In the 18th and 19th centuries, people had limited options for artificial lighting. They could use firelight, candles, rushlights, or a type of lamp called a pan lamp. A pan lamp was made of a solid piece of iron or tin and had a shallow reservoir with at least one spout and an upright handle (Hayward 1962). A wick made of cloth, reed, or flax was placed into the spout (Hebard 1964). Rendered animal fat or fish oil poured into the reservoir fueled the flame (Woodhead 1984). Some pan lamps had a second, slightly larger pan suspended below the lamp (Figure 1) to catch drips (Perry 1969). The handle held the reservoir and drip pan together. The lamp also had a pick attached to clean the wick and remove any debris that may have fallen into the uncovered reservoir.

Pan lamps were commonly hung from a chain attached to the handle with a spike at one end which was driven into a wall, ceiling, or from a post (Figure 2). They could also be placed on a purpose-made stand with a handle and drip tray (Figure 3).

Various terms are used to describe pan-type lamps, including cruises, frog lamps, and kays. These names often originate from regional or national conventions (Woodhead 1984). An enhanced version of the pan lamp is the betty lamp, which got its name from a German word, "besser" that means better (Perry 1969). The betty lamp sets itself apart from other pan lamps by having a hinged or sliding lid and a slanted wick holder in the oil reservoir. The wick holder raised the wick above the oil inside the reservoir, preventing drips.

An example of a betty lamp in the archaeological record was found at the Brumbaugh-Kendall-Grove Homestead (18WA496) site located near the Hagerstown Regional Airport (Figure 4). The site contains a 19th to 20th-century standing farmstead, an 18th-century house site, and a precontact period component consisting of Middle Archaic through Middle Woodland camps. There were three major building phases related to the principal dwelling of the farmstead. The first stage was established by Jacob Brumbaugh in the mid-18th century, with the house expanded by his son Henry sometime within the first decade of the 19th century. The temporal breakdown of the features suggests that the late 18th-century occupation of the site was centered near Feature 6, the mid-18th-century Jacob Rumbaugh Flurküchenhaus structure. This betty lamp was found in a yard adjacent to a porch on the south side of the house. This lamp is missing its lid and the handle riveted onto the reservoir (Dworsky 2019).

References Cited

Dworsky, Joel G., M.A., RPA

2019    Phase I-III Archaeological Investigations, Brumbaugh-Kendle-Grove Farmstead (18WA496), Washington County, Maryland. Burlington: AECOM.

n.d.    Fat lamp (twin pan crusie lamp). https://emuseum.nyhistory.org/objects/37882/fat-lamp-twin-pan-crusie-lamp.

Haid, Johann Jacobus and Haid, Johann Elias

n.d.    La Ratisseuse. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund, New Haven. https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:23255.

Hayward, Arthur H.

1962    Colonial and Early American Lighting. New York: Dover Publications.

Hebard, Helen Bringham

1964    Early Lighting In New England. Rutland: Charles E. Tuttle Company.

Perry, David H.

1969    Out of Darkness: A History of Lighting<. Rochester: Rochester Museum and Science Center.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

n.d.    Betty Lamp. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/509?what=Betty+lamps&ao=on&ft=*&offset=0&rpp=20&pos=1.

Woodhead, E. I.

1984    Lighting Devices in the National Reference Collection, Parks Canada. Hull: National Historic Parks and Sites Branch, Parks Canada.