To hell with the wally world emergency lamps.... looky here

[slamfire51]

My point was that because of the shallow and wide resevoir for the oil, the oil stays "relatively" close to the wick - or maybe the better way to say it is that it goes down slower than if the column of oil is narrow.

Make sense?

I figure that they would probably of only burned the oil for a few hours in the evening at a time anyway and I imagine the evening routine would involve filling the lamp before lighting it.

I wonder what the common fire makeing technology was?

You never see anyone in the movies making fire... there's always some around - lamps, fires, etc. - but you never see anybody "generating" fire...

What tools did they use in ancient Greece and eslewhere? Flint and steel? Friction stick?, When was the match invented?

Ah, I see that it was in the 1800's... So, before that, fire was generated by some form of spark or friction. Wow.

Really makes you think - we haven't had really high-tech stuff for very long... not long at all.

Here's some ways ancients made fire.
http://www.onagocag.com/fire.html
http://www.primitiveways.com/marcasi...d%20flint.html
http://archaeology.about.com/od/anci...re_control.htm

[sksAL]

laminated card type paper, shiney, like we all get sent rite to the house in our junk mail will burn for DAYS in oil , wax, or grease. in a bowl or plate. so fast and simple.

[HDR]

My point was that because of the shallow and wide resevoir for the oil, the oil stays "relatively" close to the wick - or maybe the better way to say it is that it goes down slower than if the column of oil is narrow.

Make sense?

Capillary Action

"Capillary action, or capillarity, is the ability of liquid to flow against gravity/

I figure that they would probably of only burned the oil for a few hours in the evening at a time anyway and I imagine the evening routine would involve filling the lamp before lighting it.

I wonder what the common fire makeing technology was?

You never see anyone in the movies making fire... there's always some around - lamps, fires, etc. - but you never see anybody "generating" fire...

What tools did they use in ancient Greece and eslewhere? Flint and steel? Friction stick?,

The Romans used the Egyptian Bow Drill to make fire. The Greeks weren't very good at making fire so they would bring fire with them.

http://www.primitiveways.com/e-fire.html

As it looks like slow work; they probably lit their lamps from a cooking fire.

When was the match invented?

1827 by John Walker.

[O.S.O.K.]

Yep 1800's and the first ones involved dipping the match into acid in order to ignite it... And again, think on that. The simple match has only been around for 190 years. The electic light... radio, TV, the integrated circuit, etc.... so much has been developed in the very recent past.

Yet, we are essentially the exact same beings as the people that were alive 1000 years ago.

Anyway, good to be cognizent of the basic's as you never know when we'll be backing up a bit...

[Schuetzenman]

What's old is new again it seems. Yes oil will burn. I've used corn oil and safflower in the past. Yes to the wick floating for a consistant flame. The oil is kind of heavy so it doesn't "wick" up through a ... um wick very well. The oil will get rancid in time and smells pretty bad when it does.

Never tried it but I bet Kerosene and oil mix could also work. A possible supply stretching technique if needed.

[HDR]

Yep 1800's and the first ones involved dipping the match into acid in order to ignite it... And again, think on that. The simple match has only been around for 190 years.

Actually John Walker invented the friction match in 1827.

The first "friction match" was invented by English chemist John Walker in 1826.[4] Early work had been done by Robert Boyle and his assistant, Godfrey Haukweicz[5] in the 1680s with phosphorus and sulfur, but their efforts had not produced useful results. Walker discovered a mixture of antimony(III) sulfide or stibnite, potassium chlorate, gum, and starch could be ignited by striking against any rough surface.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Match#Friction_matches

The first sales were in 1827.

John Walker (29 May 1781 – 1 May 1859) was an English chemist from Stockton-on-Tees, who in 1826 accidentally invented the friction match by mixing potassium chlorate and antimony sulfide.

The first recorded sale from his store was 7 April 1827 under the name 'Sulphurata Hyper-Oxygenata Frict.' The second recorded sale was 7 September 1827 under the more familiar name 'friction lights'. Apart from three recorded sales during 1828 under the name of 'attrition lights' all other recorded sales were for 'friction lights'. He met and corresponded with Michael Faraday, and was encouraged to protect his invention by him and others; but Walker refused to patent his invention preferring instead to pursue his scientific studies. He did not divulge the exact composition of his matches.

He died in 1859, and was buried in the grounds of St Mary's Church in Norton, near Stockton.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Walker_%28inventor%29

Anyway, good to be cognizent of the basic's as you never know when we'll be backing up a bit...

Knowledge is a good thing and one never knows just when one will need it.

[O.S.O.K.]

Ah that's right - the acid thing was in the 1600's. Boyle discoverd the ignition of phosphorous and sulfer in the 1780's but never made matches - then your man came up with the strike anywhere type matches in 1827. And apparently, there were all kinds of experimentation going quite a ways back with sulfer.

Point is, we've only had this stuff for a very short time and most people walk around blissfully unaware of this.

[HDR]

Point is, we've only had this stuff for a very short time and most people walk around blissfully unaware of this.

The technology doubles every few years and they have grown up with it.

Knowledge of the old ways has died and survival skills seem to be how much one can stockpile.

[O.S.O.K.]

Well, I must admit that I'm guilty of that last one myself. And I think it makes sense for certain things - provides a buffer which prevents panic and promotes clear thinking. That sounded pretty good Almost like I know what I'm talking about

Though, I have a fair amount of basic survival skills having been involved in scouts for the last 9 years with my boys and a back packer since my early 20's.

[swampdragon]

The technology doubles every few years and they have grown up with it.

Knowledge of the old ways has died and survival skills seem to be how much one can stockpile.

People stockpiled stuff in ancient times too. Especially grains.
They just couldn't order it on the internet or over the cell phone.
lol....
Imagine just how much we take simple things like canned goods for granted.
People used to stockpile just to make it through harsh winters.
Most of their stock would spoil if left any longer.
Now we can do it for years.
That goodness for Nicolas Appert.

[HDR]

People stockpiled stuff in ancient times too. Especially grains.
They just couldn't order it on the internet or over the cell phone.
lol....

Only where the climate supported it. They lacked climate control and sealed containers same as they lacked cell phones and the web.

It took a lot of knowledge to be primitive.

Imagine just how much we take simple things like canned goods for granted.
People used to stockpile just to make it through harsh winters.
Most of their stock would spoil if left any longer.
Now we can do it for years.
That goodness for Nicolas Appert.

After using the calculator ( http://grandpappy.info/hfood1yr.htm ), stockpiling for years would be a hell of a lot of food and what happens if TEOTWAWKI isn't over yet?

lol