Gas lighting is the production of artificial light from
combustion
Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combustion ...
of a
fuel gas
Fuel gas is one of a number of fuels that under ordinary conditions are gaseous. Most fuel gases are composed of hydrocarbons (such as methane and propane), hydrogen, carbon monoxide, or mixtures thereof. Such gases are sources of energy that c ...
such as
methane
Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The abundance of methane on Earth makes ...
,
propane
Propane () is a three-carbon chain alkane with the molecular formula . It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but becomes liquid when compressed for transportation and storage. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum ref ...
,
butane
Butane () is an alkane with the formula C4H10. Butane exists as two isomers, ''n''-butane with connectivity and iso-butane with the formula . Both isomers are highly flammable, colorless, easily liquefied gases that quickly vaporize at ro ...
,
acetylene
Acetylene (Chemical nomenclature, systematic name: ethyne) is a chemical compound with the formula and structure . It is a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne. This colorless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is u ...
,
ethylene
Ethylene (IUPAC name: ethene) is a hydrocarbon which has the formula or . It is a colourless, flammable gas with a faint "sweet and musky" odour when pure. It is the simplest alkene (a hydrocarbon with carbon–carbon bond, carbon–carbon doub ...
,
hydrogen
Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...
,
carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a poisonous, flammable gas that is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the si ...
,
coal gas
Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. It is produced when coal is heated strongly in the absence of air. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous ...
(town gas) or
natural gas
Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...
. The light is produced either directly by the flame, generally by using special mixes (typically propane or butane) of
illuminating gas
The history of gaseous fuel, important for lighting, heating, and cooking purposes throughout most of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, began with the development of analytical chemistry, analytical and pneumatic chemistry i ...
to increase brightness, or indirectly with other components such as the
gas mantle or the
limelight, with the gas primarily functioning to heat the mantle or the lime to
incandescence
Thermal radiation is electromagnetic radiation emitted by the thermal motion of particles in matter. All matter with a temperature greater than absolute zero emits thermal radiation. The emission of energy arises from a combination of electron ...
.
Before electricity became sufficiently widespread and economical to allow for general public use, gas lighting was prevalent for outdoor and indoor use in cities and suburbs where the infrastructure for distribution of gas was practical.
At that time, the most common fuels for gas lighting were
wood gas, coal gas and, in limited cases,
water gas.
Early gas lights were ignited manually by
lamplighters, although many later designs are self-igniting.
Gas lighting now is frequently used for
camping
Camping is a form of outdoor recreation or outdoor education involving overnight stays with a basic temporary shelter such as a tent. Camping can also include a recreational vehicle, sheltered cabins, a permanent tent, a shelter such as a Bivy bag ...
, for which the high
energy density
In physics, energy density is the quotient between the amount of energy stored in a given system or contained in a given region of space and the volume of the system or region considered. Often only the ''useful'' or extractable energy is measure ...
of the
hydrocarbon fuel
In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic; their odor is usually faint, and may ...
, and the modular canisters on which camping lights are built, brings bright and long lasting light without complex equipment.
In addition, some urban historical districts retain gas
street lighting, and gas lighting is used indoors or outdoors to create or preserve a
nostalgic effect.
History of gas lighting
Background

Prior to use of gaseous fuels for lighting, the early lighting fuels consisted of
olive oil
Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil.
It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a cond ...
,
beeswax
Bee hive wax complex
Beeswax (also known as cera alba) is a natural wax produced by honey bees of the genus ''Apis''. The wax is formed into scales by eight wax-producing glands in the abdominal segments of worker bees, which discard it in o ...
,
fish oil,
whale oil
Whale oil is oil obtained from the blubber of whales. Oil from the bowhead whale was sometimes known as train-oil, which comes from the Dutch word ''traan'' ("tear drop").
Sperm oil, a special kind of oil used in the cavities of sperm whales, ...
,
sesame oil, nut oil, or other similar substances, which were all liquid fuels. These were the most commonly used fuels until the late 18th century. Whale oil was especially widely used for lighting in European cities such as London through the early 19th century.
Chinese records dating back 1,700 years indicate the use of natural gas in homes for lighting and heating. The natural gas was transported by means of
bamboo
Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...
pipes to homes. The ancient Chinese of the
Spring and Autumn period
The Spring and Autumn period () was a period in History of China, Chinese history corresponding roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou (256 BCE), characterized by the gradual erosion of royal power as local lords nominally subject t ...
made the first practical use of natural gas for lighting purposes around 500 B.C. in which they used bamboo pipelines to transport both brine and natural gas for many miles, such as the ones in
Zigong salt mines.
Public illumination preceded by centuries the development and widespread adoption of gas lighting. In 1417, Sir
Henry Barton,
Lord Mayor of London
The Lord Mayor of London is the Mayors in England, mayor of the City of London, England, and the Leader of the council, leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded Order of precedence, precedence over a ...
, ordained "Lanthornes with lights to bee hanged out on the Winter evening betwixt
Hallowtide and
Candlemassee." Paris was first illuminated by an order issued in 1524, and, in the beginning of the 16th century, the inhabitants were ordered to keep lights burning in the windows of all houses that faced streets. In 1668, when some regulations were made for improving the streets of London, the residents were reminded to hang out their
lantern
A lantern is a source of lighting, often portable. It typically features a protective enclosure for the light sourcehistorically usually a candle, a oil lamp, wick in oil, or a thermoluminescence, thermoluminescent Gas mantle, mesh, and often a ...
s at the usual time, and, in 1690, an order was issued to hang out a light, or lamp, every night at nightfall, from
Michaelmas to Christmas. By an Act of the
Common Council in 1716, all housekeepers, whose houses faced any street, lane, or passage, were required to hang out, every dark night, one or more lights, to burn from six to eleven o'clock, under the penalty of one
shilling
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...
as a fine for failing to do so.
Accumulating and escaping gases were known originally among coal miners for their adverse effects rather than their useful characteristics. Coal miners described two types of gases, one called the ''
choke damp'' and the other ''
fire damp''. In 1667, a paper detailing the effects of these gases was entitled, "A Description of a Well and Earth in Lancashire taking Fire, by a Candle approaching to it. Imparted by Thomas Shirley, Esq an eye-witness."
British clergyman and scientist
Stephen Hales
Stephen Hales (17 September 16774 January 1761) was an English clergyman who made major contributions to a range of scientific fields including botany, pneumatic chemistry and physiology. He was the first person to measure blood pressure. He al ...
experimented with the actual distillation of coal, thereby obtaining a flammable liquid. He reported his results in the first volume of his ''Vegetable Statics'', published in 1726. From the distillation of "one hundred and fifty-eight
grains
A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit ( caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and le ...
0.2 gof Newcastle coal, he stated that he obtained 180 cubic inches
.9 Lof gas, which weighed 51 grains
.3 g being nearly one third of the whole." Hales's results garnered attention decades later as the unique chemical properties of various gases became understood through the work of
Joseph Black,
Henry Cavendish,
Alessandro Volta
Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (, ; ; 18 February 1745 – 5 March 1827) was an Italian chemist and physicist who was a pioneer of electricity and Power (physics), power, and is credited as the inventor of the electric battery a ...
, and others.
A 1733 publication by
Sir James Lowther in the ''
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'' is a scientific journal published by the Royal Society. In its earliest days, it was a private venture of the Royal Society's secretary. It was established in 1665, making it the second journ ...
'' detailed some properties of coal gas, including its flammability. Lowther demonstrated the principal properties of coal gas to different members of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
. He showed that the gas retained its flammability after storage for some time. The demonstration did not result in identification of utility.
Minister and experimentalist
John Clayton referred to coal gas as the "spirit" of coal. He discovered its flammability by an accident. The "spirit" he isolated from coal caught fire by coming in contact with a candle as it escaped from a fracture in one of his distillation vessels. He stored the coal gas in bladders, and at times he entertained his friends by demonstrating the flammability of the gas. Clayton published his findings in ''Philosophical Transactions''.
Early technology

It took nearly 200 years for gas to become accessible for commercial use. A Flemish alchemist,
Jan Baptista van Helmont, was the first person to formally recognize gas as a state of matter. He would go on to identify several types of gases, including carbon dioxide. Over one hundred years later in 1733, Sir
James Lowther had some of his miners working on a water pit for his mine. While digging the pit they hit a pocket of gas. Lowther took a sample of the gas and took it home to do some experiments. He noted, "The said air being put into a bladder … and tied close, may be carried away, and kept some days, and being afterwards pressed gently through a small pipe into the flame of a candle, will take fire, and burn at the end of the pipe as long as the bladder is gently pressed to feed the flame, and when taken from the candle after it is so lighted, it will continue burning till there is no more air left in the bladder to supply the flame." Lowther had basically discovered the principle behind gas lighting.
Later in the 18th century
William Murdoch (sometimes spelled "Murdock") stated: "the gas obtained by distillation from coal, peat, wood and other inflammable substances burnt with great brilliancy upon being set fire to … by conducting it through tubes, it might be employed as an economical substitute for lamps and candles." Murdoch's first invention was a lantern with a gas-filled bladder attached to a jet. He would use this to walk home at night. After seeing how well this worked he decided to light his home with gas. In 1797, Murdoch installed gas lighting in his new home as well as the workshop in which he worked. “This work was of a large scale, and he next experimented to find better ways of producing, purifying, and burning the gas.” The foundation had been laid for companies to start producing gas and other inventors to start playing with ways of using the new technology.
Murdoch was the first to exploit the flammability of gas for the practical application of lighting. He worked for
Matthew Boulton and
James Watt
James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was f ...
at their
Soho Foundry steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...
works in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
, England. In the early 1790s, while overseeing the use of his company's steam engines in
tin mining in Cornwall, Murdoch began experimenting with various types of gas, finally settling on
coal gas
Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. It is produced when coal is heated strongly in the absence of air. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous ...
as the most effective. He first lit his own house in
Redruth
Redruth ( , ) is a town and civil parishes in Cornwall, civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. According to the 2011 census, the population of Redruth was 14,018 In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, ...
, Cornwall in 1792. In 1798, he used gas to light the main building of the Soho Foundry and in 1802 lit the outside in a public display of gas lighting, the lights astonishing the local population. One of the employees at the Soho Foundry,
Samuel Clegg, saw the potential of this new form of lighting. Clegg left his job to set up his own gas lighting business, the
Gas Light and Coke Company.
A "thermolampe" using
gas distilled from wood was patented in 1799, while German inventor Friedrich Winzer (
Frederick Albert Winsor) was the first person to patent coal-gas lighting in 1804.
In 1801, Phillipe Lebon of Paris had also used gas lights to illuminate his house and gardens, and was considering how to light all of Paris. In 1820, Paris adopted gas street lighting.
In 1804, Dr Henry delivered a course of lectures on
chemistry
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
, at
Manchester
Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
, in which he showed the mode of producing gas from coal, and the facility and advantage of its use. Dr Henry analysed the composition and investigated the properties of carburetted hydrogen gas (i.e. methane). His experiments were numerous and accurate and made upon a variety of substances; having obtained the gas from wood,
peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...
, different kinds of coal, oil, wax, etc., he quantified the intensity of the light from each source.
In 1806 The Philips and Lee factory and a portion of Chapel Street in Salford, Lancashire were lit by gas, thought to be the first use of gas street lighting in the world.
Josiah Pemberton, an inventor, had for some time been experimenting on the nature of gas. A resident of Birmingham, his attention may have been roused by the exhibition at Soho. About 1806, he exhibited gas lights in a variety of forms and with great brilliance at the front of his factory in Birmingham. In 1808 he constructed an apparatus, applicable for several uses, for
Benjamin Cooke, a manufacturer of
brass
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...
tubes,
gilt toys, and other articles.
In 1808, Murdoch presented to the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
a paper entitled "Account of the Application of Gas from Coal to Economical Purposes" in which he described his successful application of coal gas to light the extensive establishment of Messrs. Phillips and Lea. For this paper he was awarded
Count Rumford
Colonel (United Kingdom), Colonel Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (26 March 175321 August 1814), was an American-born British military officer, scientist and inventor. Born in Woburn, Massachusetts, he sup ...
's gold medal. Murdoch's statements threw great light on the comparative advantage of gas and candles, and contained much useful information on the expenses of production and management.
Although the history is uncertain,
David Melville has been credited with the first house and street lighting in the United States, in either 1805 or 1806 in
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...
.
In 1809, accordingly, the first application was made to
Parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
to incorporate a company in order to accelerate the process, but the bill failed to pass. In 1810, however, the application was renewed by the same parties, and though some opposition was encountered and considerable expense incurred, the bill passed, but not without great alterations; and the London and Westminster
Gas Light and Coke Company was established. Less than two years later, on 31 December 1813,
Westminster Bridge was lit by gas.
By 1816, Samuel Clegg obtained the patent for his horizontal rotative
retort, his apparatus for purifying coal gas with
cream of lime, and for his rotative
gas meter and self-acting
governor
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
.
Widespread use

Among the economic impacts of gas lighting was much longer work hours in factories. This was particularly important in Great Britain during the winter months when nights are significantly longer. Factories could even work continuously over 24 hours, resulting in increased production. Following successful commercialization, gas lighting spread to other countries.
In England, the first place outside London to have gas lighting was
Preston, Lancashire
Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston, Lancashire, City of Preston local government district. Preston ...
, in 1816; this was due to the Preston Gaslight Company run by revolutionary
Joseph Dunn, who found the most improved way of brighter gas lighting. The parish church there was the first religious building to be lit by gas lighting.
In
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
, a Gas Light Company was founded on 15 December 1815. Under the supervision of the engineer, John Brelliat, extensive works were conducted in 1816–17 to build a gasholder, mains and street lights. Many of the principal streets in the centre of the city, as well as nearby houses, had switched to gas lighting by the end of 1817.
In America,
Seth Bemis lit his factory with gas illumination from 1812 to 1813. The use of gas lights in
Rembrandt Peale's Museum in
Baltimore
Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
in 1816 was a great success. Baltimore was the first American city with gas street lights; Peale's Gas Light Company of Baltimore on 7 February 1817 lit its first street lamp at Market and Lemon Streets (currently Baltimore and Holliday Streets). The first private residence in the US illuminated by gas has been variously identified as that of
David Melville (c. 1806), as described above, or of William Henry, a
coppersmith, at 200 Lombard Street,
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, Pennsylvania, in 1816.
In 1817, at the three stations of the Chartered Gas Company in London, 25
chaldrons (24 m
3) of coal were
carbonized daily, producing of gas. This supplied gas lamps equal to 75,000
Argand lamps each yielding the light of six candles. At the City Gas Works, in Dorset Street,
Blackfriars, three chaldrons of coal were carbonized each day, providing the gas equivalent of 9,000 Argand lamps. So 28 chaldrons of coal were carbonized daily, and 84,000 lights supplied by those two companies only.
At this period the principal difficulty in gas manufacture was purification. Mr. D. Wilson, of Dublin, patented a method for purifying coal gas by means of the chemical action of
ammoniacal gas. Another plan was devised by Reuben Phillips, of
Exeter
Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol.
In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...
, who patented the purification of coal gas by the use of dry
lime. G. Holworthy, in 1818, patented a method of purifying it by passing the gas, in a highly condensed state, through iron retorts heated to a dark red.
In 1820, Swedish inventor
Johan Patrik Ljungström had developed a gas lighting with copper apparatuses and
chandelier
A chandelier () is an ornamental lighting device, typically with spreading branched supports for multiple lights, designed to be hung from the ceiling. Chandeliers are often ornate, and they were originally designed to hold candles, but now inca ...
s of
ink,
brass
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...
and
crystal
A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macros ...
, reportedly one of the first such public installations of gas lighting in the region, enhanced as a
triumphal arch
A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road, and usually standing alone, unconnected to other buildings. In its simplest form, a triumphal ...
for the
city gate
A city gate is a gate which is, or was, set within a city wall. It is a type of fortified gateway.
Uses
City gates were traditionally built to provide a point of controlled access to and departure from a walled city for people, vehicles, goods ...
for a
royal visit of
Charles XIV John of Sweden in 1820.
By 1823, numerous towns and cities throughout Britain were lit by gas. Gas light cost up to 75% less than
oil lamp
An oil lamp is a lamp used to produce light continuously for a period of time using an oil-based fuel source. The use of oil lamps began thousands of years ago and continues to this day, although their use is less common in modern times. The ...
s or candles, which helped to accelerate its development and deployment. By 1859, gas lighting was to be found all over Britain and about a thousand
gas works had sprung up to meet the demand for the new fuel. The brighter lighting which gas provided allowed people to read more easily and for longer. This helped to stimulate literacy and learning, speeding up the second
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
.
In 1824 the
English Association for Gas Lighting on the Continent, a sizeable business producing gas for several cities in mainland, Europe, including Berlin, was established, with
Sir William Congreve, 2nd Baronet as general manager.
The 1839 invention, the
Bude-Light, provided a brighter and more economical lamp.
Oil-gas appeared in the field as a rival of coal gas. In 1815,
John Taylor patented an apparatus for the decomposition of "oil" and other animal substances. Public attention was attracted to "oil-gas" by the display of the patent apparatus at
Apothecary's Hall, by
Taylor & Martineau.
In 1891 the
gas mantle was invented by the Austrian chemist
Carl Auer von Welsbach. This eliminated the need for special illuminating gas (a synthetic mixture of
hydrogen
Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...
and
hydrocarbon
In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and Hydrophobe, hydrophobic; their odor is usually fain ...
gases produced by
destructive distillation
Destructive distillation is a chemical process in which decomposition of unprocessed material is achieved by heating it to a high temperature; the term generally applies to processing of organic material in the absence of air or in the presence o ...
of
bituminous coal
Bituminous coal, or black coal, is a type of coal containing a tar-like substance called bitumen or asphalt. Its coloration can be black or sometimes dark brown; often there are well-defined bands of bright and dull material within the coal seam, ...
or
peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...
) to get bright shining flames.
Acetylene
Acetylene (Chemical nomenclature, systematic name: ethyne) is a chemical compound with the formula and structure . It is a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne. This colorless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is u ...
was also used from about 1898 for gas lighting on a smaller scale.
Illuminating gas was used for gas lighting, as it produces a much brighter light than natural gas or
water gas. Illuminating gas was much less toxic than other forms of coal gas, but less could be produced from a given quantity of coal. The experiments with distilling coal were described by John Clayton in 1684. George Dixon's pilot plant exploded in 1760, setting back the production of illuminating gas a few years. The first commercial application was in a
Manchester
Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
cotton mill in 1806. In 1901, studies of the
defoliant effect of leaking
gas pipes led to the discovery that ethylene is a
plant hormone
Plant hormones (or phytohormones) are signal molecules, produced within plants, that occur in extremely low concentrations. Plant hormones control all aspects of plant growth and development, including embryogenesis, the regulation of Organ (anat ...
.
Throughout the 19th century and into the first decades of the 20th, the gas was manufactured by the
gasification of coal. Later in the 19th century, natural gas began to replace coal gas, first in the US, and then in other parts of the world. In the United Kingdom, coal gas was used until the early 1970s.
Russia
The history of the Russian gas industry began with retired Lieutenant Pyotr Sobolevsky (1782–1841), who improved
Philippe le Bon's design for a "thermolamp" and presented it to Emperor
Alexander I in 1811; in January 1812, Sobolevsky was instructed to draw up a plan for gas street-lighting for St. Petersburg. The
French invasion of Russia delayed implementation, but St. Petersburg's Governor General
Mikhail Miloradovich, who had seen the gas lighting of Vienna, Paris and other European cities, initiated experimental work on gas lighting for the capital, using British apparatus for obtaining gas from pit coal, and by the autumn of 1819, Russia's first gas street light was lit on one of the streets on
Aptekarsky Island.
In February 1835, the Company for Gas Lighting St. Petersburg was founded.
Towards the end of that year, a factory for the production of lighting gas was constructed near the
Obvodny Canal, using pit coal shipped in overseas from
Cardiff
Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...
, and 204 gas lamps were lit ceremonially in St. Petersburg on 27 September 1839.
Over the next 10 years, their numbers almost quadrupled, to reach 800. By the middle of the 19th century, the central streets and buildings of the capital were illuminated: the
Palace Square
Palace Square ( rus, Дворцо́вая пло́щадь, r=Dvortsovaya Ploshchad, p=dvɐrˈtsovəjə ˈploɕːɪtʲ), connecting Nevsky Prospekt with Palace Bridge leading to Vasilievsky Island, is the central city square of St Petersb ...
, Bolshaya and Malaya Morskaya streets,
Nevsky and Tsarskoselsky Avenues,
Passage Arcade, Noblemen's Assembly, the
Technical Institute and
Peter and Paul Fortress.
Theatrical use

It took many years of development and testing before gas lighting for the stage was commercially available. Gas technology was then installed in just about every major theatre in the world. But gas lighting was short-lived because the electric light bulb soon followed.
In the 19th century, gas stage lighting went from a crude experiment to the most popular way of lighting theatrical stages. In 1804, Frederick Albert Winsor first demonstrated the way to use gas to light the stage in London at the
Lyceum Theatre. Although the demonstration and all the lead research were being done in London, "in 1816 at the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia was the earliest gas lit theatre in world". In 1817 the Lyceum,
Drury Lane
Drury Lane is a street on the boundary between the Covent Garden and Holborn areas of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of London Borough of Camden, Camden and the southern part in the City o ...
, and Covent Garden theatres were all lit by gas. Gas was brought into the building by "miles of rubber tubing from outlets in the floor called 'water joints'" which "carried the gas to border-lights and wing lights". But before it was distributed, the gas came through a central distribution point called a "gas table",
[Sellman 15] which varied the brightness by regulating the gas supply, and the gas table, which allowed control of separate parts of the stage. Thus it became the first stage 'switchboard'.
[Pilbrow 174]
By the 1850s, gas lighting in theatres had spread practically all over the United States and Europe. Some of the largest installations of gas lighting were in large auditoriums, like the
Théâtre du Chatelet, built in 1862.
[Penzel 69] In 1875, the new
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera ( ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be kn ...
was constructed. "Its lighting system contained more than twenty-eight miles [] of gas piping, and its gas table had no fewer than eighty-eight stopcocks, which controlled nine hundred and sixty gas jets."
The theatre that used the most gas lighting was Astley's Equestrian Amphitheatre in London. According to the
Illustrated London News, "Everywhere white and gold meets the eye, and about 200,000 gas jets add to the glittering effect of the auditorium … such a blaze of light and splendour has scarcely ever been witnessed, even in dreams."
Theatres switched to gas lighting because it was more economical than using candles and also required less labour to operate. With gas lighting, theatres would no longer need to have people tending to candles during a performance, or having to light each candle individually. "It was easier to light a row of gas jets than a greater quantity of candles high in the air."
Theatres also no longer needed to worry about wax dripping on the actors during a show.
Gas lighting also had an effect on the actors. As the stage was brighter, they could now use less make-up and their motions did not have to be as exaggerated. Half-lit stages had become fully lit stages. Production companies were so impressed with the new technology that one said, "This light is perfect for the stage. One can obtain gradation of brightness that is really magical."
The best result was the improved respect from the audience. There was no more shouting or riots. The light pushed the actors more up stage behind the proscenium, helping the audience concentrate more on the action that was taking place on stage rather than what was going on in the house. Management had more authority on what went on during the show because they could see. Gaslight was the leading cause of behaviour change in theatres. They were no longer places for mingling and orange selling, but places of respected entertainment.
Types of lighting instruments
There were six types of burners, but four burners were really experimented with:
* The first burner used was the single-jet burner, which produced a small flame. The tip of the burner was made out of lead, which absorbed heat, causing the flame to be smaller in size. It was discovered that the flame would burn brighter if the metal was mixed with other components, such as porcelain.
* Flat burners were invented mainly to distribute gas and light evenly to the systems.
* The fishtail burner was similar to the flat burner, but it produced a brighter flame and conducted less heat.
* The last burner that was experimented with was the
Welsbach burner. Around this time the
Bunsen burner was in use along with some forms of electricity. The Welsbach was based on the idea of the Bunsen burner, still using gas. A cotton mesh with
cerium
Cerium is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Ce and atomic number 58. It is a hardness, soft, ductile, and silvery-white metal that tarnishes when exposed to air. Cerium is the second element in the lanthanide series, and while it ...
and
thorium
Thorium is a chemical element; it has symbol Th and atomic number 90. Thorium is a weakly radioactive light silver metal which tarnishes olive grey when it is exposed to air, forming thorium dioxide; it is moderately soft, malleable, and ha ...
was imbedded into the Welsbach. This source of light was named the
gas mantle; it produced three times more light than the naked flame.
Several different instruments were used for
stage lighting in the 19th century fell; these included footlights, border lights, groundrows, lengths, bunch lights, conical reflector floods, and limelight spots. These mechanisms sat directly on the stage, blinding the eyes of the audience.
*
Footlights caused the actors' costumes to catch fire if they got too close. These lights also caused bothersome heat that affected both audience members and actors. Again, the actors had to adapt to these changes. They started fireproofing their costumes and placing wire mesh in front of the footlights.
* Border lights, also known as
striplights, were a row of lights that hung horizontally in the
flies
Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwin ...
. Color was added later by dying cotton, wool, and silk cloth.
* Lengths were constructed the same way as border lights, but mounted vertically in the rear where the wings were.
* Bunch lights were a cluster of burners that sat on a vertical base that was fuelled directly from the gas line.
* The conical reflector can be related to the
Fresnel lens
A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens (optics), lens which reduces the amount of material required compared to a conventional lens by dividing the lens into a set of concentric annular sections.
The simpler Dioptrics, d ...
used today. This adjustable box of light reflected a beam whose size could be altered by a barndoor.
*
Limelight spots are similar to today's current spotlighting system. This instrument was used in scene shops, as well as the stage.
Gas lighting did have some disadvantages. "Several hundred theatres are said to have burned down in America and Europe between 1800 and the introduction of electricity in the late 1800s. The increased heat was objectionable, and the border lights and wing lights had to be lighted by a long stick with a flaming wad of cotton at the end. For many years, an attendant or gas boy moved along the long row of jets, lighting them individually while gas was escaping from the whole row. Both actors and audiences complained of the escaping gas, and explosions sometimes resulted from its accumulation."
These problems with gas lighting led to the rapid adoption of electric lighting. By 1881, the Savoy Theatre in London was using incandescent lighting. While electric lighting was introduced to theatre stages, the
gas mantle was developed in 1885 for gas-lit theatres. "This was a beehive-shaped mesh of knitted thread impregnated with lime that, in miniature, converted the naked gas flame into in effect, a
lime-light." Electric lighting slowly took over in theatres. In the 20th century, it enabled better and safer theatre productions, with no smell, relatively very little heat, and more freedom for designers.
Decline

In the early 20th century, most cities in North America and Europe had gaslit streets, and most railway station platforms had gas lights too. However, around 1880 gas lighting for streets and train stations began giving way to high voltage (3,000–6,000 volt)
direct current
Direct current (DC) is one-directional electric current, flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor (material), conductor such as a wire, but can also flow throug ...
and
alternating current
Alternating current (AC) is an electric current that periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time, in contrast to direct current (DC), which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in w ...
arc lighting systems. This time period also saw the development of the first electric power utility designed for indoor use. The new system by inventor
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...
was designed to function similar to gas lighting. For reasons of safety and simplicity it used
direct current
Direct current (DC) is one-directional electric current, flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor (material), conductor such as a wire, but can also flow throug ...
(DC) at a relatively low 110 volts to light
incandescent light bulb
An incandescent light bulb, also known as an incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe, is an electric light that produces illumination by Joule heating a #Filament, filament until it incandescence, glows. The filament is enclosed in a ...
s. Voltage in wires steadily declines as distance increases, and at this low voltage power plants needed to be within about of the lamps. This
voltage drop problem made DC distribution relatively expensive and gas lighting retained widespread usage
with new buildings sometimes constructed with dual systems of gas piping and electrical wiring connected to each room, to diversify the power sources for lighting.
The development of new
alternating current
Alternating current (AC) is an electric current that periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time, in contrast to direct current (DC), which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in w ...
power transmission systems in the 1880s and 90s by companies such as
Ganz and
AEG The initials AEG are used for or may refer to:
Common meanings
* AEG (German company)
; AEG) was a German producer of electrical equipment. It was established in 1883 by Emil Rathenau as the ''Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte El ...
in Europe and
Westinghouse Electric and
Thomson-Houston in the US solved the voltage and distance problem by using high
transmission line
In electrical engineering, a transmission line is a specialized cable or other structure designed to conduct electromagnetic waves in a contained manner. The term applies when the conductors are long enough that the wave nature of the transmis ...
voltages, and
transformer
In electrical engineering, a transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple Electrical network, circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces ...
s to drop the voltage for distribution for indoor lighting. Alternating current technology overcame many of the limitations of direct current, enabling the rapid growth of reliable, low-cost
electrical power
Electric power is the rate of transfer of electrical energy within a electric circuit, circuit. Its SI unit is the watt, the general unit of power (physics), power, defined as one joule per second. Standard prefixes apply to watts as with oth ...
networks which finally spelled the end of widespread usage of gas lighting.
Modern usage
Outdoors

In some cities, gas lighting is preserved or restored as a vintage nostalgic feature to support the historic atmosphere of their historic centres.
In the 20th century, most cities with gas streetlights replaced them with new electric streetlights. For example, Baltimore, the first US city to install gas streetlights, removed nearly all of them. A sole, token gas lamp is located at N. Holliday Street and E. Baltimore Street as a monument to the first gas lamp in America, erected at that location.
However, gas lighting of streets has not disappeared completely from some cities, and the few municipalities that retained gas lighting now find that it provides a pleasing nostalgic effect. Gas lighting is also seeing a resurgence in the
luxury home market for those in search of historical authenticity.
The largest gas lighting network in the world is that of
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
. With about 23,000 lamps (2022), it holds more than half of all working gas street lamps in the world, followed by
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
with 14,000 lamps (2020), of which at least 10,000 are to be retained.
In London there were about 1,500 working gas street lamps although there were plans to replace 299 of those in
Westminster
Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...
(the first city in the world lit by gas) with LED lighting by 2023, which sparked public opposition.
In the United States, more than 2800 gas lights in
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
operate in the
historic districts of
Beacon Hill,
Back Bay
Back Bay is an officially recognized Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on Land reclamation, reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the ...
,
Bay Village,
Charlestown, and parts of other neighbourhoods. In
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
, Ohio, more than
1100 gas lights operate in areas that have been named historic districts. Gas lights also operate in parts of the famed
French Quarter and outside historic homes throughout the city in
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
.
Zagreb
Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
, the capital of Croatia, has used gas candelabras since 1863. Initially, Zagreb was illuminated by 60,000 lamps, but only 248 gas street lamps illuminate old parts of the city.
Zagreb gas lamps are manually managed by lamplighters.
Prague
Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
, where gas lighting was introduced on 15 September 1847, had about 10,000 gas streetlamps in the 1940s. The last historic gas candelabras become electrified in 1985. However, in 2002–2014, streetlamps along the
Royal Route and some other streets in the centre were rebuilt to use gas (using replicas of the historic poles and lanterns), several historic candelabras (
Hradčanské náměstí, Loretánská street,
Dražického náměstí etc.) were also converted back to gas lamps, and five new gas lamps were installed in the Michle Gasworks as a promotion.
[Tomáš Belica]
Rozhovor: Plynové lampy mají v Praze své místo, říká lampář
Metro.cz, 15 September 2014 In 2018, there were 417 points (about 650 lanterns) of street gas lighting in Prague. During Advent and Christmas, lanterns on the
Charles Bridge are managed manually by a lamplighter in historic uniform. The plan to reintroduce gas lights in Old Prague was proposed in 2002, and adopted by the Municipality of Prague in January 2004.
Other uses
Perforated tubes bent into the shape of letters were used to form gas lit advertising signs, prior to the introduction of
neon lights, as early as 1857 in
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the List of municipalities ...
.
Gas lighting is still in common use for
camping
Camping is a form of outdoor recreation or outdoor education involving overnight stays with a basic temporary shelter such as a tent. Camping can also include a recreational vehicle, sheltered cabins, a permanent tent, a shelter such as a Bivy bag ...
lights. Small portable gas lamps, connected to a portable gas cylinder, are a common item on camping trips. Mantle lamps powered by vaporized petrol, such as the
Coleman lantern, are also available.
Image gallery
File:Jablochkoff Candles on the Victoria Embankment, December 1878.jpg, Outdoor installation of gaslamps compared with new electric lighting (London, 1878)
File:Gaslamp lampadius.jpg, Reproduction of an early European exterior gaslamp (Germany)
File:Couloir-lycée-Molière.jpg, Gaslit school hallway (Paris, late 19th century)
File:AP1555-bec-auer-privat-livemont-vintage-poster-1890s.jpg, Poster advertising Bec Auer gaslamps (France, 1890s)
File:Aleardo Villa - Gas Aerogeno - 1902.jpg, Poster showing benefits of gaslighting and heating (Italy, 1902)
File:Max Elskamp during work.jpg, Portable gas desk lamp (c. 1900-1910)
See also
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*
Gaslaternen-Freilichtmuseum Berlin, an outdoor gas lantern museum in Berlin
*
History of manufactured fuel gases
*
*
List of light sources
This is a list of sources of light, the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Light sources produce photons from another energy source, such as heat, chemical reactions, or conversion of mass or a different frequency of electromagnetic ener ...
*
*
*
References
Notes
Bibliography
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Further reading
*
External links
Pro Gaslicht e.V. : Association for the Preservation of the European Gas-light Culture (German). Listing of the cities with gaslight.
Open-air museum on gas lighting in Berlin (German).
{{Authority control
Chinese inventions
English inventions
Gas technologies
Infrastructure
Industrial gases
Lighting
Scottish inventions
Types of lamp