The first product that the Ball Brothers made was a kerosene can, which was a vital part of every home, needed to supply fuel to the kerosene lamp. These early lamps were not efficient, only slightly better than a candle. The wick had to be kept trimmed, the chimney had to be cleaned daily, smoky soot would pervade the house and not much light was produced.
Victor Samuel Johnson was born in a sod house in Nebraska in 1882, and studied his homework at night by the light of a kerosene lamp. He well remembered the many faults.So when he learned of a new German invention, called the Practicus, a mantle burner that produced a superior light, he quickly purchased the rights to sell the lamps in the United States. He founded the Mantle Lamp Company in 1908.
The Practicus, however, still had faults. It produced better light, but required constant adjusting and the glass chimney often cracked. So Johnson went about making improvements and, in 1909, introduced a new kerosene lamp. It was so efficient and produced so much light that it quickly made all other kerosene lamps obsolete. It won a gold medal and a blue ribbon at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915.
While electricity was quickly gaining ground throughout the United States, there were still millions of households, mainly farms, that depended upon kerosene. In 1926, the Mantle Lamp Co. purchased the old Lippincott Glass Company plant just outside Alexandria and constructed a new modern factory to make kerosene lamps which they called the Aladdin lamp. This continued in operation until 1952, helped by increased demand during the Ohio River floods of 1937 and World War II. They even made a miniature stove, suitable to be used in a foxhole, under contract to the government.
Since the factory was outside the city limits of Alexandria, the company decided to incorporate its 13-acre site into a village. In 1928, Aladdin was officially the smallest town in Indiana, with a population of 22 residents. The Alexandria factory no longer is in operation, but Aladdin still exists and still makes their famous kerosene lamp.
A History of CraftsmanshipDid you know the Ball Brothers moved from Buffalo, New York to Muncie, Indiana in 1887? Minnetrista is part of their family legacy. Read More >
