Product code: Ship Deck Glass Prism Large Light selling Green Pyramid Nautical Maritime
Ship Deck Glass Prism Large Light Green Pyramid Nautical Maritime. Reproduction. Solid. Weighs almost 3 pounds. No chips, cracks or damage. Perfect as a paperweight or used as display. Approximately 4 3/4 inches tall and 4 1/2 inches wide at base. A “deck prism” was used to give extra selling light to parts of an antique sailing ship that were below the waterline. The first deck prisms were used about 1840. Fire was the best source of light, but it also was very dangerous on a wooden ship, so oil, kerosene lamps and candles were avoided. Prisms were inserted upside down into a hole on the main deck. The glass pyramid point hung down and shed some light into the room below. The base of the prism, now at the top, was set flush into the wooden deck. After a while, the caulking that held the glass would leak and the glass could chip, so the prism was carefully remounted & caulked. In 1861 a patented threaded light that could be screwed into a metal frame was invented, so prisms lost favor.
Ship Deck Glass Prism Large Light Green Pyramid Nautical Maritime. Reproduction. Solid. Weighs almost 3 pounds. No chips, cracks or damage. Perfect as a paperweight or used as display. Approximately 4 3/4 inches tall and 4 1/2 inches wide at base. A “deck prism” was used to give extra selling light to parts of an antique sailing ship that were below the waterline. The first deck prisms were used about 1840. Fire was the best source of light, but it also was very dangerous on a wooden ship, so oil, kerosene lamps and candles were avoided. Prisms were inserted upside down into a hole on the main deck. The glass pyramid point hung down and shed some light into the room below. The base of the prism, now at the top, was set flush into the wooden deck. After a while, the caulking that held the glass would leak and the glass could chip, so the prism was carefully remounted & caulked. In 1861 a patented threaded light that could be screwed into a metal frame was invented, so prisms lost favor.