carcel
(ˈkɑːsəl)
[f. proper name of inventor, a Frenchman, early in 19th c.]
1. carcel-lamp, a lamp in which the oil is pumped up to the wick by clockwork. Called also the French or mechanical lamp.
| 1845 Mechanic's Mag. xliii. 402 One of the most deserving of notice is the improved carcel lamp. c 1865 Letheby in Circ. Sc. I. 105/1 Colza oil is generally consumed in the Carcel or French lamp. 1881 M. E. Braddon Asph. v. 60 In the bright white light of the carcel lamps. |
2. A French unit of illumination, equal to the light emitted by a standard carcel lamp burning 42 grammes of colza-oil an hour and with a flame 40 millimetres in height. (Disused.)
| a 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., Carcel-bec, the French unit of illumination. Given the preference over candle⁓power..at the Electrical Congress, in Paris, 1881. 1884 F. Krohn tr. Glaser de Cew's Magn. & Dyn.-Electr. Mach. 119 The expenditure of work per second per Carcel-burner (7·4 candle power)... An illuminating power of 1·40 Carcels (10·36 candles). 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXX. 260/2 The values are expressed in carcels (9·5 candles) per square centimetre of the mean horizontal focal plane of the luminous source. |