History
The Argand lamp was new to Thomas Jefferson in Paris in 1784, according to him gave off "a light equal to six or eight candles."
These new lamps, much more complex and costly than the previous primitive oil lamps were first adopted by the well-to-do, but soon spread to the middle classes and eventually the less well-off as well. Argand lamps were manufactured in a great variety of decorative forms and quickly became popular in America.
It was the lamp of choice until about 1850 when kerosene lamps were introduced. Kerosene was cheaper than vegetable oil, it produced a whiter flame, and as a liquid of low viscosity it could easily travel up a wick eliminating the need for complicated mechanisms to feed the fuel to the burner.
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