Cork float for oil lights

The kind of oil lamp that can be ready for use in a flash: Fill a suitable vessel with water and add a thimbleful of pure vegetable oil. Then push a wick into a cork float (can repeatedly be used) and place it just on the surface of the oil before igniting the wick. With just 10 ml of oil, the floating wick will burn for two hours, with one litre of salad oil, around 200 hours; all this with virtually no soot, no odour, and only as much carbon dioxide as is produced by the growth of plants. When the wick is exhausted, it is simply replaced. We offer short night light wicks made of cotton yarn, encased with paraffin and beeswax, as well as three-leafed cork floats by Glafey of Nuremberg. Both have been produced since 1867 and, as the manufacturer had already trumpeted at the beginning of the 20th century, they are "a must in every reputable establishment." The fact that they still exist after more than 150 years is a guarantee of their quality.

Light is elementary: The book of Genesis begins with the words "Let there be light", and the taming of fire is regarded as mankind’s earliest cultural achievement. One of the oldest artificial light sources is the oil lamp, which is not only still used today because of its pleasant glow. It is popular, above all, because it can be produced very simply – almost with materials at hand. A suitable vessel for the oil may be found in a variety of forms in the home. Ultimately, any small heat-resistant glass can serve the purpose and, moreover, can be returned to service in the kitchen after being used as a light (and subsequently being washed-up). The fuel is also ever-present in the form of vegetable oil. Vegetable oil is – unlike petroleum-based lamp oil – not only inexpensive and non-toxic but also safe to handle, since it does not burn without the addition of a wick. Thus, even if a lighted oil lamp filled with vegetable oil is tipped over, it does not cause any damage (apart from a grease spot).

Glafey in Nuremberg is a proven expert in the field of candles with wick holders. Thanks to operating experience dating back to 1808, these candles are functionally perfected: they burn with little soot, are odorless and produce exactly the right amount of light for a long burning time. The wick and wick wax are also precisely matched to these requirements.

During production, care has always been taken to use raw materials efficiently and sparingly. For example, the tealights, which have been produced unchanged for decades and whose pack of 12 uses just one tinplate bowl that can be refilled again and again - the refill pack is supplied without a bowl. Or the cork floats and wicks, which have been produced since 1867 (and are only available separately from us), which can be made into fully-fledged oil lights with minimal use of materials and "on-board resources" (glass jar and vegetable oil).

Glafey also relies on plastic-free outer packaging made from cardboard and glassine. In production, Glafey obtains heat from a combined heat and power plant, in which the fuels used are converted particularly efficiently into usable energy, and electricity from 3,000 square meters of solar modules on the company's own roof - which means that one of the oldest light sources is produced under the most modern conditions.