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Heating, Lighting, and Refrigeration: Don't
Trim by rubbing the char off the wick; this leaves it even. Don't cut it; you can't cut it even.
Keep the holes in the floor of the burner clear for draught.
Don't fill quite full; the oil expands with heat and runs over.
Boil the burner a few minutes once a month in sal soda or lye water.
Empty the fount occasionally for sediment.
Don't open the lamp when hot; there is explosive vapor in it.
Light it with the wick turned low and turn up gradually, or you will get it too high and make smoke.
Move with care a lamp that has been burning long enough to get hot; or, better still, don't move it.
Use the American Fletcher or Hyatt wick; and renew it every month or two, no matter how fresh it looks; it gets clogged and doesn't feed freely.
Use oil of not less than 110° flash for safety; the higher the flash the safer the oil.
Lamp Chimneys. - The object of lamp chimneys is to supply the flame with exactly the amount of air it needs for perfect combustion, no more and no less, with an even draught on both sides of the flame; they must, of course, be clear and transparent. This calls for fit in the full meaning of the word and for clear glass that will stay clear. Thus there is something to know about chimneys beyond the mere size of the bottom. The ordinary notion of fit is a chimney that will stay on the lamp and not fall off.
That is part of the fit. The rest is such a shape as to make the right draught for that particular lamp. It HEATING, LIGHTING, AND REFRIGERATION includes the seat, bulb, shaft, proportion, sizes in all parts, and length. Good chimneys that fit well give more light than common ones. This is due to perfection of shape and proportion and the right balance of draughts.
To Select Chimneys. - Use the chimney recommended by the maker of the lamp, or write to a manufacturer of lamp chimneys for his catalogue and order according to directions.
If compelled to buy from stock, try one chimney after another, turning up the wick in each case till you get the most light it will give. When you have the right one, you can turn the wick higher and get more light than you can from others, in some cases perhaps twice as much. It pays to select chimneys with care for two reasons: one is, the right chimney gives more light; the other is, it lasts longer.
Chimneys are usually made in three grades, of which it always pays to buy the best. Comparing bad chimneys with good ones, the breakage is ten to one, the light is half, and the price is half.
The Breaking of Chimneys.-Chimneys break from misuse. A wrong number may break or melt; if the burner is foul, the glass may break; a gust of cold air on a hot chimney may break it; a gas chimney may break or melt from a hole in the mantle; the hole lets a jet of flame directly against the chimney, the explosion of lighting breaks the mantle, and the broken mantle breaks the chimney.
Whenever the chimney is touched by the flame it melts or breaks. Its shape prevents touching, unless through some misuse. In central-draught lamps the flame is between two draughts-the central and the outer one. When the burner is foul, this outer draught is partly stopped, and the flame gets pushed too near or against the chimney, and breaks or melts it. Chimneys cannot be made to resist misuse or accidents.