Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Gas Lighting shopping experience:
1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Gas Lighting offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Gas Lighting at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.
2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about
3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Gas Lighting? Wrong! If the Gas Lighting is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.
4. Questions - Got a question about Gas Lighting then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Gas Lighting? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Gas Lighting and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.
6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Gas Lighting wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.
7. Feedback - happy with your Gas Lighting then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.
8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Gas Lighting site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Gas Lighting, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Gas Lighting, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
Gas lighting is the process of burning piped
natural gas or
coal gas for
lighting. Before electricity became sufficiently widespread and economical to allow for general public use, gas was the most popular means of lighting in cities and suburbs. Early gas lights had to be lit manually but soon gas lights could light themselves.
History
, Poland
Background
Early lighting fuels consisted of olive oil,
beeswax,
fish oil,
whale oil,
sesame oil, nut oil, and similar substances. These were the most commonly used fuels until the late 18th century.
Public illumination preceded the discovery and adoption of gaslight by centuries. In 1417, Sir Henry Barton, mayor of London, ordained "lanterns with lights to be hanged out on the winter evenings between All Saints and
Candlemas."
Paris was first lit by an order issued in
1524; and in the beginning of the sixteenth century the inhabitants were ordered to keep lights burning in the windows of all houses that faced the streets. In 1668, when some regulations were made for improving the streets of London, the residents were reminded to hang out their lanterns at the usual time; and in
1690 an order was issued to hang out a light, or lamp, every night as soon as it was dark, from Michaelmas to Christmas. By an act of the common council in
1716, all housekeepers, whose houses faced any street, lane, or passage, were required to hang out, every dark night, one or more lights, to burn from six to eleven o'clock, under the penalty of one shilling.
Coal and natural gases were known originally for their adverse effects rather than their useful qualities. Miners described two types, called the
choke damp and the
fire damp. In
1667 a paper detailing the effects of these was entitled, "A Description of a Well and Earth in Lancashire taking Fire, by a Candle approaching to it. Imparted by Thomas Shirley, Esq an eye-witness."
Dr. Stephen Hales was the first person who procured a flammable fluid from the actual distillation of coal. His experiments with this object are related in the first volume of his Vegetable Statics, published in
1726. From the distillation of "one hundred and fifty-eight grains g of Newcastle coal, he states that he obtained one hundred and eighty cubic inches L of air, which weighed fifty-one grains g, being nearly one third of the whole." These results seemed to have passed without notice for several years.
In the
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in 1733, some properties of coal-gas are detailed in a paper called, "An Account of the Damp Air in a Coal-pit of
Sir James Lowther, 4th Baronet, sunk within Twenty Yards of the Sea." This paper, contained some striking facts relating to the flammability and other properties of coal gas.
The principal properties of coal-gas were demonstrated to different members of the Royal Society, and showed that after keeping the gas sometime, it still retained its flammability. Remarkably, the scientists of the time still saw no useful purpose for it.
Dr. John Clayton, in an extract from a letter in the "Philosophical Transactions" for 1735, calls gas the "spirit" of coal; and discovered its flammability by an accident. This "spirit" happened to catch fire, by coming in contact with a candle, as it escaped from a fracture in one of his distillatory vessels. By preserving the gas in bladders, he entertained his friends, by exhibiting its flammability.
The first gas lighting
The man who first utilised the flammability of gas for the practical application of lighting, was William Murdoch (sometimes spelled 'Murdock'), who worked for
Matthew Boulton and James Watt at their Soho Foundry steam engine works in
Birmingham England. Murdoch began experimenting with various types of gas in the early 1790s, finally settling on coal gas as the most effective. In 1798 he used gas to light the main building of the Soho Foundry and in 1802 lit the outside in a public display of gas lighting, the lights astonishing the local population. One of the employees at the Soho Foundry, Samuel Clegg, saw the potential of this new form of lighting. Clegg left his job to set up his own gas lighting business, the Gas Lighting and Coke Company.
German inventor Freidrich Winzer (Winsor) was the first person to patent coal gas lighting in 1804 and a "thermolampe" using gas distilled from wood was patented in
1799.
In 1801, Phillipe Lebon of Paris had also used gas lights to illuminate his house and gardens, and was considering how to light all of Paris. In
1820, Paris adopted gas street lighting.
In 1804, Dr. Henry delivered a course of lectures on chemistry, at Manchester, in which he showed the mode of producing gas from coal, and the facility and advantage of its use. Dr. Henry analyzed the composition and investigated the properties of carburetted hydrogen gas. His experiments were numerous and accurate and made upon a variety of substances; having obtained the gas from wood, peat, different kinds of coal, oil, wax, &c. he quantified the intensity of the light from each source.
Josiah Pemberton, a tireless inventor, had for some time been experimenting on the nature of gas. A resident of Birmingham, his attention was probably roused by the exhibition at Soho. About 1806, he exhibited gas-lights in a variety of forms and with great brilliance, at the front of his manufactory in Birmingham. In
1808 he constructed an apparatus, applicable to several uses, for
Benjamin Cooke, a manufacturer of brass tubes, gilt toys, and other articles.
In 1808, Murdoch presented to
the Royal Society a paper entitled "Account of the Application of Gas from Coal to Economical Purposes" an account of his successful application of coal gas to lighting the extensive establishment of Messrs. Phillips and Lea. For this paper he was awarded Count Rumford's gold medal. Murdoch's statements threw great light on the comparative advantage of gas and candles and contained much useful information on the expenses of production and management.
The first public street lighting with gas took place in Pall Mall, London on January 28, 1807. In
1812, Parliament granted a charter to the London and Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company, and the first gas company in the world came into being. A few years later, on
December 31, 1813, the Westminster Bridge was lit by gas.
As artificial lighting became more common, desire grew for it to become readily available to the public. This was in part because towns became much safer places to travel around after gas lamps were installed in the streets, reducing crime rates. In
1809, accordingly, the first application was made to parliament to incorporate a company in order to accelerate the process, but failed to pass. In
1810, however, the application was renewed by the same parties, and though some opposition was encountered and considerable expense incurred, the bill passed, but not without great alterations; and the London and Westminster Chartered Gas-Light and Coke Company was established. By
1816, Samuel Clegg obtained the patent for his horizontal rotative retort, his apparatus for purifying coal gas with cream of lime, and for his rotative gas meter and self-acting governor.
Its Spread
household or office gas lampFollowing this success, gas lighting spread to other countries. In the
United States, Baltimore in 1816 was the first city to light its streets with gas. The first introduction of gas lights in Rembrandt Peal's Museum in Baltimore in 1816 proved to be such a sensation and success that Peale quickly organized the first gas company in the United States and the city council passed an ordinance June 1816, permitted Peale to manufacture gas, lay pipes in the streets, and contract with the city for street lighting.
Among the economic impacts of gas lighting was to allow factories to work much longer hours. This was particularly important in Great Britain during the winter months when nights were significantly longer. Factories could even work continuously over 24 hours, resulting in increased production.
In this year, 1817, at the three stations belonging to the Chartered Gas Company, 25 chaldron (24 m³) of coal were daily carbonized, producing 300,000 cubic feet (8,500 m³) of gas, which was equal to the supply of 75,000 Argand lamps, each yielding the light of six candles. At the City Gas Works, in Dorset-street, Black-friars, the quantity of coal daily carbonized amounted to, three chaldron, which afforded a quantity of gas adequate to the supply of 1,500 Argand lamps; so that twenty-eight chaldron of coal were daily carbonized at that time, and 76,500 lights supplied by those two companies only.
At this period the principal object of attention in the manufacture of gas was its purification. Mr. D. Wilson, of Dublin, took out a patent for purifying coal gas by means of the chemical action of ammoniacal gas. Another plan was devised by Mr. Reuben Phillips, of Exeter, who obtained a patent for the purification of coal gas by the use of dry lime. Mr. G. Holworthy, in 1818, took out a patent for a method of purifying it by causing the gas, in a highly-condensed state, to pass through iron retorts heated to a dark red.
By
1823 numerous towns and cities throughout Britain were lit by gas. Costing up to 75% less than lighting produced by oil lamps or candles helped to accelerate its development and deployment. By 1859, gas lighting was to be found all over Britain and 1000 gas works had sprung up to meet the demand for the new fuel. The brighter lighting which gas provided allowed people to read more easily and for longer. This helped to stimulate literacy and learning, speeding up the second Industrial Revolution.
Oil gas appeared in the field as a rival of coal gas. In 1815, John Taylor had obtained a patent for an apparatus for the decomposition of
oil and other animal substances; but the circumstance which more particularly attracted the public attention to
oil gas was the erection of the patent apparatus at Apothecary's Hall, by Messrs. Taylors and Martineau.
In 1890, the invention of the
gas mantle, attributed to the Austrian scientist Carl Welsbach eliminated the need for special illuminating gas to get bright shining flames.
Gas street lighting today
In the early 20th century, most cities in the United States and Europe had gaslit streets. However, gas lighting for streets gave way to low-pressure sodium, and high-pressure mercury, lighting in the 1930s. Small incandescent electric lamps began to replace gas lights in homes in the late 19th century, although the transition took decades to complete.
See, for example,
Rural electrification.
Gas lighting has not disappeared completely from cities. The largest gas lighting network in Europe is probably that of Berlin with about 44,000 lamps.
Cincinnati, Ohio still uses gaslight in many of its residential neighborhoods. Quite a few streets in central
London, the
Royal Parks and the exterior of Buckingham Palace remain gaslit. Many neighbourhoods in cities that are trying to recall a nostalgic effect, for example, Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts in Boston, Massachusetts, the entire town of
Glen Ridge, New Jersey, and
New Orleans, Louisiana are still illuminated by gas mantle lights.
Nottingham Park Estate retains much of its original character, including the original gas lighting network
Many gas utility companies will still quote a fixed periodic rate for a customer-maintained gas lamp and homeowners still utilize such devices. However, the high cost of natural gas lighting at least partly explain why a large number of older gas lamps have been converted to electricity.
Gas lighting is also seeing a resurgence in the luxury home market as a historical accuracy.
Other Usages
Gaslighting is also a term for a form of psychological abuse. This usage derives from the film
Gaslight (1940 film) (1940) and Gaslight (1944 film).Following the premise of the movies, gaslighting is a deliberate attempt to convince someone that they are losing their grasp on reality, usually in order to gain some advantage over them.
See also the Gaslight disambiguation page.
See also
References
- The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. X, No. 290, dated Saturday, December 29, 1827. The full text is available at Project Gutenberg here.
- Open Door Website - 2nd Industrial Revolution
- Gas-Lite Manufacturing Company
- About.com - Light Inventors
External links
- Berliner Gaslaternen Pages on gas lighting at Berlin (German).
- Gaslaternen-Freilichtmuseum Berlin Open air museum on gas lighting at Berlin (German).
Gas lighting is the process of burning piped natural gas or coal gas for
lighting. Before
electricity became sufficiently widespread and economical to allow for general public use, gas was the most popular means of lighting in cities and suburbs. Early gas lights had to be lit manually but soon gas lights could light themselves.
History
,
Poland
Background
Early lighting fuels consisted of
olive oil, beeswax, fish oil,
whale oil, sesame oil, nut oil, and similar substances. These were the most commonly used fuels until the late 18th century.
Public illumination preceded the discovery and adoption of gaslight by centuries. In 1417, Sir
Henry Barton, mayor of London, ordained "lanterns with lights to be hanged out on the winter evenings between
All Saints and Candlemas."
Paris was first lit by an order issued in 1524; and in the beginning of the sixteenth century the inhabitants were ordered to keep lights burning in the windows of all houses that faced the streets. In
1668, when some regulations were made for improving the streets of London, the residents were reminded to hang out their lanterns at the usual time; and in
1690 an order was issued to hang out a light, or lamp, every night as soon as it was dark, from
Michaelmas to
Christmas. By an act of the common council in
1716, all housekeepers, whose houses faced any street, lane, or passage, were required to hang out, every dark night, one or more lights, to burn from six to eleven o'clock, under the penalty of one shilling.
Coal and natural gases were known originally for their adverse effects rather than their useful qualities. Miners described two types, called the
choke damp and the
fire damp. In 1667 a paper detailing the effects of these was entitled, "A Description of a Well and Earth in Lancashire taking Fire, by a Candle approaching to it. Imparted by Thomas Shirley, Esq an eye-witness."
Dr. Stephen Hales was the first person who procured a flammable fluid from the actual distillation of coal. His experiments with this object are related in the first volume of his Vegetable Statics, published in 1726. From the distillation of "one hundred and fifty-eight grains g of Newcastle coal, he states that he obtained one hundred and eighty cubic inches L of air, which weighed fifty-one grains g, being nearly one third of the whole." These results seemed to have passed without notice for several years.
In the
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in
1733, some properties of coal-gas are detailed in a paper called, "An Account of the Damp Air in a Coal-pit of
Sir James Lowther, 4th Baronet, sunk within Twenty Yards of the Sea." This paper, contained some striking facts relating to the flammability and other properties of coal gas.
The principal properties of coal-gas were demonstrated to different members of the Royal Society, and showed that after keeping the gas sometime, it still retained its flammability. Remarkably, the scientists of the time still saw no useful purpose for it.
Dr. John Clayton, in an extract from a letter in the "Philosophical Transactions" for 1735, calls gas the "spirit" of coal; and discovered its flammability by an accident. This "spirit" happened to catch fire, by coming in contact with a candle, as it escaped from a fracture in one of his distillatory vessels. By preserving the gas in bladders, he entertained his friends, by exhibiting its flammability.
The first gas lighting
The man who first utilised the flammability of gas for the practical application of lighting, was
William Murdoch (sometimes spelled 'Murdock'), who worked for
Matthew Boulton and James Watt at their
Soho Foundry steam engine works in Birmingham England. Murdoch began experimenting with various types of gas in the early 1790s, finally settling on coal gas as the most effective. In 1798 he used gas to light the main building of the Soho Foundry and in 1802 lit the outside in a public display of gas lighting, the lights astonishing the local population. One of the employees at the Soho Foundry, Samuel Clegg, saw the potential of this new form of lighting. Clegg left his job to set up his own gas lighting business, the Gas Lighting and Coke Company.
German inventor Freidrich Winzer (Winsor) was the first person to patent coal gas lighting in
1804 and a "thermolampe" using gas distilled from wood was patented in 1799.
In
1801, Phillipe Lebon of Paris had also used gas lights to illuminate his house and gardens, and was considering how to light all of Paris. In
1820, Paris adopted gas street lighting.
In 1804, Dr. Henry delivered a course of lectures on chemistry, at Manchester, in which he showed the mode of producing gas from coal, and the facility and advantage of its use. Dr. Henry analyzed the composition and investigated the properties of carburetted hydrogen gas. His experiments were numerous and accurate and made upon a variety of substances; having obtained the gas from wood, peat, different kinds of coal, oil, wax, &c. he quantified the intensity of the light from each source.
Josiah Pemberton, a tireless inventor, had for some time been experimenting on the nature of gas. A resident of Birmingham, his attention was probably roused by the exhibition at Soho. About 1806, he exhibited gas-lights in a variety of forms and with great brilliance, at the front of his manufactory in Birmingham. In 1808 he constructed an apparatus, applicable to several uses, for Benjamin Cooke, a manufacturer of brass tubes, gilt toys, and other articles.
In 1808, Murdoch presented to the Royal Society a paper entitled "Account of the Application of Gas from Coal to Economical Purposes" an account of his successful application of coal gas to lighting the extensive establishment of Messrs. Phillips and Lea. For this paper he was awarded Count Rumford's gold medal. Murdoch's statements threw great light on the comparative advantage of gas and candles and contained much useful information on the expenses of production and management.
The first public street lighting with gas took place in Pall Mall, London on
January 28, 1807. In 1812, Parliament granted a charter to the London and Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company, and the first gas company in the world came into being. A few years later, on December 31,
1813, the Westminster Bridge was lit by gas.
As artificial lighting became more common, desire grew for it to become readily available to the public. This was in part because towns became much safer places to travel around after gas lamps were installed in the streets, reducing crime rates. In 1809, accordingly, the first application was made to parliament to incorporate a company in order to accelerate the process, but failed to pass. In
1810, however, the application was renewed by the same parties, and though some opposition was encountered and considerable expense incurred, the bill passed, but not without great alterations; and the London and Westminster Chartered Gas-Light and Coke Company was established. By 1816, Samuel Clegg obtained the patent for his horizontal rotative retort, his apparatus for purifying coal gas with cream of lime, and for his rotative gas meter and self-acting governor.
Its Spread
household or office gas lampFollowing this success, gas lighting spread to other countries. In the United States, Baltimore in 1816 was the first city to light its streets with gas. The first introduction of gas lights in Rembrandt Peal's Museum in Baltimore in 1816 proved to be such a sensation and success that Peale quickly organized the first gas company in the United States and the city council passed an ordinance June 1816, permitted Peale to manufacture gas, lay pipes in the streets, and contract with the city for street lighting.
Among the economic impacts of gas lighting was to allow factories to work much longer hours. This was particularly important in Great Britain during the winter months when nights were significantly longer. Factories could even work continuously over 24 hours, resulting in increased production.
In this year,
1817, at the three stations belonging to the Chartered Gas Company, 25 chaldron (24 m³) of coal were daily carbonized, producing 300,000 cubic feet (8,500 m³) of gas, which was equal to the supply of 75,000 Argand lamps, each yielding the light of six candles. At the City Gas Works, in Dorset-street, Black-friars, the quantity of coal daily carbonized amounted to, three chaldron, which afforded a quantity of gas adequate to the supply of 1,500 Argand lamps; so that twenty-eight chaldron of coal were daily carbonized at that time, and 76,500 lights supplied by those two companies only.
At this period the principal object of attention in the manufacture of gas was its purification. Mr. D. Wilson, of Dublin, took out a patent for purifying coal gas by means of the chemical action of ammoniacal gas. Another plan was devised by Mr. Reuben Phillips, of Exeter, who obtained a patent for the purification of coal gas by the use of dry lime. Mr. G. Holworthy, in 1818, took out a patent for a method of purifying it by causing the gas, in a highly-condensed state, to pass through iron retorts heated to a dark red.
By 1823 numerous towns and cities throughout Britain were lit by gas. Costing up to 75% less than lighting produced by oil lamps or candles helped to accelerate its development and deployment. By 1859, gas lighting was to be found all over Britain and 1000 gas works had sprung up to meet the demand for the new fuel. The brighter lighting which gas provided allowed people to read more easily and for longer. This helped to stimulate literacy and learning, speeding up the second Industrial Revolution.
Oil gas appeared in the field as a rival of coal gas. In 1815, John Taylor had obtained a patent for an apparatus for the decomposition of
oil and other animal substances; but the circumstance which more particularly attracted the public attention to
oil gas was the erection of the patent apparatus at Apothecary's Hall, by Messrs. Taylors and Martineau.
In
1890, the invention of the gas mantle, attributed to the Austrian scientist Carl Welsbach eliminated the need for special
illuminating gas to get bright shining flames.
Gas street lighting today
In the early 20th century, most cities in the United States and Europe had gaslit streets. However, gas lighting for streets gave way to low-pressure sodium, and high-pressure mercury, lighting in the 1930s. Small incandescent electric lamps began to replace gas lights in homes in the late 19th century, although the transition took decades to complete.
See, for example, Rural electrification.
Gas lighting has not disappeared completely from cities. The largest gas lighting network in Europe is probably that of
Berlin with about 44,000 lamps.
Cincinnati, Ohio still uses gaslight in many of its residential neighborhoods. Quite a few streets in central
London, the
Royal Parks and the exterior of
Buckingham Palace remain gaslit. Many neighbourhoods in cities that are trying to recall a nostalgic effect, for example, Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts in Boston, Massachusetts, the entire town of
Glen Ridge, New Jersey, and
New Orleans, Louisiana are still illuminated by gas mantle lights. Nottingham Park Estate retains much of its original character, including the original gas lighting network
Many gas utility companies will still quote a fixed periodic rate for a customer-maintained gas lamp and homeowners still utilize such devices. However, the high cost of natural gas lighting at least partly explain why a large number of older gas lamps have been converted to electricity.
Gas lighting is also seeing a resurgence in the luxury home market as a historical accuracy.
Other Usages
Gaslighting is also a term for a form of psychological abuse. This usage derives from the film
Gaslight (1940 film) (1940) and Gaslight (1944 film).Following the premise of the movies, gaslighting is a deliberate attempt to convince someone that they are losing their grasp on reality, usually in order to gain some advantage over them.
See also the Gaslight disambiguation page.
See also
References
- The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. X, No. 290, dated Saturday, December 29, 1827. The full text is available at Project Gutenberg here.
- Open Door Website - 2nd Industrial Revolution
- Gas-Lite Manufacturing Company
- About.com - Light Inventors
External links
- Berliner Gaslaternen Pages on gas lighting at Berlin (German).
- Gaslaternen-Freilichtmuseum Berlin Open air museum on gas lighting at Berlin (German).
Gaslighting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gaslighting is a form of psychological abuse. It involves an increasing frequency of systematically withholding factual information from, and/or providing false information to the ...
Gas lighting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gas lighting refers to a technology used to produce light from gas, usually methane, but also including hydrogen and ethylene. Throughout the nineteenth century and into the first ...
Boy in hospital after 'gas lighting' stunt backfires - Telegraph
A 12-year-old has been taken to hospital with burns after blowing up a petrol can while breaking wind.
William Sugg & Co Home Page
Finally, on this issue, in William Matthews 1827 book, “An Historical Sketch of the Origin, Progress & Present State of Gas-Lighting” he states: “Mr Winsor removed his ...
Gas lighting outdoors | GardenVisit.com, the garden landscape guide
Gas lights still have a place in garden design: they give out a warm light, and heat too! ... Gas lighting outdoors - review. Landscape and Garden Product Directory. Gas lights
What Is Gaslighting? : The Gaslight Effect
Gaslighting is an insidious form of emotional abuse and manipulation that is difficult to recognize and even harder to break free from. That's because it plays into one of our ...
Gas Lighting Front Page
Gas Lighting Front Page ... Choose the main section above to link directly to that section except for 'Lighting' which is below.
Science Museum | Energy Hall | The first gas lighting
This is William Murdoch's home in Cornwall, site of his early experiments with gas lighting.
Heading
The Gas Museum Leicester, UK. Guided tours around many exhibits from the Gas industry ... Gas Lighting: In the earliest gas lighting the gas was lit directly from the open end of a ...
Gas Lighting - Catterick Caravans - Outdoor Leisure World
Online Product Finder Air Beds & Camp Beds