Loeffler Antiques​ recently inquired as to whether anyone in our Vintage and Antiques Community knew anything about this lamp:​

The Argand lamp was invented by Francois Pierre Ami Argand (or Amie | b.1750), the Swiss physicist and chemist from Geneva, who was present in England during the Regency period and died there in 1803, having given his name to a business at 37 Bruton Street for the production of the kind of lamp he had invented and patented, with an air-burner and a cylindrical wick. His burner consisted of two concentric tubes between which the tubular wick was placed. The open inner tube led a current of air to play upon the inner surface of the circular flame, whilst the combustion was materially improved by placing around the flame a chimney which rested on a perforated gallery a short distance below the burner.

Argand invented his new lamp in 1780 and presented his invention during the Etats de Languedoc in 1782 and to Finance Minister Jean-Francois Joly de Fleury in Paris in 1783. Argand made the acquaintance of Antoine-Aroult Quinquet through his working relationship on hot air balloons with the Montgolfier brothers. The brothers used a modified Argand lamp chimney for their experiments (read more about that at Georgian Gentleman).  Argand showed Quinquet his lamp prototype and, with minor changes, Quinquet began to manufacture the lamps, which resulted in a legal battle for patent infringement.

​Argand visited His Majesty George III in hopes of presenting his lamp. The court was more interested in the hot air balloon, which Argand demonstrated in the gardens at Windsor before he presented his lamp. George III was impressed with the lamp and promised Argand a patent.

​Argand obtained his patent in England in 1784 and had lamps built to his patent by James Watt and Matthew Boulton, who had been successfully manufacturing steam engines. Patent number 1425 is entitled “Lamp, Argand’s Specification" and was published on July 3, 1784. In his patent Argand states  “…that I had, after much trouble and considerable expense, found out and invented A LAMP THAT IS SO CONSTRUCTED TO PRODUCE NEITHER SMOKE NOR SMELL, AND TO GIVE CONSIDERABLY MORE LIGHT THAN ANY LAMP HITHERTO KNOWN.”

The lamps were an immediate success when marketed (Thomas Jefferson ordered many for Monticello) as, before Argand's improvement, oil burning lamps were shallow vessels into which a short length of flat cotton wick dipped which resulted in a smoky flame and the discharge of harmful carbon monoxide and the offensive odour of petroleum vapour. They gave minimum light, thin and weak, with maximum smell. The wick burnt quickly and the soot-flake filled smoke blackened ceilings. Argand's cylindrical wick enabled air to flow through and around resulting in a lamp that provided at least five times more light than an ordinary lamp and did not smoke since every part of the oil was consumed. 

In a lamp oil burning comparison by Sir Thomas Boverton Redwood, the 19th-century British chemical engineer remembered as a pioneer of the petroleum industry, duplex burners which gave a flame of 28 candle-power have an average oil consumption of 50 grains per candle per hour, while Argand flames of 38 candle-power consume about 45 grains of oil per candle per hour across the board for all oil types, making Argand lamps an energy saving device of their day. 

In a test of the day comparing illuminant emissions for every candle of light per hour, the Argand lamp emitted less carbon monoxide per cubic feet per candle (0.17) than a sperm candle (0.41), an oil lamp (0.24), and a flat-flame coal-gas lamp (0.26). In the same test, the Argand still had an average emission of water vapour (0.45) compared to the sperm candle (0.41), the oil lamp (0.18), and the gas light (0.67).

Project Gutenberg's Encyclopedia of the Day comments on this test and gives us insight into the feeling and effects of rooms lit with gas lights:

​"From these data it appears that if the sanitary condition of the air of a dwelling-room be measured by the amount of carbon dioxide present, as is usually done, candles are the most prejudicial to health and comfort, oil lamps less so, and gas least, an assumption which practical experience does not bear out. The explanation of this is to be found in these facts: First, where we illuminate a room with candles or oil we are contented with a less intense and more local light than when we are using gas, and in a room of ordinary size would be more likely to use a lamp or two candles than the far higher illumination we should demand if gas were employed. Secondly, the amount of water vapour given off during the combustion of gas is greater than in the case of the other illuminants, and water vapour absorbing radiant heat from the burning gas becomes heated, and, diffusing itself about the room, causes great oppression. Also the air, being highly charged with moisture, is unable to take up so rapidly the water vapour which is always evaporating from the surface of our skin, and in this way the functions of the body receive a slight check, resulting in a feeling of depression."

Imagine living in the binding, voluminous clothing of the day in rooms with gas lighting that created more humidity in the air as time passed, the sweat on your skin not evaporating, and your attitude becoming sluggish and depressed.

​From the earliest times the burning of oil has been a source of light. Many kinds of oils of vegetable and animal origin were used locally, but, in general, until the discovery of mineral oil (kerosene or lamp oil) in 1847, spermaceti oil from the sperm whale or colza oil from the colza seed would have been used. These were such heavy oils that they worked best when draining downwards to the wick. The Argand principle enabled oil to run from an urn-shaped reservoir or tank at the top of the lamp along the arm and into the cylindrical wick in the burner.

Project Gutenberg's Encyclopedia of the Day tells us exactly how the Argand lamps operated:

​"A typical example of the Argand burner and chimney is represented in fig. 1, in which the burner is composed of three tubes, d, f, g. The tube g is soldered to the bottom of the tube d, just above o, and the interval between the outer surface of the tube g and the inner surface of the tube d is an annular cylindrical cavity closed at the bottom, containing the cylindrical cotton wick immersed in oil. The wick is fixed to the wick tube ki, which is capable of being moved spirally; within the annular cavity is also the tube f, which can be moved round, and serves to elevate and depress the wick. P is a cup that screws on the bottom of the tube d, and receives the superfluous oil that drops down from the wick along the inner surface of the tube g. The air enters through the holes o, o, and passes up through the tube g to maintain the combustion in the interior of the circular flame. The air which maintains the combustion on the exterior part of the wick enters through the holes m, with which rn is perforated. When the air in the chimney is rarefied by the heat of the flame, the surrounding heavier air, entering the lower part of the chimney, passes upward with a rapid current, to restore the equilibrium. RG is the cylindrical glass chimney with a shoulder or constriction at R, G. The oil flows from a side reservoir, and occupies the cavity between the tubes g and d. The part ki is a short tube, which receives the circular wick, and slides spirally on the tube g, by means of a pin working in the hollow spiral groove on the exterior surface of g. The wick-tube has also a catch, which works in a perpendicular slit in the tube f; and, by turning the tube f, the wick-tube will be raised or lowered, for which purpose a ring, or gallery, rn, fits on the tube d, and receives the glass chimney RG; a wire S is attached to the tube f, and, bending over, descends along the outside of d. The part rn, that supports the glass chimney, is connected by four other wires with the ring q, which surrounds the tube d, and can be moved round. When rn is turned round, it carries with it the ring q, the wire S, and the tube f, thus raising or depressing the wick.

A device in the form of a small metallic disk or button, known as the Liverpool button from having been first adopted in the so-called Liverpool lamp, effects for the current of air passing up the interior of the Argand burner the same object as the constriction of the chimney RG secures in the case of the external tube. The button fixed on the end of a wire is placed right above the burner tube g, and throws out equally all round against the flame the current of air which passes up through g. The result of these expedients, when properly applied, is the production of an exceedingly solid brilliant white light, absolutely smokeless, this showing that the combustion of the oil is perfectly accomplished."

Up to, during and after the 1830s, the Argand lamps were the most characteristic of the period. The Argand principle was applied to chandeliers with as many as six burners, and to table and sideboard lamps with one and two burners.

Here are three variations of Argand lamps with Wedgwood Jasperware bases:

Here are two more variations of single burner Argand lamps; a single wall model and a pair of sideboard lamps from the collection of The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

​The principle of the Argand burner was utilized well into the Victorian age for gaslighting. William Murdoch, gas lighting inventor (attr.) of the late 18th century was known for his cockscomb and cockspur burners. At around the same time he was introducing his burners, he also made rough forms of the Argand burner consisting of two concentric pipes between which the gas was led and burnt with a circular flame. This form was soon improved by filling in the space between the tubes with a ring of metal, bored with fine holes so close together that the jets coalesced in burning and gave a more satisfactory flame, the air necessary to keep the flame steady and ensure complete combustion being obtained by the draught created by a chimney placed around it. When it began to be recognized that the temperature of the flame had a great effect upon the amount of light emitted, the iron tips, which had been universally employed, both in flat flame and Argand burners, were replaced by steatite or other non-conducting material of similar character, to prevent as far as possible heat from being withdrawn from the flame by conduction.

In 1880 the burners in use for coal-gas consisted of flat flame, Argand and regenerative burners. In another test of the day, these burners were compared for their luminosity. The flat flames were tested with a range in number of carbon particles and by raising the temperature to which they were exposed. The flat flame burners 0-7 garnered results of 0.59-2.44 candle units per cubic foot of gas. The oridinary Argand resulted in 2.90 and the standard Argand resulted in 3.20 candle units per cubic foot of gas. That is quite a difference in luminosity! The regenerative burner had the best results at 7-10 candle units per cubic foot of gas and was known at the time to reach a top level of 16; however, this result was known at the time to be reached only for a short time, with a perfectly made burner. A regenerative burner constructed of ordinary materials would only last a few hours at that duty as the action was limited by the power possessed by the material of which burners are composed to withstand the superheating. Therefore, for practical use and a reasonable life for the burner 10 candles per cubic foot was about the highest commercial duty that could be counted on.

The success and simple design of the device of Argand's lamp resulted in copies from every lighting manufacturer in Paris, France, and Europe. Copies appeared in America later in the 19th century. They were frequently constructed of bronzed brass utilizing casting from moulds and stamping with dies. Better examples were crafted from bronze, etched crystal, and Wedgwood Jasperware.

Argand never profited from his lamp due to patent problems and he lost everything in the French Revolution. Before he died at the age of 53 in Geneva after suffering from malaria for 20 years, he attempted to move into various markets, including those of lamps for the home, street lighting, theatre lighting, port lighting (at harbour entrances, utilizing a single wick or 2-wick Argand capillary burner), lighthouses, and gas buoys (in which Argand ring burners were employed in the lanterns). In 1803 he offered for sale a lamp for lighting churches and large spaces.

​The example relative to the original inquiry is a reading lamp with an adjustable Argand burner which was one of the new types of lamps devised in the course of George IV's reign. It would originally have had a japanned-iron shade over a tall, narrow glass hurricane chimney. Below is a photo of a lamp similar to yours as it would have originally looked with the shade and chimney attached. The photo is from the book THE CONNOISSEUR'S COMPLETE PERIOD GUIDE TO HOUSES, DECORATION, FURNISHING AND CHATTELS OF THE CLASSIC PERIODS edited by Ralph Edwards and L.G.G. Ramsey, third printing, 1958.

More From Project Gutenberg's Encyclopedia of the Day:

The lamp is mounted on a standard on which it can be raised or lowered at will, and fixed by a thumb screw. The oil reservoir is in two parts, the upper ac being an inverted flask which fits into bb, from which the burner is directly fed through the tube d; h is an overflow cup for any oil that escapes at the burner, and it is pierced with air-holes for admitting the current of air to the centre tube of the Argand burner. The lamp is filled with oil by withdrawing the flask ac, filling it, and inverting it into its place. The under reservoir bb fills from it to the burner level ee, on a line with the mouth of ac. So soon as that level falls below the mouth of ac, a bubble of air gets access to the upper reservoir, and oil again fills up bb to the level ee."

We can see the Argand reading lamp in action within the painting "The Lamplight Portrait" from 1822 by artist Charles Willson Peale. In this painting Charles' younger brother, James Peale, studies by the light of his Argand reading lamp one of his miniature portraits on ivory that he was known for. We see James' paintbrush and palette on the table.

​Argand was a scientist whose ideas led to a revolution in lighting. His ideas created the unfortunate whaling industry for lamp oil; improved wicks by making them cylindrical and hollow, instead of flat, by working with a lacemaker; improved glass so the lamp chimneys could withstand a hotter flame; improved soldering in the manufacture of lamp oil reservoirs;  and improved the mechanism that moved lamp wicks up and down. He taught chemistry, perfected the distillation of wine into brandy, and helped launch the first hot air balloon. His lamps could burn any oil and were energy efficient for the day. His ideas inspired lamp makers of his day and into the future.

For further information about Argand, read the book BRANDY, BALLOONS & LAMPS: AMI ARGAND, 1750-1803 by John J. Wolfe

For more science fun, read this presentation from the SCIENCE journal from June 1, 1883 regarding the distribution of energy in the spectrum of an Argand burner.

​For further information and values there are two books to start with:

19TH CENTURY ELEGANT LIGHTING: ARGAND, SINUMBRA, AND SOLAR LAMPS by Gerald T. Gowitt, published by Schiffer