cars because they know the young people would assume the car would alert them that they are about to crash into a wall. And it just won’t and the car would be ruined and the person hurt or worse.
My truck has an anti theft device. It's called a clutch. It also has manual locking doors, and roll down windows. It's not a convenient vehicle for those people addicted to convenience. Several convenience items don't work.
It's too old and doesn't have much value to anyone but me. Maybe that's anti theft it's self. Fortunately I can work on it myself. I have paper manuals that will still work when the internet goes down.
The Thorium Dioxide or Lyme coated mantles make a HUGE difference.
I caught your channel for the first time just now. Thank you for a very interesting and informative video. I’m looking forward to future episodes.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!
The original gas lit Moon Towers in Austin Texas originally came from Detroit. The design of them comes from Paris. Luckily Austin has been able to keep a few of them alive.
Alright alright alright
Interestingly during that time period when they had those Moon Towers running in 1884-1885 there was a serial killer on the loose in Austin called the Servant Girl Annihilator who did just that; murdered mostly servant girls.
This was before Jack the Ripper's killing spree in London and like Jack the Ripper the killer was never caught.
Funny enough some people theorize that the Servant Girl Annihilator and Jack the Ripper could be the same killer but that seems far fetched to me.
Those little carbide lamps (calcium carbide and water) like the miners wore on their hardhat make acetylene gas and produce a surprisingly bright light. Extremely simple tech yet it produces a very effective light -- as long as you're not in a methane or other volatile gas atmosphere, where having a glowing bright open flame is not a good idea.
Thanks Alex! Early Disneyland publicity often stated that there would be actual lamp lighters on Main Street. Not sure if that ever happened. Also, there was a time when mantles were used on Main Street. Imagineer Eddie Sotto told me they stopped using them because they liked the flame effect better (although I think it was probably more a cost issue!)
Yeah I'm in agreement that it was probably a cost issue. Although I will say, that despite all the talk I gave about gas lamps using modern gas and it not being bright enough, open flame gas lamps still look more interesting than a gas mantle!
Interestingly I have a vague notion that there are other kitschy "old timey" reproductions of things that don't work as well as the real things because they're more about nostalgia and fascination with the feeling of the past than actual functionality but I just can't think of any good examples off the top of my head right now.
Gas cylinders used indoors are usually butane. It is cleaner burning, but does not work at low temperatures. Propane gas cylinders are usually used outside, because it is not as clean burning but works at much low temperatures. Camping gas cylinders are usually a mix of butane and propane, so they will light at freezing temperatures
In Germany, horses were subject to military service. So oxen pulled the cart.
Poor farmers often had their dairy cows pull the cart, which meant poor milk production.
Once a year the dairy cow has to go to the ox so that she can calve and produce milk again.
The young calf must soon be weaned from milk so that the farmer can milk the cow.
The young calf also had to learn to pull the cart.
Awesome video alex well done❤
Thanks Ozzie!
CHEERS ALEX,, GREAT INTERESTING VIDEO ,, THANK YOU FOR WORKING SO HARD TO BRING THIS OLD HISTORY TO MY FAMILY TO LEARN ABOUT THE OLD DAYS.. MY SON MAX 9 YR.S OLD SAYS HE LIKES THE LIGHTING BUGS FLYING AROUND WITH THERE LITTLE LIGHT SHUTING OFF THEN ON ,,, THERE SO FUN TO SEE IN NATURE .. THANK YOU...
Thanks Ronald. Tell Max I like lightning bugs too!
Really enjoying this, maybe you could do videos about other things of Victorian/past homes, like coal fires etc.
That's a good idea! I could use any suggestions people have, I think the next video might talk about hazardous home decor.
We had a gas light - just one - in the house I grew up in. It came in handy if there was a power cut. It also gave off a surprising amount of heat.
The horse part reminds me of what just happened to me today:
I was walking and heard something from the bushes and something seemed to be darting in my direction. Without thinking I went into a boxer stance with clenched fists and my forearms protecting my neck.
Out came a small cat and it saw my response and instantly froze up. We exchanged looks, which I can only interpret as _R U cool? Yes, how about you?_ and the cat ran past me.
Cats, dogs, horses, and probably a few wild animals such as ravens, pigeons, and raccoons have learned to read humans and we have become familiar with them. This means that they can thrive in urban environments either with us or among us, whereas other animals cannot judge the threats of urban areas and the threat of us humans and thus rather stay away despite the opportunities it offers in terms of food and shelters... That's something to think about...
I remember how surprised I was to learn that lantern mantles could be used on kerosene lamps. I was familiar with Coleman lanterns but didn't realize that mantles pre-dated petrol lamps.
My great-grandmother only gave measurements in her cookbook such as "a fingertip," a pinch of salt, and "a teaspoonful," or a handful. No information in grams or ounces.
Boston has eliminated her historic gas lamps out of environmental concerns. I was shocked when my wife and I went to Prague how many beautiful and bright gas mantle streetlights were still being used.
Your post reminds me how funny it is that the U.S. is always being told it isn't doing enough for the environment and global warming by most the rest of the world, especially Europe, when they can't even see their own hypocrisy for their gaslighting! Lol
I've seen gas lamps (using mantle) in Jena, Germany. It's as bright as electric light, one can see the difference by a close look at the lamp only.
When I was 5 yrs. old, our house had a gas light in the front yard. Later, I learned that that was to let people know your house had gas appliances. Wasn't that special 😮. LOL. If I remember correctly, if a mantle went bad, the gas company would come and replace it for free.
lived in a village that changed all gas lamps to use methane generated from village landfill. village at night is majical, especially during a snow storm.
Very cool topic, and well presented!
have fun and be safe in new orleans! lots of nice gas lamps in the marigny triangle. look over your shoulder!
Thanks for the tip!
You know, I have always been suspicious of gaslit street lights.
Gas lamps still exist in the form of camping lanterns. They use white gas fuel, but the still uses a mantle. It's still the densest fuel source for portable lighting.
Well...gas lamps still exist in general. There are plenty of places, especially across the US where gas lamps, both open-flame and mantle variety exist and are kept operable.
These camping lanterns are the closest thing to classic gas street lights we have today, they are really bright.
Careful with the mantles though, they're slightly radioactive, so don't keep them where you spend a lot of time.
Still have an oil lantern in my garden shack, nice even light for when the bbq stretches till after dusk and into the night, never runs out of battery.
natural gas is almost entirely methane around here they do not add anything extra to it except and odorant for safety. Call gas is also mostly methane but it had a lot of impurities which caused uneven burning and a more yellow bright flame just like kerosene does. Deodorized kerosene that has removed a lot of the sulfur which produces much of the odor does not burn as bright in your lanterns and hurricane lamps. household and street gas lights often had multiple burners in them each producing about 6 W of light like a night light. And you could turn the gas up to get a little more light but it cost you a lot more and they produce heat which is great in the winter or in a cold climate but not so good here in Texas. My old hometown of Galveston Texas had an article in the newspaper in 1930 talking about switching over to natural gas from the cold gas generation plant. You took Cole and heated it and sprayed it with steam and hot oil and stuff to force the natural gas or methane out of the blocks of coal and this created a certain amount of pressure and it was stored in gigantic tanks that were heavy which pushed down on the store gas providing pressure to push it out across the city. All cities had these gigantic tanks suspended in big steel frameworks which allowed the open bottom steel tank to rise and fall with a water seal around the bottom held in a concrete foundation which prevented leakage very ingenious. There's a big article about it on Wikipedia. So remember your gas lights had multiple burners in them so you would have 3 to 5 or six flames turned up pretty high
Nice commentary. Good observation.
Thanks!
In England there are a few places that use Gas lights. There are some in parts of London, also Malvern in Worcestershire, maybe other places. However, electric lights are common place, many now being changed to LED lights which are cheaper to use also longer lasting so they require less maintenance.
I just converted a beautiful old kerosene lamp I have into electric. i made it to where I can convert it back to kerosene if need be. I do keep a few kerosene lamps around incase of power outages. Always good to have back up 😊
This has to be one of the few huge things Baltimore was first at doing
Baltimore is an interesting city when it comes to history, there is SO much history there hidden underneath the graffiti and drug dens lol. One of my favorite things is Edgar Allen Poe's house is still there! If I ever go to Baltimore, I plan to see that.
@@AlextheHistorianabsolutely, i was kidding earlier. Id like to go as well to see the architecture and Poes place
Really interesting info on the gas lamps. Thanks! Oh, and I can verify the main reason women wore corsets is for support; Bras hadn't been invented yet. 😊
Ah. How...uplifting! 😂
@@AlextheHistorian LOL
The lamp lighter is almost identical to the Altar Candle lighters Altar Servers use in the Catholic Church.
When all the homes in the subdivision where I live, were built, in 1970, they all had natural gas lights in front or the homes. By the time I bought the house, in 1979, more than two thirds of the gas lights were inoperable. By 2024, I believe that I have the only gas light operable, in the subdivision. Changing the mantles every few years, takes less than 5 minutes, and replacing the glass sides of the lamp, can be done for $10.
I applaud you for maintaining your gas lamp. That's a feature of a home I would appreciate.
Great history indeed! I like your video format!
Thank you so much!
Alex, very enjoyable watching you very informative. Thank you so much.
Thanks Kevin, that's nice of you to say!
Very interesting, thanks.
14:58 It should also be noted that, just like today, photographs were often touched up to remove blemishes and change contours. It is almost certain that this picture was hand painted to slim the already tightly synched waist.
True many photographs where touched up, however that woman was one of the very few women who sought attention by ACTUALLY tight-lacing. So it's an untouched photo.
Thank you for bringing to attention extraordinary value skills learnd by practice, not in theory . I made myself two oil lamps for my home just for keeping in touch with usefull technology which is abandoned not because was faulty but because was pushed by completly new solutions which required (as in case of oil lamps) electricity and grid. I prize oil lamp light for to its relaxing glow in compare to superbright today LED, find my eyes gain from this light too .
When I was young in 50ties my street was lighened by gas street lamp - there were two -one was cancelled earlier second was lighting at night and lightened even wall of my sleeping room As children I can remember we had even some talking exchange with latern man and we knew him by look - he came every evening .
Excellent...I loved it ty
Fantastic stuff, an interesting change of style of video, and I like it! I particularly love the gaslight stuff. Always found them interesting. As an astronomy fan, gaslights would be welcome when stargazing because they probably wouldn't emit as much light pollution as modern streetlights today, especially the awful ones that just point the light upwards for no reason. I would love to travel back to rural Victorian England with a modern telescope and enjoy being able to see much more in the night sky.
Glad you liked the video!
Love this! Sharing.
Thanks Justin!
One of my friends great great grandpa died from the gas lights in his house. They somehow had the flame go out
Great vid!
Thank you!
Couple of corrections:
Natural gas IS a mixture of mostly methane (95%) with the remainder being ethane and propane. No other alkanes are added to natural gas.
Gas mantles glow by converting the heat flames’ heat into light using candoluminescence. The hotter the flame, the brighter the light output.
The only reason modern “decorative” gas lamps are dim is the lack of a mantle. It has nothing to do with the type of gas being burned. In fact, if a mantle were installed, burning natural gas would produce a brighter light because it burns hotter.
The science behind what is in natural gas and the gas the flows into households, and the science behind what makes a mantle glow...I'll take your word for it, I'm not much of a chemist or science guy, I like history and I'm here to discuss the history behind the gas lamps. But what I will say is that, Gas Lamps existed as open-flame lamps BEFORE the use of mantles. So while yes, mantles would make modern open-flame lamps brighter, the use of coal gas and (as some people pointed out) acetylene, was used to make the flames BRIGHTER before the wide use of mantles. So some gas lamps today are remnants of open-flame lamps that existed before mantles.
I wonder why it is that mantles are not used on modern primarily decorative gas lights. My guess is that the flame looks nicer to the eye.
@@crunchdata you’re probably right. Today people probably like the flickering flame effect for ambiance because regular lights are so good at providing stable light output. The flickering of a flame is rare and thus better to the modern human 😁
@@AlextheHistorian Guilty as charged, I am a chemist and I should have said “minor” corrections. Sometimes I make comments quickly and then upon reflection realize that they sound kinda dickish. That wasn’t my intention.
@crunchdata that's exactly it, the flame looks nicer.
Lol, I thought you were talking about the gaslamp quarter in Sam Diego. Also, that can be a video idea because there are lots of old buildings, just like the French quarter is mew orleans
Yeah I've been to the Gas Lamp Quarter, it's very nice, but I would need to do more research on it because I couldn't find that many stories about it. Old Town has more stories, if I'm not mistaken.
@AlextheHistorian have you ever seen horton Plaza well.atleast before they demolished it for the ugly stuff it used to look very uni5
Yes actually, I had purchased my now recognizable fedora in the Gas Lamp district, just across from Horton Plaza, and then afterwards I went into Horton Plaza to the Nordstrom to buy a belt and I think a shirt as well. I had only recently learned that Horton Plaza is abandoned now.
@AlextheHistorian it's actually bieng rebuilt, but it's no longer unique it's now just ugly blocky buildings the old one was better
Lamps with mantles were bright, but they were not very reliable. I have kerosene lamps that use a mantle, usually called Aladdin lamp. The mantles are very fragile and must be replaced every few days. That is why they have not been added back into use.
That's strange, I used to go camping and we used gas lanterns with mantles and We'd use it for a week straight, then put it away and use it again and again for a week at a time. The mantle probably lasted 3 months of use before we needed to change it.
If you've ever used a non-electric Coleman or Tilly lamp, you've seen an old gas lamp as they used to be.
Guess it's a country thing, but when I was little both my parents warned me about going behind horses and not to frighten them by being loud or making sudden movements, even though we didn't have any at the time.
Personally love oil lanterns, obviously have to take care when using them, but if youn put citronella lamp oil in them they keep the mosquitoes away, no batteries to go dead at inopportune moments.
It's mostly the city folk who have no idea how to act around horses, and they can't even fathom the POWER a horse has when they kick, pull carts/wagons/streetcars, or nudge you with their face. I am a city kid myself, but I've had the great pleasure of roadtripping to various places and picking up knowledge here and there, sometimes even by the books I read. What little knowledge of horses I have was taught to me by the handlers that operate the horse-drawn streetcars at Disneyland, I'd talk with them frequently and ask all kinds of questions. However, to this day I've never pet a horse, I'm too afraid of them lol! But I have fed a wild stallion some apple slices, someone I met claims they caught the stallion themselves and let me go out there to the edge of the paddock and feed him apples. I didn't like that he caught a wild horse, but I also didn't want to pass up the opportunity to feed him apples.
The job of the town watch in early America was to light the towns lamps. The town watch evolved into the today’s police force. This concept came directly from England where they also employed the town watch. The police force was the first to use electricity as a replacement to the gas lamps.
I was lucky as a young kid learning how to act like around horses. After my Grandfather left politics he was a Jockey Agent. So I was lucky enough to wake up early in the morning and go with him on the Backstretch of the track where all the barns were kept at. An I was taught at very young age to NEVER walk behind a horse and also to always walk on the inside of the horse aka the left side when walking the same direction as the horse. Because the horses there normally kicked to the outside of them. I even worked making extra money as a kid by Hot Walking, and Grooming horses. Whenever the exercise boy was finished galloping the horse he’d bring the horse back to the barn and the Hot Walker would walk the horse around the barn for 15-30 minutes as the groomer would clean the stalls and would also wash the horse. Those horses were taken better care of than most humans are
Will paste put together video very informational and entertaining at the same time subscription added
Thank you so much!
Subscribed because hey when you're gaslighting someone this is the way to do it actually talk about gaslighting😂 . Plus something about the tone of your voice is comfortable to listen to and honestly even if you don't have a university degree in history as your disclaimer says I can understand why they called you historian because you seem to have a passion for history and the way you speak reminds me of history professors trying to get students interested in a topic 😊.
Lol well thanks for subscribing, I appreciate it! Yes I love history and I try to get everyone as excited about it as I am.
Gas kamp had elements over the flame which got super hot and gave off bright light
It sounds like you're talking about the mantle
Funny thing about last names. I'm 44 and every time someone calls me Mr. (Last Name) I shudder and absolutely reject that. My grandfather was Mr. (Last Name) and he died in 2007.
Yeah thats the reason why calling people by their last names has pretty much stopped.
That is kind of a rude reaction to a person treating you with respect.
@@sundrawhitham5089 That's the funny thing. I don't view using my last name as respectful. I am my first name and that's how I should be addressed. I've confirmed this thought with several coworkers who are all late GenX, or early Millennials. None like being addressed by their last name.
In Hong Kong there are 4 gas street lamps still operating
I love William Murdoch He also invented the Steam Carriage and the Sun-and-Planet Gear.
Corsets were worn by women who WORKED HARD ALL DAY. They were basically weight belts. Only upper class women wore them for fashion reasons. They are not only misunderstood, most people have them completely backwards.
It was world war two that truly made them unfashionable.
Regular coal gas flames are as blue and throw as little light as natural gas. It burns far too clean and there is no soot in the flame. But these fine solid particles is what gets hot and glow and produce most of the light in say a candle or oil lamp flame.
So for illumination they would pass it over benzene. The benzene vapour in the gas when burnt would produce some soot, which would glow in the flame, producing a bright yellow light very much like a candle flame, rather than the clean burning gas which just made a barely visible blue flame.
Something like benzene isn't needed for lamps with mantles. The thing that glows in them is lanthanide or actinide metal oxide ash which is left after the cellulose cloth soaked in the corresponding nitrate burns away.
before mantles were used on gaslights, they used to use batwing burners, wch gave a long flame. original gas mantles were made using Thorium salts ( which were radioactive)
You're gaslighting us.
Lol! First comment I read when I opened UA-cam today, and it made me laugh out loud 😂
You mean gaslamped!
We WERE being gaslighted, he has shown us the light
Funny about lost skills. How about simple manners? I'm not too sure why, never looked into it, ,but my best friends grandfather would absolutely go ballistic on the family if any one of us placed our elbows on the dining table. I rarely do this even 30 years later because it's been implanted into my brain. One of my biggest peeves is people who don't hold the door for someone. I always kinda make it known when it happens to me by slapping the frame or a stumble and ouch just to get a reaction. Rarely does anyone give a turkey. It's sad.
Unfortunately I have to agree with you, I've seen such a decrease in the number of people with basic manners. In my immediately family, all the old folks have long since passed on, and all that's left are the younger generations, but I have noticed that none of us put our elbows on the table, chew while talking, or let doors close behind us when someone else is walking through. We've retained our good manners, and there's something to be said that having good manners can be just as much something to be proud of, as it is commendable.
Love oil lamps
a measure of sugar was just around a cup, you could grab a cup fill it with sugar and call it a day.
The first electrically lit city is wabash indiana!!!
My parents built a house in the early 60s and had a gas lamp that lights the walk to the front door (the lamp is still there). It used mantles and was quite bright. It burned day and night. I'm not sure if the current owners know how to replace the mantles.
haha I never knew how interesting it was..
We never lost our gas lamp's down in old New Orleans 😇
Great program. Are you from the Philippines?
Thank you, no I am from the USA.
Hi Alex- A Disneyland cast member once told me their gas lamps on Main Street are originals from Baltimore- do you know if thats true? Also really like this new format
I've heard this many times, but I have a problem believing it, because if you look at the base of every gas lamp, they are stamped with the words "St. LOUIS". So I'm sure they came from Missouri. Plus the remaining ones in Baltimore are taller than the ones at Disneyland.
In my town all the street lamps are gas lamps
Nice!
Gas mantles were not coated in lime, limelight was a totally different technology that used hydrogen gas and oxygen gas to heat a piece of limestone (calcium carbonate) to produce quick lime, calcium oxide, that emitted bright white light.
If it got wet after the process of calcination, it would turn to slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) and release steam and heat while it swelled and crumbled. (as a side note, putting chunks of quick lime in a double walled container that stored food to be kept warm or cooked once the right proportion of water was added to the quicklime... well, it is actually another thing lost to history for the most part since modern MRE's and hand warmers use a different chemistry alltogether.)
Gas mantles, used a hydrocarbon gas or vaporized liquid hydrocarbon fuel and were a woven mesh substrate on which rare earth elements like thorium, yttrium and silicates, once dissolved in nitric acid, were deposited upon the mesh, the nitric acid diluted out and then dried.
The mantle woven substrate was usually an organic cellulose or silk based fiber that burnt away and the remaining inorganic rare earth elements melted and fuzed into a fragile ceramic-like skeleton around the mantle substrate fibers that burnt away in its initial firing. The rare earth elements emitted light as the gas burnt around the pores on the surface of the mantle that it passed outward through. Lime would inhibit such light emitting functions under the conditions that rare earth elements do emit in a hydrocarbon flame.
Limelights were more dangerous than rare earth mantles due to exploding chunks of lime and leaking bladders of hydrogen and oxygen gas. Although very bright, limelights became pretty much the main fire hazard and fire culprit in every indoor venue they were used i.e.- stage theaters, magic lantern shows, etc.. which is why they were banned un some jurisdictions and/or replace in others by the electric carbon arc light once they became available.
Another lost lighting technology based in rare earth ceramic elements was the electric Nernst lamp. Basically, like a mantle lamp only it ran on electricity like an edison bulb instead of a hydrocarbon fuel. It was much brighter than the early edison bulbs and operated at open atmospheric pressure but, it had to be preheated and ballasted unlike the edison bulbs. A Nernst lamp element was opposite in resistance to an edison bulb filament. The hotter a Nernst lamp element got, the less resistance to current it had. Thus, it needed a preheater (electric or flame) to get up to a temp to pass current and a ballast to prevent runaway current once it became a hot, conducting ceramic emitter from a cold, ceramic insulator.
I was being Gaslit, i am not crazy, they are out to get me!
having newer tech makes some skill disappear. reenactors keep the old skills alive mostly for fun or art such as blacksmiths, glassblowing, vintage gunsmithing etc., discoveries about medieval sword use show far more use of the hilt and gloved hand than what hollywood tended to show for the past century.
RE: Mixture of natual gas, propane, and methane...
Natural gas IS 95% (approx) methane. It's almost like saying a mixture of methane, propane, and methane.
why don't the lamp owners add the mantle back ? it last for a long time and makes a nicer light than the candle light gas flame.
It's because mantles cost money, and though they last a long time, they eventually need replacing and you gotta pay someone to replace them. But mostly, even though the open flame produces a dim light...it's very attractive to the eye...even I have to admit, I love looking at open flame gas lamps. They add to the antique ambience of historic buildings and districts in a way that a mantle just doesn't.
You are cool 😎