Ways in which vision in the night was possible when electricity wasn't widespread

Years back when electricity hadn't reached many communities especially villages and rural areas, life still went on and vision in the night was made possible by some of the gadgets developed by the people. I happened to live in a place where about 10 years or more ago, there wasn't widespread electricity in the community but life still went on unobstructed.

This was possible through some of the implements made by blacksmiths to provide light during the night. This is also not to say that there were no challenges but rather that we want to delve into this wonderful story and explore how the people managed to live knowing they were going to live like that and not even knowing this thing called electricity would come to them.

First of all, one of the implements used is what is known as the lantern. Among the Ewes of Ghana, the lantern is known as 'gomekadigbe' and it was used in every home since without it vision in the night would be very difficult. 

The lantern

This is made from a metal with high tensile strength to last for longer periods and it did just that. The lantern is made up of many parts with each performing a distinct function that helps the overall functioning of the gadget. The image above shows some parts of the lantern with the labels.

Handle: Made of a thinner metal but strong enough to enable carrying of the lantern from one position to another. Both ends of it are made circular before attaching to the body of the lantern and this makes it possible to swing the lantern using the handle.

Chimney: A transparent glass that prevents air from quenching the flame and also helps to make the brightness of the lantern more intense. In another sense, it focuses the light.

Fuel inlet: Through this part, fuel which is normally kerosene is poured into the lantern to enable the flame to keep burning. 

How the lantern is used

A rag or piece of cloth is twisted into a rope-like form and inserted into a structure that lies at the base of the chimney. This structure has an opening and as the cloth soaks kerosene and burns to give light, once it is noticed that the cloth is burning off, it is opened and the cloth is pushed up to expose more cloth to burn which keeps the lantern burning. As the cloth burns and gives light, the smoke darkens the interior of the chimney and so periodically, the chimney is clean to make sure the smoke is not left inside.

During the time when lantern of this kind was widely used because electricity hadn't reached many, a number of people had good business and some of these people were those who sold kerosene, the blacksmiths who fabricated the lanterns, those who sold chimney, even tailors and seamstresses who sold pieces of cloth which is used for the lantern. 

To fuel the lantern, there is an enclosure at the base of it which is opened and then fueled.  After pouring in enough kerosene which was the fuel used, the lantern is shaken to ensure that the cloth inside soaks enough kerosene to aid the burning of the flame.

At that time using this kind of light was considered a bit safer because there wasn't too much exposure to the smoke of the flame because there were other alternatives which were not so safe. 

Some precautions with the lantern's use

1. The chimney is handled with care when removing or putting it back into the lantern.
2. Care is taken not to touch the chimney whilst the flame is burning because it can become very hot and hurt.
3. It is also not kept so close to substances or materials that are highly flammable.

We will look at some of these alternatives as well to learn more about them.

The second way the people used to ensure vision at night was the use of an implement called in the Ewe Language as 'shikadigbe'.

This one has its body made mostly from either the tin container of tomato paste of milk. The reason for using these containers is due to their hollow nature that provides a space for the fuel. People who specialized in designing or creating this kind of lamp gather milk tins from the refuse dump and remove the opened end of the tins. A new closure is designed for the tins in which is inserted a hollow but very narrow metal that allow penetration of the cloth.

The diagram above shows some of the major parts of this kind of lamp. Like the lantern, this one also used an old piece of cloth twisted into a rope-like form. The rope always has a moderate length such that after one end is inserted into the hollow metal at the top from beneath, the rest is put inside the container. The top closure is made to be easily opened or taken off which facilitates fueling of the lamp and once this is done. The lamp is shaken to let the kerosene wet the cloth and make it flammable. The ingenuity behind the construction is so amazing because as the cloth burns, it keeps absorbing the kerosene and the flame is kept burning. This made it possible for the people to see in the night when there was so much darkens because there was nothing like street lights.

School children used this kind of lamp for studies but they experienced some bad effects.

Effects of the use of this lamp

• Students who used this lamp to study in the night had to poke their hands into their noses the next morning which was absolutely black. A sign that the smoke of the flame entered into their nostrils and this might have led to some complications. 

• There was high possibility of house fires.

The thing about this lamp is that it had no covering unlike the lantern and so the flame is very exposed. It is the reason why houses in which this was used made sure to turn off the flame when they were going to bed and also made sure not to keep it near valuables that are flammable like cloth and other things.

The diagram shows a breakdown of how this lamp is fueled with kerosene before it was ready for use

The diagram shows the rope-like cloth inside the container with a match that lit the exposed cloth to cause it to burn.

As the elderly narrated stories to the young ones in the villages at night, they would sit by a flame made by burning some pieces of firewood and this also gave light to see in the night. Others used the light from the burning firewood of the swiss oven as they cooked. In fact, the new transformation that brought electricity also brought some very good changes that made vision in the night easy.

In conclusion, coping with the lack of access to a reliable source of light at night was a great challenge that the people solved through resources available for them to use. The people had to spend money buying kerosene which at times had price hikes but the advent of electricity brought a major breakthrough which was very appreciated.