[Haichuan Eye-Opening] Environmentally friendly lamps in ancient China

The painted wild goose and fish bronze lamp is in the shape of a wild goose looking back and standing. The goose is holding a fish, and the lampshade is connected under the fish's body, which is connected to the lamp plate placed on the back of the wild goose. The lampshade is made of two curved panels that can be opened and closed by turning left and right, which can not only block the wind, but also adjust the light intensity and lighting direction. The circular lamp panel has a straight wall and a shallow belly, and a lamp handle is attached to one side to control the rotation of the lamp panel. The lamp plate, lampshade, goose head and neck, fish and goose body form the four main parts of the copper lamp, which are integrated with each other during use. The goose neck and the goose body are connected with the mother-and-son mouth.

Ancient lamps mostly used animal fat as fuel. When the lamp was lit, there would be some incompletely burned charcoal particles and ashes left after burning. As the oil level rose, the hot air flow evaporated, causing indoor smoke to spread everywhere, polluting the indoor air and the environment. The Yanyu copper lamp solves the problem of smoke very well. The fish belly, goose neck, and goose body are hollow inside and connected to each other. The smoke caused by combustion during lighting is first introduced into the goose neck-shaped smoke pipe by the fish-shaped lampshade, and then enters the goose belly filled with water through the smoke pipe, and the water is used to purify the smoke. Such an exquisite design avoids the pollution of indoor air by oil fumes, and is both artistic and environmentally friendly.

The "Changxin Palace Lantern" unearthed from the Western Han Dynasty Tomb No. 2 in Mancheng, Hebei Province has a more exquisite design.: The lamp is in the shape of a palace lady sitting on her knees and holding a lamp. The palace lady's right arm is raised up. It is actually a pipe that guides the ashes into the palace lady's body. ； The left arm holds the light chamber, and the overall shape looks unpretentious.

After the Song Dynasty, this environmental protection technology was basically lost.

Is the smoke pouring chamber sealed? Can the smoke follow the expected path?

I have not tested it. There is resistance when the smoke pipe is inserted into the water. It is hard to say whether the smoke comes out from the air inlet or is washed in the water and then comes out. This thing may be really useful, or it may be like Zhang Heng's seismometer. It looks so exquisite, but in fact it is specious.

A bronze bull-shaped jar lamp from the Han Dynasty was unearthed in Guihua Garden, Changsha in 1949. This lamp is light green in color, looks like a cow, has droopy ears, short legs, and has a vivid shape. The two corners stand up from both sides of the back in the shape of circular tubes, bend and merge into one, and expand downward to form a bowl-like shape, serving as the "smoke outlet". There is a round hole in the center of the back, and a round lamp plate is placed on the hole. There is a cone in the plate, and there are grooves on the edge of the plate to place a "wind shield" to prevent it from being blown out by the wind. When the lamp is lit, the smoke passes through the "smoke tube" and reaches the belly, thus keeping the room clean. There is also a 10-character inscription on the right side of the abdomen, "The ox lamp in the temple is supervised by the chief of the four rites and music", indicating that this lamp was made for the Changsha Wangzong Temple by the chief in charge of rites and music.

Features: After the copper cattle lamp is lit, the soot produced can enter the belly of the cow through the smoke pipe, and the belly is filled with water to dissolve the smoke and dust, thereby keeping the indoor air fresh. Also known as environmentally friendly lights. Most of the bronze lamps were oil lamps. The fuel at that time was mainly animal fat, and the grease and the wick were in the same lamp panel. Although the grease in the lamp panel slowly rises along the lamp core into the flame when lighting, there are still some incompletely burned charcoal particles and ashes left after combustion. As the oil level rises and the hot air evaporates, indoor smoke spreads everywhere, polluting the indoor air and environment. There is a circular flue in the center of the cow's head, which is upward and curved in a semicircular shape and connected to the lamp cover. The lamp cover is bowl-shaped and covers the lampshade screen. It can be used as a handle and a smoke guide device. The smoke guide pipe leads directly to the cow's belly, which is empty. At this time, the lampshade panel is closed, so that the smoke rushes straight to the upper part, passes through the bowl-shaped lamp cover and enters the cow's belly through the smoke duct. Water is stored in the belly to make the soot blend into the water, so that the indoor air is not polluted by smoke and the indoor environment is kept clean.

It was not until the 15th century that the famous Italian scientist, engineer, and painter Leonardo da Vinci invented the iron smoke-conducting lampshade for Western oil lamps. In the 18th century, the Frenchman Kencay and the Swiss Agand further replaced the iron lampshade with glass lampshades and perfected a series of designs for oil lamps and lampshades, thereby initially solving the problem of controlling oil smoke pollution.