Oilwick Lamps/Alex Hunt I Marking

Oilwick Lamps

Alex Hunt I Marking.jpg - ALEX E HUNT I MARKING - Tin and brass face lamp marked ALEX E. HUNT SCRANTON, PA, fabulous deep name stamping, unfired condition, acquired from Nelson Ressler (The story of this lamp starts with Edward K. Rollins of Scranton, PA who filed for a miner's lamp patent on March 22, 1882 and was granted patent No. 279,503 on June 12, 1883. The primary feature of the Rollins patent is the one piece cylindrical body and spout with the only solder seams being along the top of the spout and the back of the cylinder. This improvement avoided the sometimes problematic solder seam at the base of the spout and the lamp body where excess heat could melt this solder seam. The Rollins lamp would ultimately bear the name of 8 different manufacturers all in the Scranton area for over 40 years making it a very interesting oil wick lamp development indeed. Rollins assigned his patent to the Hunt Bros. & Co. of Scranton. The Hunt Bros., Alex E. and Theo F., were hardware dealers from 1873 to 1880 and went on to form Hunt Bros. & Co. which operated from 1880 to 1882. It is believed that Rollins worked for the Hunt Bros. during this time. The earliest Rollins patent lamp is marked Hunt Bros. with a pat. a'pl'd. for marking on the spout. Theo left the business in 1882 and Alex teamed with William Connell to form the Hunt & Connell Ltd. company which operated from 1882 to 1892 producing the Rollins patent lamp (shown elsewhere in the pics). They formed the Hunt & Connell Co. in 1892 and continued making the Rollins patent lamp until 1903. Two employees of the Hunt & Connell Co., James E. Quinn and James J. Murray, formed the Quinn and Murray Co. in 1900 making the Rollins patent lamp but made the lamps for but 1 year till 1901. These lamps marked QUINN & MURRAY MAKERS SCRANTON PA are scarce because of the short production time. A lamp shown elsewhere in the pics is an interesting follow-on to these lamps since the QUINN portion of the mark has been deleted. Quinn on the otherhand joined his brother William and together they manufactured QUINN BROS. marked Rollins lamps till 1907. Murray went back to work as a tinsmith for Hunt & Connell till 1907 and produced the J.J. MURRAY marked Rollins patent lamps with a reinforcing shroud between the spout and font till about 1912. After the split with Connell in 1903, Alex E. Hunt continued a wholesale hardware business in Scranton producing the Rollins patent lamp marked with his name as shown here until 1912. Finally, Trethaway Bros. enters the Rollins patent rollercoaster history and continues to manufacture the lamp after 1912. Arguably, the Rollins patent may have involved more manufacturing entities for a longer period of time than any other oilwick patent. See Moon, Mining Artifact Collector #21, pp 23-25 and Guthrie & Hileman, Eureka #13, pp 2-5)

Alex Hunt I Marking | ALEX E HUNT I MARKING - Tin and brass face lamp marked ALEX E. HUNT SCRANTON, PA, fabulous deep name stamping, unfired condition, acquired from Nelson Ressler (The story of this lamp starts with Edward K. Rollins of Scranton, PA who filed for a miner's lamp patent on March 22, 1882 and was granted patent No. 279,503 on June 12, 1883. The primary feature of the Rollins patent is the one piece cylindrical body and spout with the only solder seams being along the top of the spout and the back of the cylinder. This improvement avoided the sometimes problematic solder seam at the base of the spout and the lamp body where excess heat could melt this solder seam. The Rollins lamp would ultimately bear the name of 8 different manufacturers all in the Scranton area for over 40 years making it a very interesting oil wick lamp development indeed. Rollins assigned his patent to the Hunt Bros. & Co. of Scranton. The Hunt Bros., Alex E. and Theo F., were hardware dealers from 1873 to 1880 and went on to form Hunt Bros. & Co. which operated from 1880 to 1882. It is believed that Rollins worked for the Hunt Bros. during this time. The earliest Rollins patent lamp is marked Hunt Bros. with a pat. a'pl'd. for marking on the spout. Theo left the business in 1882 and Alex teamed with William Connell to form the Hunt & Connell Ltd. company which operated from 1882 to 1892 producing the Rollins patent lamp (shown elsewhere in the pics). They formed the Hunt & Connell Co. in 1892 and continued making the Rollins patent lamp until 1903. Two employees of the Hunt & Connell Co., James E. Quinn and James J. Murray, formed the Quinn and Murray Co. in 1900 making the Rollins patent lamp but made the lamps for but 1 year till 1901. These lamps marked QUINN & MURRAY MAKERS SCRANTON PA are scarce because of the short production time. A lamp shown elsewhere in the pics is an interesting follow-on to these lamps since the QUINN portion of the mark has been deleted. Quinn on the otherhand joined his brother William and together they manufactured QUINN BROS. marked Rollins lamps till 1907. Murray went back to work as a tinsmith for Hunt & Connell till 1907 and produced the J.J. MURRAY marked Rollins patent lamps with a reinforcing shroud between the spout and font till about 1912. After the split with Connell in 1903, Alex E. Hunt continued a wholesale hardware business in Scranton producing the Rollins patent lamp marked with his name as shown here until 1912. Finally, Trethaway Bros. enters the Rollins patent rollercoaster history and continues to manufacture the lamp after 1912. Arguably, the Rollins patent may have involved more manufacturing entities for a longer period of time than any other oilwick patent. See Moon, Mining Artifact Collector #21, pp 23-25 and Guthrie & Hileman, Eureka #13, pp 2-5)

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