The Argand Collection

This collection seeks to honor the revolutionary original design by the Swiss physicist and chemist Aimé Argand.  First patented in 1780, the invention counted among its fans Thomas Jefferson, who noted that the brightness was 6 to 10 times that of conventional wicks. The Argand remained in wide use through Europe and the Americas until the 1850s, when it was gradually displaced by kerosene lamps.