I have never herd the term "blow lamp"; I like in the UK and i have never seen any shops/British chain stores call them "blow lamps" only blow blowtorch. I feel the minor changes will be agreed with.
US vs UK meaning
I never heard of this being called a "blow lamp" my father had what he referred to as a "blow torch"; this was similar to the one shown in the photo. I would like to describe how this thing worked. The tank was brass and was filled with gasoline. Once pressurized gasoline was forced out into a small reservoir under a tube-like affair which had holes in the sides; this was accomplished by opening a valve. Once the reservoir was full of gasoline the valve was closed and the gasoline in the reservoir was lit; this heated the tube. Once the tube was hot the valve was reopened and gasoline then sprayed into the tube creating a very hot flame, as oxygen was drawn through the holes in the tube. This was used to heat items like soldering irons and to melt lead for fishing sinkers and it was considered a very dangerous tool. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Genet4601 (talk • contribs) 03:47, 24 June 2006.
Born and raised in the United States, I have never in my life ever heard the term blowlamp applied to this device. It has always been referred to as a blowtorch by everyone with whom I have come into contact, from my father to contractors, plumbers, and so forth. I suspect that things are a little mixed up, and that the US term is blowtorch/blow torch and the UK term is blowlamp. This article needs to be researched better and rewritten. I'd do it myself, but I have too many other irons in the fire right now. Glacierman00:25, 12 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I only just came across this article. Why on Earth should it have been moved? That is in violation of Wikipedia's rule on national varieties of English. I am English, and I call it a blow lamp: I have done so all my life. If this article started life as "blow lamp" then it should not have been moved unless there was very good reason to do so. I will wait for any replies here before I initiate any action. EuroSongtalk21:39, 17 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I've lived in England for 20 years and have never heard it called anything but a blowtorch, I'm guessing blowlamp was the original British English term but the American loan has eclipsed it. Either way I don't see any argument for having blowlamp as anything but a British alternative. I would also say that, due to the sheer ubiquity of the term in Britain, blowtorch should be listed as both American and British. 90.197.42.69 (talk) 21:32, 28 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Blowlamp
I can confirm this is a US/UK language difference. In the UK, an LPG-fuelled one is called a blowtorch but a kerosene-fuelled one is called a blowlamp. I agree the article needs a re-write. Biscuittin21:40, 10 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Blowtorch?The article is a bit unclear about how old the tool has to be to be properly a "blowtorch" instead of a "cutting torch", etc., and I have no expertise at all, but I believeCommons:Image:Old blowtorch 01.jpg would be an appropriate illustration. If someone more knowledgable agrees, please add it to the article. If not, then there are probably distinctions that should be made clearer. - Jmabel | Talk06:42, 18 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
This image shows what I here in England, and my parents before me, always called a blowlamp. The propane variety was not around in England in the 1950's when I was a boy, but a device similar to what is in the image but propane-powered would likely be called a blowlamp here in England; a blowtorch has big gas cylinders. Anthony Appleyard (talk) 09:19, 18 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Operation
I have direct experience of using an older domestic type UK paraffin/kerosene type blow lamp/blow torch, having been shown how to operate one by my father as a boy, and being given the privilege of starting it up for him, ahead of it's use in domestic light soldering type plumbing repairs and similar. The main lamp body also acted as the main fuel tank (and, like most blow lamps), and this had a small dish shaped concave depression on the top, located underneath the burner assembly. The starting procedure involved first ensuring the tank was filled (but not completely) with paraffin/kerosene. The small depression was then filled with methylated spirits, which was ignited with a match or lighter (though I'm sure best practice would dictate use of a taper or similar for safety). The methylated spirits was allowed to burn until (I presume) sufficient paraffin/kerosene vapour pressure was available to to sustain the rate of fuel supply required for sustained burner operation (I don't recall how we knew when it was ready to go, but think the burner was lit when all the meths had been burned off). The burner was ignited by first closing a pressure relief valve and then operating the pump, which allowed the pressurised paraffin to be expelled via the burner, with a taper or match held at the burner outlet to ignite the paraffin vapour.
While writing this section I came across this good web source: [1] which explains the different varieties of pump and their operation much better than I'm able to.Treagle (talk) 19:09, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
