Kerosene Pressure Lantern Principles of Operation:-

Auer von Welsbach invented the principle of the gas flame

heated incandescent mantle light in 1885. In the blue
flame of a Bunsen burner he heated a woven fabric which
glowed six times more brightly than the flame itself. The
fabric was hung above the burner, the sole source of heat,
in a shape which inspired the name of "mantle" (i.e., a
cloak). The mantle was composed of a loosely woven
cotton mesh, soaked in a liquid solution of thorium and
cerium nitrate. Upon igniting a mantle for the first time, the
cotton burnt away, leaving a rigid, brittle "skeleton" of
thorium and cerium oxides. These oxides emitted brilliant
light when heated to very high temperatures -- the principle
of incandescence. This newfound principle was
revolutionary, especially in the application of street lighting,
and quickly became widespread throughout the
industrialized world.

Before long, the idea of using liquid fuels for this type of lighting was explored. By the
end of the 19th century, the first alcohol and kerosene fueled incandescent lamps
had been developed. These liquid fuel lamps used pressure to force the fuel towards
the burner, and the heat of the burner's flame to vaporize the liquid fuel. They are
thus often termed "pressure lamps / lanterns". One of the first and most successful
kerosene fuelled pressure lanterns was invented in 1910 by Max Graetz – the world
famous Petromax. The Petromax lantern, and its smaller cousin the Geniol lantern,
remain popular to this day, both in the private sector and for professional
applications.
The Petromax lantern acts as a small "gasworks". The fuel tank is
pressurized to approximately 2 atmospheres (2 bar, or 30 psi)
with air introduced by a built-in hand pump. This pressure is
then used to force the liquid kerosene up into the vaporizer
(or "generator", as it is sometimes called). Initially, the
vaporizer must be pre-heated to gasify the liquid kerosene
within it, prior to igniting the lantern's mantle. This preheating
may be accomplished by burning alcohol poured in to a
preheating cup located at the base of the vaporizer.
Alternately, a built-in kerosene-fueled blowtorch, the "Rapid"
preheater located on the side of most Petromax lanterns, may be
used to heat the vaporizer. Once in operation, the heat from the
lantern's blue flame (encased within the mantle) is used to
gasify the liquid kerosene rising through the vaporizer. The
liquid kerosene boils away into vapor at approximately 250°
C (480° F), about halfway up the height of the vaporizer -- see illustration. The
gaseous kerosene continues its journey through the vaporizer's circular loop,
increasing in temperature, until it exits the small orifice in the vaporizer's nipple at
nearly the speed of sound (1000 ft./sec.). Upon exiting the nipple, the gaseous fuel
begins to expand and combine with air in small square chamber at the side of the
lantern's inner casing. The expansion of the gas and turbulent mixing with the air are
responsible for the hissing noise of the Petromax lantern while in operation. The
gaseous kerosene and air are swept into the mixing tube where the two are
thoroughly combined in the turbulent flow. This ensures complete combustion of the
mixture upon exiting the ceramic nozzle, resulting in a hot, clean blue flame.
These principles of operation are generally applicable to any temperatures, and
operating pressures / procedures may vary incandescent pressure lantern or lamp
(e.g. – Coleman, Tilley, etc.), although fuel types, vaporization
Max Graetz(1861-1936):- He
was the President/CEO of
the Ehrich & Graetz firm in Berlin.
He was also the main inventor.
Between1900-1916 he invented
the Petromax lantern. Ehrich &
Graetz was a big metalworks firm
until the Second World War.
Carl Auer von Welsbach (1September 1858 –
4 August 1929):- Who received the Austrian
noble title of Freiherr Auer von
Welsbach in 1901, was an
Austrian scientist and inventor, who
separated didymium into the
elements neodymium and praseodymium in
1885. He was also one of three scientists to
independently discover the
element lutetium (which he
named cassiopeium), separating it
from ytterbium in 1907, setting off the
longest priority dispute in the history of
chemistry.
He had a talent not only for making
scientific advances, but also for turning
them into commercially successful
products. His work on rare-earth
elements led to the development of
the ferrocerium "flints" used in
modern lighters, the gas mantle that
brought light to the streets of Europe in the
late 19th century, and the metal-
filament light bulb. He took the phrase plus
lucis, meaning "more light", as his motto.
 The Incandescent Paraffin Lamp: Invention and
Evolutions

Welsbach's (Carl Auer Freiherr von Welsbach) invention of the incandescent

mantle in-1885 is too well-known to need detailed explanation here. It is of
interest however, that his original proposal of a cotton or ramic fabric
impregnated with a mixture of 99 percent Thoria and 1 percent Ceria has
unaltered and mantles for oil lamps are still manufactured by burning off
the fabric and leaving a delicate skeleton of oxides which is dipped in a
mixture of Collodion, ether, camphor and castor oil to strengthen the
skeleton structure and enable it to endure transport. It is also of interest
that Welsbach in his original specification referred to an "Illuminant
appliance for gas and other burners" from which it is inferred that he
envisaged the application of his invention to oil burners. In common with
many other inventors, Welsbach had to wait for several years before his
invention was adopted in practice, but by 1893 the incandescent mantle
became a commercial success and was followed quickly by numerous
proposals for applying Welsbach mantles to gas and oil burners.

The earliest illustrations of incandescent oil lamps are in the patents

granted to Graetz in 1892 and to Mueller in 1895 covering what was known
as the E.R.A.lamp. The invention described by Graetz is not a mantle lamp,
but a lamp designed to produce a blue flame for bringing refractory
materials to an incandescent state (Fig. 6).

The lamp had an annular wick, inner and outer air supplies and a disc flame
spreader. The burner is described as adapted to produce a blue flame of
little luminosity but of intense heat which is capable of being employed for
bringing refractory such as lime or wire gauze into an incandesant state
and thus obtaining a very brilliant light."

As to the manner in which these refractory materials are applied to the

burner the specification is silent, but nevertheless the invention is a direct
ancestor of the mantle lamp. Mueller's lamp (1895) is of greater importance
as it includes "a mantle of the kind employed for gas lighting, thus
producing a brilliant light." The construction of the lamp includes an
annular wick with a penmen wick top of asbestos fibre (Fig. 7).

Air is supplied internally through an inner wick tube and externally through
regulatable inlets to the core into which the mantle skirt descends.

A perforated spreader deflects the flame from the wick top outwardly to the
mantle. The Mueller construction brought together the Argand burner,
Houghton’s annual wick, the inner and outer air passages and the
perforated flame spreader, all features which form the fundamental
structure of the present-day mantle lamps, although many detailed
improvements and modifications have been made in the succeeding years.
 Gas mantle: History and its Uses
HISTORY:- On 23 September 1885,
Auer von Welsbach received a patent on his
development of the gas mantle, which he
called Auerlicht, using a chemical mixture of
60% magnesium oxide, 20% lanthanum
oxide and 20% yttrium oxide, which he
called Actinophor. To produce a
mantle, guncotton is impregnated with a
mixture of Actinophor and then heated, the
cotton eventually burns away, leaving a solid
(albeit fragile) ash, which glows brightly when
heated. These original mantles gave off a
green-tinted light and were not very
successful, and his first company formed to
BURNING AND USED MANTLE
sell them failed in 1889.

In 1890 he introduced a new form of the mantle based on a mixture

of 99% thorium dioxide and 1% cerium(IV) oxide, which he
developed in collaboration with his colleague Ludwig
Haitinger. These proved both more robust and having a much
"whiter" light. Another company founded to produce the newer
design was formed in 1891, working with fellow student from the
university Ignaz Kreidl, and the device quickly spread throughout
Europe.

In the United States this technique was adopted by The Coleman

Company and became their logo for the company. In the 1980s it
was reported that Thorium's radio-daughters (Decay products)
could be volatilized and released into the air upon incandescence
of the mantle. A lawsuit (Wagner v. Coleman) was brought against
Coleman. The company changed its formulation to use non-
radioactive materials, which apparently cost less and last longer.
USES:- An incandescent gas mantle, gas
mantle or Welsbach mantle is a device for
generating bright white light when heated by a
flame. The name refers to its original heat
source in gas lights, which filled
the streets of Europe and North
America in the late 19th century,
mantle referring to the way it
hangs like a cloak above the flame.
It was also used in A NEW MANTLE READY TO USE

portable camping lanterns, pressure

lanterns and some oil lamps.[1]

Gas mantles are usually sold as fabric items,

which, because of impregnation with metal
nitrates, burns away to leave a rigid but fragile
mesh of metal oxides when heated during
initial use; these metal oxides produce light
from the heat of the flame whenever
used. Thorium dioxide was commonly a major
component; being radioactive, it has led to
concerns about the safety of those involved in
manufacturing mantles. Normal use, however,
poses minimal health risk.