Wright's coal tar vapourisers

I remeber these, we had one for my eldest son who would suffer with his chest.Loved the smell it pervaded the whole house. Looking back i guess they were a huge fire risk really

We had one and it was very effective. I loved the smell. Also I liked the smell of the coal delivery lorry. I would stand with my Mam breathing in the smell while she counted the bags in.

My children where very very ill with croup doctors left them until they got worse my mum and dad brought me the old coal tar lamp and I put it on the landing an hour before bed on plate of water and it was that that cured them both before that both their Lil stomachs where sucking in and they had stridor in therror next day after using the lamp they where a lot better and when I run out of liquid if mine was that I'll again I would go and stand where I needed to xx

Sorry Indinana, I was just making a point, for those folk not familiar with either the vapourisor or the humidifier, not inferring that you were saying they were one and the same thing. The spoken word is so much easier sometimes!

They are two different things PRINTMISS. I wasn't suggesting otherwise

They are not made any more and were considered potentially harmful.
They did work though.
It's a long time since people took their children with whooping cough down to the gas work to breath in the coal tar fumes.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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 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.

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 !

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.

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.

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 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!

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!

We will have to unit them

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.