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6 MODERN MAGIC LANTERNS.
This type of lamp has long been obsolete in lanterns
intended for serious work, but possessing, as it does, many
disadvantages, it is nevertheless free from some defects
which are inherent in modern forms. It
needs a minimum of attention, is simple
in construction, but its illuminating power
is of the very smallest kind ; still, as it is
occasionally met with, and as the precursor
of modern patterns, it is worthy of
mention.
The introduction of
petroleum and the in-
A
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Fig. 4. THE SCIOPTICON.
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Fig. I. THE SCIOPT1CON, SHOWING THE INTERNAL ARRANGEMENT.
vention of the Sciopticon lantern by Mr. Marcy, of Philadelphia,
improved these old-fashioned illuminants out of
existence ; modern oil lamps for the lantern dating from
what may be called the Sciopticon era.
17
OIL LAMPS. 7
The Sciopticon, Figs 4 and 5, consisted of a reservoir for
the oil, out of the top of which proceeded two tubes, each
carrying a broad flat wick, the edges of which wicks were
presented to the condenser ; the tubes, Fig. 5 u, were inclined
towards one another at the top. Surrounding the wicks was
a semi-cylindrical metal combustion or flame chamber, G,
terminating in a chimney at the top. One end of the
combustion chamber was closed by a metal lid carrying a
small window for observing the flame, u; the other end,
which went next the condenser, was of glass, G. The lamp
and lantern were in this earliest form practically one
instrument, the
combustion chamber
acting as the
lantern body ; but
the whole arrangement,
although a
very great advance
over anything that
had gone before it,
possessed certain
drawbacks, which
have since been
overcome. One of
these was the presence
of a strip
down the middle
of the disc which
was not so brilliant-
Fig. 6. THREEWICK LAMP.
ly illuminated as the rest, a defect due to the use of two
wicks. This and several minor faults having been removed,
we have the modern oil lantern which is upon the market
in many patterns, but all of which bear unmistakable signs
of their parentage by the Sciopticon, although most of
them now have three wicks and some four or even five,
and the lamp generally is distinct from the lantern body,
which was not the case with their predecessor. Fig. 6
represents the Optimus three - wick lamp introduced by
Messrs. Perken, Son, and Rayment. In this lamp four
distinct currents of air are made to impinge upon the