The Museum Collection: Gas fittings
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In the 19th century the gas-fitter’s work was mainly concerned with lighting, with cooking and heating coming on eventually much later. Bradford’s Gas & Coke Works in Frome Road opened in 1834 and initially supplied street lighting, but slowly the network expanded.
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Bradford Museum has several items relating to the work of the gas fitter, including this articulated gas lamp bracket, which could be swivelled to alter the area being lit. It had a pilot light, so could switched on or off at any time, by pulling on the chains.
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Another gas lamp bracket, designed to be wall-mounted. The gas was controlled by the tap in the pipe. A glass surround is missing, as is the mantle- a net of thin ceramic threads that glowed in the flame to give a comfortable light.
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This double gas tap was used in the Christopher pharmacy for connecting bunsen burners for use in making chemicals and medicines. Taps like this, single or multiple, were common in the home too, for connecting gas fires, cookers, boilers for washing clothes and pokers for lighting coal fires.
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