Oilwick Lamps

McClave Bottom | MCCLAVE PATENT - This exceedingly rare and unique tin oil wick cap lamp was patented by William McClave during the time of the US Civil War. Letters Patent No. 49,477 was issued to McClave on August 15, 1865 and assigned to William P. Connell and William M. Silkman of Scranton, PA. McClave was a resident of the Hyde Park section of Scranton and filed his patent on May 5, 1865. Only the third patent for an oil wick lamp issued by the US Patent Office, McClave’s claimed improvement had to do with stabilizing the lamp on the miner’s cap to preclude spilling fuel from the lamp fill area. Unlike many other patented oil wick lamps, this one actually followed the patent quite closely with the exception of the concave back as shown in the patent drawing. The actual lamp has a flat back to which the cap hook is attached. The flat back keeps the lamp from rolling back and forth as the miner moves his head. This is the third known example of the McClave patent lamp; the actual patent model submitted to the US Patent Office was auctioned by Christies in 1996, joining one other example in private collections. The lamp measures 3 1/4 in. high to the top of the lid, 2 7/8 in. diameter of the font, and 1 1/4 in. deep with a 4 1/4 in. long single spout; unfired condition, ex-Al Grazevich collection, marked on bottom with number 038 from Grazevich collection [William McClave was born in Scotland, February 7, 1844, and came to the US with his parents at the age of two, settling in Boonton, NJ. In 1850 the family moved to Scranton, PA. McClave was educated in the Scranton public schools and then joined the W. G. Doud & Company in Hyde Park as an apprentice in the tinsmith trade. Later as a journeyman, he joined the Union Army during the start of the Civil War, serving eventually as a sergeant in a regiment of the Pennsylvania Volunteers. In 1862 after a serious illness with typhoid fever, he was honorably discharged and returned to the tinsmith trade. He joined the hardware business of Connell and Silkman in Scranton and it was during this time he filed for his lamp patent. It’s interesting to note that a large number of Connells were living in the Scranton area. William P. Connell, assignee of the McClave patent, continued in the hardware business as W. P. Connell & Sons in Scranton till his death in 1899. A more familiar William Connell joined with Alex Hunt to form the well known hardware firm of Hunt and Connell, one of the manufacturers of the Rollins patent lamp shown elsewhere in my oil wick pics, in a much more successful lamp enterprise than the McClave patent. McClave married Mary Rowland, a native of Wales, on April 11, 1864 and fathered one son, William R., who would later join his father in business. McClave left Connell and Silkman shortly after his patent filing to start his own business in nearby Pittston carrying a line of stoves and hardware. It was in the stove and furnace business where McClave established his legacy. He invented the Dockash grate in 1877 which proved to be so successful that he sold his business and joined the Scranton Stove Works for a period of 3 years. He later invented appliances called the McClave Grate and Argand Steam Blower to consume the waste products of the anthracite coal fields. His business expanded rapidly forming a partnership with Reese G. Brooks that was organized as McClave, Brooks and Company. In 1902 the business was incorporated as the McClave-Brooks Company and his appliances were adapted to every type of fuel and could be used under boilers and in furnaces of all types. By the time of his death in 1931, McClave was issued 80 patents by US and foreign offices. His first patent for the oil wick lamp was clearly the least successful of the bunch accounting for its rarity.]

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