Camphine

Camphine was the trade name of a purified spirit of turpentine formerly used for lamps, generally prepared by distilling turpentine with quicklime.[1] Camphine gives a very brilliant light when burned in a lamp, but, to prevent smoking, the lamp must have a very strong draft. To achieve this special lamps were constructed, called “Vesta lamps”.[2] Liebig describes camphine as a blend of one part purified turpentine with three parts 93 to 94% grain alcohol. “It gives a very white light, not as bright as pure turpentine, but it can be burned in a simple lamp.”

The Library of Congress is digitizing old newspapers under its Chronicling America program. [3] The files are searchable making it possible to compare published dates with newspaper stories. The first reference to camphine appears in the July 11, 1838, issue of the NY Morning Herald.[4] AVM Webb has invented a new lamp for camphine which offers bright light and economy. In the May 28, 1840, issue of the Baltimore Pilot and Transcript, T. Palmer & Co. has camphine oil lamps for sale.[5] He claims 13,000 are in use in New York City. Later he claims exclusive availability of camphine lamps.

The alcohol was usually distilled from whiskey. Zallen tells in detail how turpentine (and rosin) are produced as naval stores.[6] Pine trees especially in North Carolina were tapped for sap which was doubly distilled to make turpentine and rosin (aka resin)–hence the name tar heels. The trees were scored with a ledge called a “box” to collect the sap. Large numbers of slaves were used to score the trees, collect and process the sap. Zallen describes this as industrial slavery–different from the more common vision of slaves in agriculture. By the 1840s camphine became the dominant lamp fuel in the US. [Zallen prefers the camphene spelling.]

The pine trees of North Carolina were well suited to camphine production. The business also provided additional need for slaves as production expanded. Backwoods became more productive. Slaves were often leased in winter when agriculture was slower. The value of many was protected by life insurance. Wilmington, NC became a center of the camphine industry. In cities, gaslighting was also available, but used by the upper classes. Camphine was the fuel of the average family.

Russell reports that whale oil was commonly used in lamps until the 1840s when prices began to rise.[7] Lard lamps were an early substitute beginning in about 1842. Camphine was the first fuel used in burning fluid lamps. Henry Porter of Bangor, Maine patented a turpentine/alcohol blend and the name "burning fluid" in 1835. Hence, the name Porter's Burning Fluid. The mix had been developed as a fuel for oil lamps by Isaiah Jennings of New York in 1830.[8] A typical camphine lamp has wick tubes forming a V.[9] They have caps resembling thimbles to extinguish the light and to prevent evaporation when the lamp is not in use. Whale oil lamps could be upgraded to use the new fuel by installing camphene burners, but the combination of more flammable fluid and the larger fonts in whale oil lamps sometimes caused lamps to explode.

The flammability of burning fluid posed a hazard. Spillage could start a fire. In 1853, Scientific American reported thirty-three deaths from burning fluid lamps the previous year. The most significant incident was the St. Louis Theater fire on June 12, 1846, in Quebec City, Canada, which began when someone knocked over a burning fluid lamp; 45 people died.[10]