Kerosene lamp

A kerosene lamp (usually called a paraffin lamp in some countries) is a type of lighting device that uses kerosene (paraffin) 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 draught (tubular round wick), 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.

Pressurized kerosene lamps have a gas generator and gas mantle; these are known as Petromax, Tilley lamps, or Coleman lamps, among other manufacturers. They produce more light per unit of fuel than wick-type lamps, but are more complex and expensive in construction, and more complex to operate. A hand-pump pressurizes air, which forces liquid fuel from a reservoir into a gas generator. Vapor from the gas generator burns, heating a mantle to incandescence and also providing heat to the gas generator.

Oil Lamps (film)

Oil Lamps (Czech: Petrolejové lampy) is a 1971 Czechoslovak drama film directed by Juraj Herz. It competed in the 1972 Cannes Film Festival. It is based on a novel by Jaroslav Havlíček.

Plot

In a small Czech town named Jilemnice lives an unfortunate but brave and jovial woman Štěpa Kiliánová, whose only desire was to fill the void in her virgin life. Out of despair and excessive trust, she marries her cousin, a sardonic, reclusive man, former lieutenant and gambler Pavel Malina, whose only wish is to find peace and forget the past. Meanwhile the groom's father and older brother are interested in Štěpa's inheritance to save their farm from ruin. The couple live through unrequited love, dislike and disappointment on Štěpa's side, since her husband does not consumate the marriage because of his impotence, dued to the syphilis he got from the army. No one knows about the groom's disease and his increasing signs of cerebral disease, which engulfs his sanity.

Cast

Thanks a Million

Thanks a Million is a 1935 musical film produced and released by 20th Century Fox and directed by Roy Del Ruth. It stars Dick Powell, Ann Dvorak and Fred Allen, and features Patsy Kelly, David Rubinoff and Paul Whiteman and his band with singer/pianist Ramona. The script by Nunnally Johnson was based on a story by producer Darryl F. Zanuck (writing as Melville Crossman) and contained uncredited additional dialogue by Fred Allen, James Gow, Edmund Gross and Harry Tugend.

Thanks a Million was nominated for the Academy Award for Sound (E. H. Hansen) in 1935. It was remade in 1946 as If I'm Lucky, with Perry Como and Phil Silvers in the Dick Powell and Fred Allen roles.

Plot

Stranded in a small town in a downpour, the manager of a traveling musical show (Fred Allen) convinces the handlers of a boring long-winded local judge running for governor (Raymond Walburn) to hire his group to attract people to the politician's rallies. When the show's crooner, Eric Land (Dick Powell), upstages the Judge, he's fired, but on a return visit he saves the day by standing in for the Judge, who is too drunk to speak. Impressed by his poise, the party's bosses ask Eric to take over as candidate, and the singer, knowing he has no chance to win, agrees for the exposure and the radio airtime in which he can showcase his singing. Soon, though, his girlfriend Sally (Ann Dvorak) becomes annoyed at the amount of time Eric is spending with the wife of one of the bosses, and she leaves when she thinks he has lied to her. When the bosses ask Eric to agree to patronage appointments that will lead to easy graft for all of them, he exposes them on the radio, telling the voters that voting for him would be a huge mistake and urging them to vote for his opponent. At the end Eric is, of course, elected governor, and re-united with Sally.

Kerosene

Kerosene, also known as lamp oil, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid widely used as a fuel in industry and households. Its name derives from Greek: κηρός (keros) meaning wax, and was registered as a trademark by Abraham Gesner in 1854 before evolving into a genericized trademark. It is sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage. The term "kerosene" is common in much of India, Canada, the United States, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand.

Kerosene is usually called paraffin in the UK, Southeast Asia, East Africa and South Africa. A more viscous paraffin oil is used as a laxative. A waxy solid extracted from petroleum is called paraffin wax.

Kerosene is widely used to power jet engines of aircraft (jet fuel) and some rocket engines, and is also commonly used as a cooking and lighting fuel and for fire toys such as poi. In parts of Asia, where the price of kerosene is subsidized, it fuels outboard motors on small fishing boats.Kerosene lamps are widely used for lighting in rural areas of Asia and Africa where electrical distribution is not available or too costly for widespread use. World total kerosene consumption for all purposes is equivalent to about 1.2 million barrels per day.

Flash point

The flash point of a volatile material is the lowest temperature at which vapors of a fluid will ignite. Measuring a flash point requires an ignition source. At the flash point, the vapor may cease to burn when the ignition source is removed.

The flash point is not to be confused with the autoignition temperature (which does not require an ignition source) or with the fire point (the temperature at which the vapor continues to burn after being ignited).

Neither the flash point nor the fire point is dependent on the temperature of the ignition source, which is much higher.

Liquids

The flash point is a descriptive characteristic that is used to distinguish flammable liquids (such as petrol) from combustible liquids.

It is also used to characterize the fire hazards of liquids. Liquids which have a flash point less than 37.8 or 60.5 °C (100.0 or 140.9 °F), depending on the standard that is used, are called flammable — whereas liquids having a flash point above that temperature are called combustible.