Lucas 'King of the Road' bicycle lamp
Joseph Lucas 'King of the Road' lamp front view
Name/Title
Lucas 'King of the Road' bicycle lampEntry/Object ID
2025.1.868Description
Black metal bicycle lamp, with fuel reservoir and wick. The packaging description says: 'The cone front is Plated on Solid Brass, so will not rust. The Oil Vessel is hinged, so cannot get lost. The hinged Side Door allows the Lamp to be readily lit during the highest winds'. This model c 1920s/30s. Joseph Lucas Ltd., Birmingham 19, England. Form No. 389/A214M T/81Context
Joseph Lucas was born on April 12, 1834 in Birmingham, UK. At thirteen or fourteen Joseph was apprenticed to the silversmiths H. & G.R. Elkington who had pioneered the process of electroplating, on completing his apprenticeship in 1860, he chose to start his own small business selling buckets and shovels and the newly “discovered” paraffin (1859). It was this preoccupation with selling paraffin that led him into the manufacture and sale of lamps. In 1871 he started making and selling 'Tom Bowling' ships lamps, which had been manufactured in the Tom Bowling lamp works but were patented by Lucas in 1875, when he took over the firm. His next major business development came after the advent of the new two wheeled bicycle, for which he began to design and sell lamps. In 1878, Joseph’s first cycle lamp, the famous 'King of the Road' appeared, for use with the Penny Farthing bicycle. His second most famous lamp 'The Silver King of the Road' or 'Silver King' as it became known, appeared in the 1885 and continued in production till 1936. Lucas continued to produce all kinds of lamps — hand (candle) lamps, police lamps, railway men’s lamps and lamps for horse riders. They also continued to manufacture and sell oil cans, cash boxes, letterboxes, cash tills, and sugar boxes, etc. Joseph Lucas died in 1902. The firm of Lucas however continues to this day.Cataloged By
Felix LamCategory
Tools, Identity, Occupation