# I want to have a steampunk lamp. But what is steampunk anyway? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 27, 2022, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-have-a-steampunk-lamp-but-what-is-steampunk-anyway/970452 "2022-08-27T23:50:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-have-a-steampunk-lamp-but-what-is-steampunk-anyway/970452/81 "2022-09-02T21:31:09Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > This seems like it might be more of a statement about _poorly made_ things. To some extent, I suppose. I see it as more of the designer simply not thinking about the purpose. Consider these goggles: [https://s.yimg.com/aah/partyoasis/newitem1-254.jpg](https://s.yimg.com/aah/partyoasis/newitem1-254.jpg) Now, to be fair, that’s a cheap prop for a Halloween costume, so one can’t expect too much. It’s just some swimming goggles with cardboard gears glued on and spray-painted gold. It’s both poorly made and non-functional. It’s definitely _supposed_ to be Steampunk. Since there’s no official gatekeeper, I guess it is. To me, it seems more like conflating a “sexy nurse” costume with someone in the actual medical profession. Even with the fake gears, there could have been some attempt to make them look useful, like for a rotating lens/filter mechanism. But these are just glued on randomly. The chain could also have served some purpose, like to retain a secondary magnifier system. But it’s also just there. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-have-a-steampunk-lamp-but-what-is-steampunk-anyway/970452/82 "2022-09-02T21:44:53Z")
I’m with you. When I made my EtherGoggles, I tried to make it look like the plastic lenses mounted on needles could swivel into place in front of my eyes and do something. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-have-a-steampunk-lamp-but-what-is-steampunk-anyway/970452/83 "2022-09-02T22:07:24Z")
Cool. And the fact that you used plastic lenses unavailable to the Victorians doesn’t bother me. It would have looked the same if the lenses had been glass or crystal. The important part (to me) is that there was a reasonable attempt to make a simulation of a functional artifact, and wasn’t just random junk thrown together. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-have-a-steampunk-lamp-but-what-is-steampunk-anyway/970452/84 "2022-09-02T22:39:39Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > I was gathering that the concept was to have something meeting the functionalities we currently achieve with electricity and where that direction has led us, using gas and steam and chemical reactions instead? Steampunk also has electricity available in its makeup, but it’s rudimentary. This is because the late 19th century was when it was first being utilised, for electric lights and the telegraph. So there can be some amount of flickery, orangey, crackly electricity in a Steampunk prop or whatever. Here’s how I think of Steampunk, in a fictional context, such as if I wanted to write a story set in that genre. Imagine if the internal combustion engine was never invented. Then imagine if World War 1 was never instigated, and then neither was World War II. Now imagine it was the year 2022 after that. Certain technologies would still have developed, but not as rapidly, nor with the same momentum. Airplanes wouldn’t exist (hence Airships), ground vehicles would still be horse-drawn, steam powered, or electrified. Cultural norms would not have rapidly changed either, as communication devices would be of limited range, or big events that shifted society didn’t occur. Fashion, which would still be designed to cope with a smoky polluted city, would remain somewhat stagnant and slow to evolve. So imagine stories set in a world like that. Most Steampunk stories are actually set back in the late 19th or early 20th century (or an entirely fantasy location), but for me I am more interested in how these things develop when those tentpole events of our real past don’t occur; what drives change and what keeps things stagnant. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-have-a-steampunk-lamp-but-what-is-steampunk-anyway/970452/85 "2022-09-02T22:44:01Z")
Yes, but not even just a gas flame but imagining what advances in that technology might look like. Price no object I would take this as a starting point but have the LED wrap look more like flames with maybe a slight flicker, and instead of touch activated control have dials that adjusted both intensity and color with the pretension being that it was being done by adjusting the gas mix. Maybe swap out the big pipe for the appearance of several smaller ones and small tanks on the side. > **[Modern Industrial Table Lamp - Industrial Light - Industrial Decor](https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/lighting/table-lamps/modern-industrial-table-lamp-industrial-light-industrial-decor/id-f_23819392/?utm_content=condensed&allowUniversalLink=no&gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=Cj0KCQjw08aYBhDlARIsAA_gb0dV7wP6pHPRaLJOKndwjWnf9vDFXjRPcT1CP69ZB9yRWphbKRQb5VwaAva-EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds)** > > For Sale on 1stDibs - The Mantis modern industrial table lamp commands a complex understanding of symmetry and balance and boasts a double and arguably a triple cantilever. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-have-a-steampunk-lamp-but-what-is-steampunk-anyway/970452/86 "2022-09-02T22:55:27Z")
That’s exactly how I was thinking of it: steampunk being that world. The alternate reality in which the Babbage Difference engine was made in its time, becoming affordable, and provided the basis for technological advances without electricity being needed. Computing technology many decades earlier. In terms of @GuanoLad 's version, in which the consumer demands that electricity production and delivery expanded to fill had already been met by technology that was provided by other means, including gas, mechanical, and chemical. Electric lights may be invented but were considered a novelty item with no practical purpose that other current technologies were not superior for. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-have-a-steampunk-lamp-but-what-is-steampunk-anyway/970452/87 "2022-09-02T23:21:41Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Electric lights may be invented but were considered a novelty item with no practical purpose that other current technologies were not superior for. Or, perhaps something only available to a very select few due to the cost, like space travel is today. ---
**Author:** ![Retzbu\_Tox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/retzbu_tox/32/11829_2.png) [@Retzbu\_Tox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Retzbu_Tox)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-have-a-steampunk-lamp-but-what-is-steampunk-anyway/970452/88 "2022-09-02T23:50:35Z")
The commercially available steampunk goggles that have jewelers loupes attached by means of a hose clamp look like poorly executed junk to me. Something like the image below is much more aesthetically pleasing to me, and the little watch gears look more like they could be for focusing adjustments or something. [![](https://www.periodsintime.com/images/products/images-products-SP068_RQBL0104c.jpg?mh=606) ](https://www.periodsintime.com/images/products/images-products-SP068_RQBL0104c.jpg?mh=606) ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2022, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-have-a-steampunk-lamp-but-what-is-steampunk-anyway/970452/89 "2022-09-03T00:15:36Z")
Not the best photograph but here goes [https://i.imgur.com/jfcXdPi.jpeg](https://i.imgur.com/jfcXdPi.jpeg) ETA- I cannot get the image to display in my post. It’s photo from 2014 Halloween. It’s me as a Son Of Ether with my Steampunk ethergoggles and stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2022, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-have-a-steampunk-lamp-but-what-is-steampunk-anyway/970452/90 "2022-09-03T00:22:00Z")
Excellent. BTW, just paste a link that end in .jpg, .jpeg, or .png on its own line in the post for it to auto-inline. For Imgur, that means to use the URL you get when you right-click on the image and copy the image link. [![](https://i.imgur.com/jfcXdPi.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/jfcXdPi.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2022, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-have-a-steampunk-lamp-but-what-is-steampunk-anyway/970452/91 "2022-09-03T00:24:38Z")
Thanks. I forgot to photograph the clockwork homonculus up close. It had a full mustache and a wind-up key in his back. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2022, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-have-a-steampunk-lamp-but-what-is-steampunk-anyway/970452/92 "2022-09-03T12:09:38Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Now, to be fair, that’s a cheap prop for a Halloween costume, so one can’t expect too much. It’s just some swimming goggles with cardboard gears glued on and spray-painted gold. It’s both poorly made and non-functional. Yeah, in a way, that example looks more like something post-apocalyptic, where parts might have been repurposed just because of their shape, instead of function (i.e. a gear that is used as a frame for a lens just because it has a rim that fits the lens) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2022, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-have-a-steampunk-lamp-but-what-is-steampunk-anyway/970452/93 "2022-09-04T17:01:40Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Cultural norms would not have rapidly changed either, as communication devices would be of limited range, or big events that shifted society didn’t occur. Fashion, which would still be designed to cope with a smoky polluted city, would remain somewhat stagnant and slow to evolve. But cultural norms and fashion _did_ change rapidly before the ICE was a thing. The early Industrial age was definitely _not_ stagnant. Quite the opposite. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2022, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-have-a-steampunk-lamp-but-what-is-steampunk-anyway/970452/94 "2022-09-04T20:57:14Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > The early Industrial age was definitely _not_ stagnant. But it would reach a peak, and slow down again. At least, in my version of alternative history it does. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2022, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-have-a-steampunk-lamp-but-what-is-steampunk-anyway/970452/95 "2022-09-04T22:45:37Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Yeah, in a way, that example looks more like something post-apocalyptic, where parts might have been repurposed just because of their shape, instead of function Good point. I dunno if you’ve seen _Horizon: Zero Dawn_, but it’s a game set in a world where robots manufactured by automatic factories run amok, and humans have been reduced to low-tech tribal communities. They all wear headgear and such scavenged from the robots. There’s some degree of utility for the armor, but mostly it’s just decoration. It had a purpose on the robot, but once repurposed it’s just about the shape. So, maybe those goggles were from _after_ the steampunk civilization collapsed, and there were loads of gears and such from junked machinery, and the bits were repurposed due to shape or if they looked cool. This might be thinking too deeply into a $13 Halloween prop, though… ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-have-a-steampunk-lamp-but-what-is-steampunk-anyway/970452/96 "2022-09-05T03:00:16Z")
> [@Retzbu\_Tox](#): > > Eeeek! Angler fish lamp. Don’t buy this. I ordered it twice, once from Amazon, and once from Ebay and had to get refunds both times because neither seller coughed up the neato anglerfish lamp. ---
**Author:** ![Retzbu\_Tox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/retzbu_tox/32/11829_2.png) [@Retzbu\_Tox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Retzbu_Tox)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-have-a-steampunk-lamp-but-what-is-steampunk-anyway/970452/97 "2022-09-05T03:51:53Z")
At the steampunk festival I attended over the weekend, there was a vendor from Iowa selling nothing but lamps. [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/V2M7pQB.jpeg "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/V2M7pQB) [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/G9W3CZb.jpeg "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/G9W3CZb) Generally, they weren’t Victorian, mostly industrial stuff cobbled together. It would have been neat if the gauges and meters had done something. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-have-a-steampunk-lamp-but-what-is-steampunk-anyway/970452/98 "2022-09-05T05:34:45Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > But it would reach a peak, and slow down again I don’t see a good reason why it wouldn’t have had similar series of changes as it had always had. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-have-a-steampunk-lamp-but-what-is-steampunk-anyway/970452/99 "2022-11-15T09:40:19Z")
I just ordered one of these lamps off eBay. It’s a little pricey, but then that seems to be unavoidable, and the free shipping makes up for that somewhat. It’s also so close to what I wanted that I couldn’t pass it up. > **[GluhHandmadeLighting - Etsy Australia](https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/GluhHandmadeLighting?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=921913257)** > > Shop Handmade vintage and modern new lighting from Europe by GluhHandmadeLighting located in Kaunas, Lithuania. Smooth dispatch! Has a history of dispatching on time with tracking. Speedy replies! Has a history of replying to messages quickly. Rave... ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-have-a-steampunk-lamp-but-what-is-steampunk-anyway/970452/100 "2022-11-15T12:16:38Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I think a steampunk lamp with pipes and gauges _could_ work, if other elements of the design perhaps suggested that it was in some obscure way, powered by a pressurised gas. It could operate by burning steamed punk. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-have-a-steampunk-lamp-but-what-is-steampunk-anyway/970452.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-have-a-steampunk-lamp-but-what-is-steampunk-anyway/970452.md?page=6)