The Origins of Gaslight Technology in Eighteenth-Century Pneumatic Chemistry (2009)
Tomory, Leslie (Author)
Annals of Science: The History of Science and Technology
Volume: 66
Pages: 473--496
The interaction between science and technology in the Industrial Revolution has been debated by various authors over the years. Most recently, Ursula Klein has described eighteenth-century chemistry as an interconnected system of science and technology because of the inherently productive nature of chemical experimentation. The technology used in the nineteenth gaslight industry follows the pattern that Klein describes: gaslight technology was derived from the academic studies of eighteenth-century pneumatic chemists. The foundation of the technology in science included first, a knowledge about inflammable gases and their properties, and second, various instruments and processes developed for the study of gases. Although inflammable exhalations had been known long before the eighteenth-century, it was only with the work of Priestley, Volta, Berthollet, and other chemists that their properties and characteristics, including the multiplicity of species of inflammable gases, became known. The instruments and processes of pneumatic chemistry that were incorporated into gaslight apparatus were the retort, the pneumatic trough, lime purification of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, and finally the gasometer. The first important instance of lighting with inflammable gases, that of J. P. Minckelers in 1785, demonstrates that pneumatic chemistry formed part of an interconnected network of science and technology, as does the work of other early gaslight pioneers such as Philippe Lebon, Zachaumlus Winzler, and William Murdoch. Lebon came to gaslight through the investigation of distillation processes, and later thought of using the inflammable gas produced in this way. Zachaumlus Winzler, an Austrian chemist, recreated Lebon's thermolamp from the instruments in his laboratory after hearing descriptions of it. In the case of William Murdoch, he incorporated the pneumatic apparatus that James Watt had built for Thomas Beddoes.
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