A hooded lantern was the basic type of lantern; an illumination device that protected the source of light behind glass within a frame of metal. Typical hooded lanterns consisted of a metallic frame enclosing glass panels, within which a wick connected to a reservoir of oil burned and shed light out to a range of 60 feet (18 meters), as long as the supply of fuel lasted, typically 6 hours for 1 pint (470 milliliters) of oil.
Some hooded lanterns allowed the hood to be lowered, significantly decreasing the amount of light shed by the lantern without the need to extinguish the flame.