NUCLEAR WAR SURVIVAL SKILLS, CRESSON M. KEARNY.
This file is: 
Lamp, Cooking Oil, NWSS, textural discussion. txt

     
SAFE EXPEDIENT LAMPS FOR SHELTERS, page 101

The simple expedient lamps described below are the results of Oak
Ridge National Laboratory experiments which started with oil lamps of
the kinds used by Eskimos and the ancient Greeks. Our objective was to
develop safe, dependable, long lasting shelter lights that can be made
quickly, using only common household materials. Numerous field tests
have proved that average Americans can build good lamps by following
the instructions given below (Fig. 11.2). 

These expedient lamps have the following advantages:

·  They are safe. Even if a burning lamp is knocked over onto a dry
paper, the flame is so small that it will be extinguished if the lamp
fuel being burned is a cooking oil or fat commonly used in the
kitchen, and if the lamp wick is not much larger than 1\16 inch in
diameter. 

·  Since the flame is inside ajar, it is not likely to set fire to a
careless person's clothing or to be blown out by a breeze. 

·  With the smallest practical wick and flame, a lamp burns only about
one ounce of edible oil or fat in eight hours. 

·  Even with a flame smaller than that of a birthday candle, there is
enough light for reading. To read easily by such a small flame, attach
aluminum foil to three sides and the bottom of the lamp, and suspend
it between you and your book, just high enough not to block your
vision. (During the long, anxious days and nights spent waiting for
fallout to decay, shelter occupants will appreciate having someone
read aloud to them.)
 
·  A lamp with aluminum foil attached is an excellent trap for
mosquitoes and other insects that can cause problems in an unscreened
shelter. They are attracted to the glittering light and fall into the
oil. 

·  Two of these lamps can be made in less than an hour, once the
materials have been assembled, so there is no reason to wait until a
crisis arises to make them. Oil exposed to the air deteriorates, so it
is best not to store lamps filled with oil or to keep oil-soaked wicks
for months. 

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Paul's note: common cotton string should work well for a wick.  You
can either tape a match to a stick to light these, as they recommend,
or have some fire place matches stored.

Figure 11.2, mentioned in the text,  is saved as two jpg files:
          Lamp, Cooking Oil, NWSS, floating wick lamp.jpg
          Lamp, Cooking Oil, NWSS, wire stiffened wick.jpg