The Argand lamp is a type of oil lamp invented in 1780 by Aime Argand and was extremely unique at the time. His wick consisted of a flat ribbon, shaped like a cylinder, sitting in a reservoir of oil, with two concentric metal tubes inside and outside. Once lit, air was drawn up by convection on both sides of the wick resulting in a truly brilliant, smokeless flame. With a hard glass tube on the outside, the lamp was as bright as eight or ten candles. It was also far safer because the flame was enclosed. It was the brightest lamp that had been invented over the 2000 years of lighting at that time.
Photo courtesy of Charles Winston Peale.
