Grease lamp, 1800-1850

Grease lamps, or Betty lamps as they were also known, used fat from the kitchen as fuel. While they burned slowly and were very cheap to operate because they did not require expensive fuel, they did not give good light and produced a black, smelly, greasy smoke unless all of the impurities were removed from the fat.

Iron
Gift of George N. Keyser in memory of Mary Keyser, St. Charles, IL (1983.113.2)

Lighting | Metal

© Illinois State Museum 31-Dec-96