1964 or so, I got a new Justrite carbide lamp. Tested, demonstrated, used it on a few Boy Scout camping trips, then broke something off in the tip. Got it down from the attic a couple of days ago, cleaned up lamp, polished reflector, soaked the tip in alum solution and cleared it out.
It works.
Little or no odor unless the carbide compartment is leaking, no smoke, no flicker.
I remember as a child in South Africa in the 60’s there were still carbide lamps around. Being a large gold mining country, some were still used on the mines. A lot of the poorer people still used carbide lamps for bicycle lights, but the newer lights were generator driven off the wheel of the bike.
Batteries were expensive and had little capacity in those days so I don’t think many people would have used them in flashlights as bike lights.
Kids were obsessed with making explosive devices, and fire crackers were still legal to buy.
On the 5th of November (Guy Fawkes night) we used to have huge fireworks parties and displays.
My older brothers used to buy carbide at the hardware shop to make some sort of cannons out of old coffee or baby formula tins.
By the time I joined the scouts and got into camping, we used LPG cylinders with cooking or lamp attachments.
These gas lamps became very popular for many years before batteries became as advanced and affordable as they are these days.
