Wright's coal tar vapourisers

Just got back to this one, as I have just used the last of the fluid in our very old vapouriser, and the other half now has a really bad cough (and of course is really really ILL!), so resorting to Vick in which I am a great beleiver (not so the other half - he can't be bothered). As a child my mother used Musterole on my chest if I had a cold. I hated it, it smelt awful and nearly choked me, not sure if that is still on the market - must Google - anyone else have memories of that. Shall we have a petition - BRING BACK WRIGHTS COAL TAR VAPOURISERS!

I often had Thermogene wadding on my chest as a child. It was a pinkish colour and felt like cotton wool, smelt a bit like Vick.

Oooh Anno, I remember Thermogene too, I seem to think it burnt my chest!

Or maybe it was just uncomfortable and I'm just a drama queen

I used to get bronchitis every winter (at the time we never connected it to my father's chain smoking!) and out would come the coal tar vapouriser. I loved everything about it, the smell, the flickering light on the ceiling and the way the little night light could burn nearly all night. My mother used a three prong attack and I was rubbed with Vicks and had antibiotics from the doctor. Even 60 years ago the doctor was warning that it would be dangerous to use them too much!

Thermogene was warming but I don't think it burned; however, the blistering kaolin poultices were a form of torture, however well intentioned.

Probably capsicum

They were made by LRC in London E4 which was the old london rubber company who made other "family" products. The fluid contained a mixture of 10%Chlorocresol bp which smells more like jayes fluid. The alternative to use now is Olbas oils.

We had a Wright's Coal Tar Vaporiser when DD1 was small; she had whooping cough at 2 and a bit, and was very chesty and got croup for ages afterwards. We lived near the sea then and I also used to take her down to the beach on cold sunny days for plenty of fresh air. Reading stories about coal tar vapour perhaps it's just as well that I did.

I can remember my mother pushing me in a pushchair around the gasworks when I was about 4 after I had had the whooping cough.

DH caught a cold from me and it went straight to his chest as usual!! I so wished we had got a vapouriser! In the end we tried a few drops of Olbas oil in the humidiier he has in the bedroom and it was almost as good.

In South Africa, we used Friar's Balsam to vaporise. Anyone know that one? My daughter used to get croup, another thing you never hear about nowadays.

I had a Wrights coal tar burner until about a month ago. I still have the vapour and the special deep candles. Such a lovely smell.

I still have the vapouriser, but no vapour or candles!

We will have to unit them

I suffered with bronchitis regularly as a child, and my mother used Friar's Balsam.
For my children it was the Coal Tar vapourizer.
Nowadays DDs use Olbus oil for GCs, which they find effective.

Straying from the subject rather, did anyone else have Snowfire rubbed into their chilblains? It came in a green waxy block. I remember the name terrified me, I thought it was going to burn me!

I remember the Vick and the Wright's inhalers with affection. And I loved the smell of Friar's Balsam. Does anyone else remember sitting in the bathroom with the hot tap running for a child with croup? Or under the blanket with the kettle? Elf'n'safety? Forget it!

Wright's vapourisers were wonderful. I can still buy Friars Balsam locally. I've got my grandmother's 'Nelson's Improved Inhaler' with a glass spout, and inhaling Friars Balsam steam is magic for me if I lose my voice with a cold.

I'm sure I've said all that before, and not long ago. And anyway it's 'Dr. Nelson's Improved Inhaler', so my whole post is rubbish.

Brenda we must indeed, one day get together with our vapourisers! I remember Snowfire Shysal, that again had a very distinctive smell, although I never had chilblains, so it was never used on me. Another favourite in our household was Zambuck if you had an unknown rash, or sore spot, it came in a round flat tin, and was green, I believe.

Hi on the subject of wrights cold tar vaporisers! I remember these. I had a sick baby in 1966, only 3 weeks old and bought one then, she caught a cold from her young brother and developed a chest infection. The doctor said she had mild pneumonia!! It worked and I used it many times in subsequent years, all my children remember it and yes the smell did linger but small price to pay!! I am writing up our lives and this came up yesterday while typing and I was looking it up get a picture to explain how it worked for my older grandchildren ! My youngest grandson who us just 2, uses a hand held electric nebuliser when chesty. His mum is Slovakian and she 'hoovers' his nose with a plastic adaptor on the end of the Hoover. How times change !

I just popped back on here for an historic reference. Yeah! Well done GN! Its always worth trying here for an answer.

I was talking to OH about snuffly babies our littlest GC was up in the night and neither of us could remember what the vapouriser thing we had was called.
Wrights coal tar vapourisers no less. It appears that you are not allowed to use coal tar products at all now and production has stopped.
I used to love the smell.

I've just hunted my wrights coal tar vaporiser out last used in the mid 70s now that we can't get doctors appointments anymore. So I was pleased to find this thread. Mine's exactly like the picture. I still have two bottles of the vaporising fluid but only two left of the of the "Price's Palmitine Star" night lights. They don't look any different from any other night lights though. I can't remember if the vaporising block ever needed replacing though. Does anyone know?
I also was worried by an article I found online saying the fluid had caused some deaths in children in the late 70s and wondered if that was because the parents didn't follow the instructions?
In the 40s and 50s everyone In my extended family always used vaporisers or even a big bowl of steaming water with a towel over ones head. I'm inclined to agree with the person above who suggested it was probably because of 'elfandsafety' together with the rise of antibiotics that led to their not being for sale anymore. In the olden days the doctors used to just say go and rest for ten days and use a Vick rub for the chest and a steam vaporiser for a bad cough, sore throat or flu.
(We also used to have a saucer of vinegar and brown paper on the bedside table).

I also used to use one of these varorizers for my little one in the 1970's. Loved the smell and it certainly helped her breathing. I came across one in an antique place last year, and the box had Poison written on it! Oh dear.

Of course the liquid is poison, and I seem to remember some time ago a young au pair baby sitter had given this to a young baby she was looking after, thinking it was cough mixture, so there was a big "hoo-ha" about that, and probably resulted in the demise of the vapouriser which is a pity, because it was a simple way to ease a really bad cough without medicine. I still have the vapouriser (no idea why I am keeping it - I am not a hoarder), but the "block" does get congested and it was recommended that i be changed. A bit of useless information!

My DD has two of these humidifiers which she uses with olbas oil for coughs and colds. If it is set to 'intermittent' instead of 'constant', it will last all night long without the water and oils drying out. She has one in the bedroom and another in the living room. When not in use as cough and cold treatment, she uses them with essential oils to scent the rooms.
They really are very effective, and as a bonus they include a colour changing soft light which is very soothing.

I think these are probably two different things, Indinana. The vapouriser works with night-lights which of course only burn for about either hours, and these have been banned, or at least it is not possible to buy the liquid which was poured on to the block. The humidifier sounds great, and safer obviously.