Lamp or Lantern?
Kerosene can be used as fuel. Any lighting device that uses kerosene is commonly known in Britain as a paraffin lamp. A paraffin lamp or kerosene lantern has two main types which are the wick lamp and pressure lamp. The wick lamp or oil lamp works like a candle with a wick and a small fuel tank at the bottom. The pressure lamp or Coleman lantern also has a small fuel tank at the bottom but has a small pump to pressurize the kerosene. And to answer the question, lamp is actually synonymous to lantern.
Al-Razi made the first description of a simple lamp from his Kitab Al-Asrar (Book of Secrets) as ‘naffatah’. This was back in the 9th century in Baghdad. Polish inventor, Ignacy Lukasiewicz and Robert Edwin Dietz, constructed modern versions of the kerosene lamp in 1853 in Lviv, Austrian Empire and United States, respectively. Modern kerosene lamps or lanterns should only be operated with kerosene or lamp oil but, in case of emergencies, you may use the following as substitutes:
- Whale Oil – cannot be obtained anymore due to whaling regulations
- Jet A – safe to use and burns well in wick lamps
- Canola, Olive and vegetable oils – can only be used in lanterns specific for it; will not burn in conventional lamps
- Lubricating Oil – not the ones found in aerosol cans; use only outdoors
- Charcoal Lighter Fluid – suitable for wick lamps but DO NOT USE naphtha (cigarette lighters) highly dangerous