A Home-Made Betty Lamp.

[ThePillenwerfer]

This is a little something I made a few weeks ago.  It's by no means meant to be a copy of a particular historical example but inspired by them.
 
It certainly isn't perfect but I'm satisfied given that I've done very little metal fabrication in my life and this is easily the most complicated such thing I have attempted.  I regarded it as a skill-builder as much as anything.
 
Cutting templates are available below, including as a PDF as that should print the correct size, but they should not be treated as a hundred per cent accurate — I may not be much of a metal-worker but am even less a draftsman.  Some sizing will also depend on the thickness of the metal used — I used 18 gauge.  The side isn't shown but is a strip an inch wide and twelve long.  This is longer than needed but allows it to be cut to exact length making a tight joint at the back.  The parts for the top are then best cut out a bit over-size and filed/ground to exact size after hinging them together.

[countryman]

I may not be much of a metal-worker...

erm... I dare to remark you are in error sir... that is a very nice piece of craftsmanship, congratulations for the result! Soldering the seams tight enough is a challenge!

I have a lamp of this type, an ancestor of mine used it as a coal digger in the local mine, around 1860 or so, before safety lights became the norm. It's a family heritage, but was rusty and forgotten in the basement when I was a kid. My father dug it out but neither had the time nor the "knack" to restore it. I felt a little proud after I did that ;-)

[TelePlay]

That is very nice work.

Did your work come out of the ancient Egyptian clay oil lamps, of which there are many designs based on the same principle? I don't recognize the term Betty Lamp.

[ThePillenwerfer]

Thanks, Countryman.  I too have an ancestral miner's lamp.  Mine WAS a safety lamp but has lost its gauze at some point in its long life.

My understanding is that these Betty lamps were popular in Colonial America though were of Hungarian or German origin.  The clay ones were, and to a degree still are, more popular around the Mediterranean. 

An advantage of the Betty design is that any drips from the wick fall back into the lamp's reservoir.  The name is a corruption of the German word besser meaning better; they are also called grease lamps or butter lamps as in the old days they'd be fueled by any bits of fat or oil that came out of food and that wasn't fit. or desired, for consumption.  Such a lamp was chosen as the symbol of the American Home Economics Association.

[FABphones]

What a fun project, really interesting to see this kind of work.

What metal is it, was it made from recycle metal?
and what did you use to make the cuts and weld?

Thanks for sharing!

[ThePillenwerfer]

It was made out of some scrap steel sheet that I'd got lying around.  Stuff cut out of a scrap washing machine cabinet would be fine.

The long straight cuts, such as the side and handle, were done with an angle grinder and the curved ones with tin snips.

The whole thing is soldered together with plumbing solder — proper lead-based stuff, and Baker's Soldering Fluid as flux.