Creating out of necessity

Three years ago, Hurricane Ike blew through here. Most of my subdivision had power back on in about a week. But the area I live in was in a grid that had flooded and took weeks before we got the power back. The main problem I had was that I had ran out of candles and batteries for the flashlights. So, I had to get creative.... that is what I normally do for a living... being creative... so it wasn't too difficult.

I said to myself... Linda, you should 've had an oil lamp.... Hmmmm... I thought.... maybe I can make one. I quickly grabbed a bowl and pour some olive oil, which is what I normally have in the kitchen. Now, all I needed was a wick and something to hold it up with. I had some curly coils I had bisqued, just for fun one day, so I picked through them to see which one would work better. Then for the wick..... I decided to get some of the cotton rope I had in the garage. It worked like wonders... but I did not like the fact that when I wanted to move it into another room, I was scared I would waste oil on my floors. That is when I decided to design one. 

For the next two years I started researching everything and anything about oil lamps and the use of different oils... particularly, the use of olive oil. I decided to go with the olive oil, but it had an issue most people run into. I did not like the suggestions given to overcome it. So, I did some more research.... this time I was looking at the physics of it all, in order to understand why this issue was so common in olive oil lamps. My goal was to design a lamp that would not have this problem.

Oh, I guess I should explain what the problem with the lamp was.... Once you have started using the lamp, the oil level drops and the wick won't stay lit anymore. Most of the people addressing this issue, will tell you that all you need to do is raise the level of the oil to the wick by either pouring some water in to the container or dropping some pebbles in it. My thought was.... there has got to be another way, or else.... every time  you have to refill it you have to take the pebbles out and wash them, or you would have to dump the water out so that you could, eventually put it back in.

 After two years of studying, researching, and trying different designs, I finally came up with something that worked. My only problem has been that it would only work on a small lamp and not a large one.  During this past year I have been working on improving the design so that it works regardless of the size. I actually came up with several changes I could make and am currently testing that them,to see how well they work.