Images of Candle Lamps

Candle-powered lighting was never popular with the cycling public. Certainly there were candle lamps advertised specifically for bicycles as early as1888 and indeed, as discussed earlier, Velocipedes appear to have had candle powered lamps fitted above the front wheel. Candle-powered hub lamps were manufactured in England and found favour with the French market and the German Company Reimann produced well-proportioned safety bicycle lamps powered by candles in the early 1890s. Most of the surviving candle bicycle lamps will date from after 1900 when the medium did have a limited success with lady cyclists because of its cleanliness. Despite the advertisement claims of power and reliability, the candle lamp gave very little light and, as the writer can confirm, is almost impossible to keep alight even in the lightest of breezes.

Peter W. Card
March 2003

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