Vapalux

Last updated

Vapalux is a brand name for paraffin pressure lamps and lanterns (kerosene mantle lamps) developed and manufactured by Willis & Bates in Halifax, England, part of the United Kingdom.

Contents

History

As a company, Willis & Bates dates back to the 1800s, moving to Halifax in the last few years of that century to take advantage of the engineering opportunities offered by the textile industry in the region. The current factory, named the Pellon Works, was built in Reservoir Road and was completed in 1900. Initially, the company made spun-metal parts for the textile industry but they soon diversified into making parts for other industries, particularly those of the gas and the rapidly developing electrical industries of the time. There is a possibility that one of the company's founders, Alfred Bates, was responsible for the design and manufacture of the military steel helmet, although this is unsubstantiated at present.

At the end of the First World War, Willis & Bates diversified further and became involved in the manufacture of parts for Petromax paraffin pressure lamps and lanterns. In 1925 they started making lamp and lantern parts for the Tilley company, a relationship which lasted until 1938 when Willis & Bates began manufacturing and selling lanterns on their own.

The Vapalux pressure lamp bears a close resemblance with the Tilley lamp, in the way the burner works and how the mantle is attached. This is not surprising given that the company had previously manufactured parts for Tilley, although many improvements were incorporated such as a captive preheater torch. The earliest model, the E41, was characterised by having an internal gallery and a plain ventilator with separate slots for air intake and exhaust, very much in the Petromax style. Again, this is probably a reflection of the earlier production work that had been done for Petromax.

Although this lantern took slightly longer to start, compared with some Petromax types made by Ehrich & Graetz which were equipped with rapid, blowlamp type preheaters, it burned for hours on end without needing attention, providing 300 cp (candle power) light output.

The Vapalux pressure lamp got a real boost when the Second World War started, as it was then issued as standard to the British army. This boost was enormous, and Willis & Bates produced up to 2000 lamps and lanterns per week.

In 1946, Willis & Bates began an association with Aladdin Industries of Greenford who marketed their output under the name 'Bialaddin' - thus the 'Vapalux' trade-name largely disappeared other than for some lanterns sold direct to the Army. Aladdin Industries of Greenford were also responsible for the development of the Bialaddin range of heater/radiators as well as the T10 and T20 table lamps, which rivalled the equivalent Tilley products of the time. In 1968, the association between Willis & Bates and Aladdin Industries of Greenford ended and Willis & Bates resumed the sale of their lanterns, and the name 'Vapalux' re-emerged.

Today

Until 2010, Vapalux lanterns were being made at the Pellon Works in Halifax. Although in 1997, Willis & Bates ceased trading, another local company, Bairstow Brothers (1985) Limited bought the rights to make the lanterns. Vapalux (and Bialaddin lamps and lanterns), continue to deserve a reputation for being well-designed and engineered as well as being totally reliable in use.

In early 2010, after the British army started to purchase battery lanterns instead and did not renew the contract, the Vapalux and Willis & Bates Brand and the tooling and IP rights for its manufacture were sold to a Korean manufacturer. All manufacturing will be transferred to the new owner and not continued in Great Britain.

Vapalux models

See also

Related Research Articles

Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from κηρός (kērós) meaning "wax", and was registered as a trademark by Nova Scotia geologist and inventor Abraham Gesner in 1854 before evolving into a generic trademark. It is sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M1 carbine</span> Auto-loading carbine

The M1 carbine is a lightweight semi-automatic carbine that was issued to the U.S. military during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The M1 carbine was produced in several variants and was widely used by paramilitary and police forces around the world after World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kerosene lamp</span> Type of lighting device that uses kerosene as a fuel

A kerosene lamp is a type of lighting device that uses kerosene as a fuel. Kerosene lamps have a wick or mantle as light source, protected by a glass chimney or globe; lamps may be used on a table, or hand-held lanterns may be used for portable lighting. Like oil lamps, they are useful for lighting without electricity, such as in regions without rural electrification, in electrified areas during power outages, at campsites, and on boats. There are three types of kerosene lamp: flat-wick, central-draft, and mantle lamp. Kerosene lanterns meant for portable use have a flat wick and are made in dead-flame, hot-blast, and cold-blast variants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lantern</span> Portable lighting device

A lantern is an often portable source of lighting, typically featuring a protective enclosure for the light source – historically usually a candle, a wick in oil, or a thermoluminescent mesh, and often a battery-powered light in modern times – to make it easier to carry and hang up, and make it more reliable outdoors or in drafty interiors. Lanterns may also be used for signaling, as torches, or as general light-sources outdoors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abraham Pineo Gesner</span> New Brunswick and Nova Scotian physician and geologist (1797–1864)

Abraham Pineo Gesner, ONB was a Nova Scotian and New Brunswickan physician and geologist who invented kerosene. Gesner was born in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia and lived much of his life in Saint John, New Brunswick. He died in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was an influential figure in the development of the study of Canadian geology and natural history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gas mantle</span> Device for generating bright light when heated by a flame

An incandescent gas mantle, gas mantle or Welsbach mantle is a device for generating incandescent bright white light when heated by a flame. The name refers to its original heat source in gas lights which illuminated the streets of Europe and North America in the late 19th century. Mantle refers to the way it hangs like a cloak above the flame. Gas mantles were also used in portable camping lanterns, pressure lanterns and some oil lamps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brodie helmet</span> Metal combat helmet

The Brodie helmet is a steel combat helmet designed and patented in London in 1915 by Latvian inventor John Leopold Brodie. A modified form of it became the Helmet, Steel, Mark I in Britain and the M1917 Helmet in the US. Colloquially, it was called the shrapnel helmet, battle bowler, Tommy helmet, tin hat, and in the United States the doughboy helmet. It was also known as the dishpan hat, tin pan hat, washbasin and Kelly helmet. The German Army called it the Salatschüssel. The term Brodie is often misused. It is correctly applied only to the original 1915 Brodie's Steel Helmet, War Office Pattern.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Light fixture</span> Electrical device with an electric lamp

A light fixture, light fitting, or luminaire is an electrical lighting device containing one or more light sources, such as lamps, and all the accessory components required for its operation to provide illumination to the environment. All light fixtures have a fixture body and one or more lamps. The lamps may be in sockets for easy replacement—or, in the case of some LED fixtures, hard-wired in place.

Victor Samuel Johnson Jr. was an American lawyer who was president of Aladdin Industries, a manufacturer of vacuum bottles, kerosene lamps, and stoves. He was notable for creating the market for decorative lunch boxes. The company was further diversified under Johnson's leadership. He was a businessman in Nashville, Tennessee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Primus stove</span> Company

The Primus stove was the first pressurized-burner kerosene (paraffin) stove, developed in 1892 by Frans Wilhelm Lindqvist, a factory mechanic in Stockholm. The stove was based on the design of the hand-held blowtorch; Lindqvist's patent covered the burner, which was turned upward on the stove instead of outward as on the blowtorch. The same year, Lindqvist partnered with Johan Viktor Svenson and established J.V. Svenson's Kerosene Stove Factory for manufacturing the new stoves which were sold under the name Primus. The first model was the No.1 stove, which was quickly followed by a number of similarly designed stoves of different models and sizes. Shortly thereafter, B.A. Hjorth & Co., a tool and engineering firm begun in Stockholm in 1889, acquired the exclusive rights to sell the Primus stove.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tilley lamp</span> Pressurized kerosene lamps made by the Tilley company in the UK

The Tilley lamp is a kerosene pressure lamp.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petromax</span> Brand of paraffin lamp

Petromax was one of the brand names from Ehrich & Graetz. The company used it for their pressurised kerosene lamp that uses a incandescent mantle. They are as synonymous with the paraffin lamp in Continental Europe as Tilley lamps are in Britain and Coleman lanterns are in the United States. Today's company Petromax GmbH sells not only pressurised paraffin lamps lamps but also other products for camping and outdoor use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ehrich & Graetz</span> Manufacturing company based in Berlin

The Ehrich & Graetz metalworks was a factory established in 1866 in Berlin by Albert Graetz (1831–1901) and the tradesman Emil Ehrich under the name "Lampen-Fabrik Ehrich & Graetz OHG" (E&G). The logo of the firm was two seahorse-looking dragons with a sun between them, and the firm's initials of E&G.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the petroleum industry</span>

While the local use of oil goes back many centuries, the modern petroleum industry along with its outputs and modern applications are of a recent origin. Petroleum's status as a key component of politics, society, and technology has its roots in the coal and kerosene industry of the late 19th century. One of the earliest instances of this is the refining of paraffin from crude oil. Abraham Gesner developed a process to refine a liquid fuel from coal, bitumen and oil shale; it burned more cleanly and was cheaper than whale oil. James Young in 1847 noticed a natural petroleum seepage when he distilled a light thin oil suitable for use as lamp oil, at the same time obtaining a thicker oil suitable for lubricating machinery. The world's first refineries and modern oil wells were established in the mid-19th century. While petroleum industries developed in several countries during the nineteenth century, the two giants were the United States and the Russian Empire, specifically that part of it that today forms the territory of independent Azerbaijan. Together, these two countries produced 97% of the world's oil over the course of the nineteenth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coleman Lantern</span> Series of pressure lamps

The Coleman Lantern is a line of pressure lamps first introduced by the Coleman Company in 1914. This led to a series of lamps that were originally made to burn kerosene or gasoline. Current models use kerosene, gasoline, Coleman fuel or propane and use one or two mantles to produce an intense white light. Over the years more than 50 million of the lanterns have been sold throughout the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aladdin (containers)</span>

Aladdin is a brand notable for its line of character lunchboxes including Hopalong Cassidy, Superman, Mickey Mouse and The Jetsons. Today, Aladdin continues to be a food and beverage products brand and is owned by Pacific Market International, LLC of Seattle, Washington and Aladdin continues to be a kerosene lamps and wicks products brand and is owned by Hattersley Aladdin Ltd of the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qinhuai Lantern Fair</span>

The Qinhuai Lantern Fair, also known as Jinling Lantern Fair, Jinling Lantern Festival, and officially named Lantern Fair on Qinhuai River, is a popular folk custom celebration of the Lantern Festival in the Nanjing area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Low Head Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse in Tasmania, Australia

Low Head Lighthouse is in Low Head, Tasmania, about 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) north of George Town on the east side of the mouth of the Tamar River. It was the third lighthouse to be constructed in Australia, and it is also Australia's oldest continuously used pilot station. This light is now unmanned and automated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lowestoft Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse in Lowestoft, England

Lowestoft Lighthouse is a lighthouse operated by Trinity House located to the north of the centre of Lowestoft in the English county of Suffolk. It stands on the North Sea coast close to Ness Point, the most easterly point in the United Kingdom. It acts as a warning light for shipping passing along the east coast and is the most easterly lighthouse in the UK.

References