For other uses of mantle see: mantle (disambiguation) The term mantle could refer to: Mantle, a piece of clothing, similar to a robe but open on the front side. ...

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, existing gas lights which filled the streets of Europe and North America in the late 19th century, mantle referring to the way it was hung above the flame. Today they are still used for portable camping lanterns and pressure lamps. Gas lighting is the process of burning piped natural gas or coal gas for illumination. ... A streetlight in front of a red sky at night A street light, also known as a light standard, is a raised light on the edge of a road, turned on or lit at a certain time every night. ... World map showing Europe Political map Europe is one of the seven continents of Earth which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiographic one, leading to various perspectives about Europes borders. ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Car camping is camping in a tent, but nearby the car for easier access and for supply storage Camping is an outdoor recreational activity, in which the campers get away from civilization and enjoy nature by spending one or more nights at a campsite. ... Stone lantern in a Chinese Garden A chōchin invites customers into an okonomiyaki restaurant in Japan A lantern is a portable lighting device used to illuminate broad areas. ... Russian wick kerosene lamp. ...

They work by utilising the heat of a flame, in modern portable applications produced using kerosene or LPG, to heat them up to around 1000 degrees celsius. At this temperature they are sufficiently hot to radiate an intense white light as a consequence of the spectral lines of rare earth elements in the mantle. The light is not produced through black body radiation since the temperature is too low to generate white light. Russian kerosene lamp Kerosene or paraffin oil (British English, not to be confused with the waxy solid also called paraffin) is a colorless flammable hydrocarbon liquid. ... LPG might be an initialism or abbreviation for: Liquified petroleum gas Laboratoire de Planetologie, Grenoble, France Literary Press Group of Canada Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossenschaft (German, obsolete/historical) Long period grating This page concerning a three-letter acronym or abbreviation is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that... A degree Celsius (°C) is a unit of temperature named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius (1701-1744), who first proposed a similar system in 1742. ... A spectral line is a dark or bright line in an otherwise uniform and continuous spectrum, resulting from an excess or deficiency of photons in a narrow frequency range, compared with the nearby frequencies. ... A rare earth is an oxide of a rare earth element. ... As the temperature decreases, the peak of the black body radiation curve moves to lower intensities and longer wavelengths. ...

Modern mantles are made of ramie-based artificial silk or rayon. When the mantle, a small net bag, is attached to the lamp and used for the first time, the heat burns away the cellulose of the bag and converts the rare earth nitrates soaked into it into a rigid, but very fragile, structure made of metal oxides. Binomial name Boehmeria nivea (L.) Gaudich. ... Cellulose is treated with alkali and carbon disulfide to yield viscose. ...

Since thorium is radioactive, and produces a radioactive gas, radon-220 as one of its decay products there are concerns about the safety of thorium mantles. Some nuclear safety agencies make recommendations about their use[1]. A study in 1981 estimated that the dose from using a thorium mantle every weekend for a year would be 0.3-0.6 millirems, tiny in comparison to the normal annual dose of a few hundred millirems, although a person ingesting an entire mantle would receive a comparable dose of 200 mrem ([2], [3]). However the radioactivity is a major concern for those people involved with the manufacture of mantles, and with contamination of soil around some former factory sites [4]. All of these issues have meant that alternatives, usually yttrium or sometimes zirconium, are used in some countries although they are either more expensive or less efficient. General Name, Symbol, Number thorium, Th, 90 Chemical series Actinides Group, Period, Block n/a, 7, f Appearance silvery white Atomic mass 232. ... General Name, Symbol, Number radon, Rn, 86 Chemical series noble gases Group, Period, Block 18, 6, p Appearance colorless Atomic mass (222) g/mol Electron configuration [Xe] 4f14 5d10 6s2 6p6 Electrons per shell 2, 8, 18, 32, 18, 8 Physical properties Phase gas Melting point 202 K (-71 °C... In nuclear physics, a decay product, also known as a daughter product, is a nuclide resulting from the radioactive decay of a parent or precursor nuclide. ... Nuclear safety is a term which underscores and understates the danger implicit in the use of nuclear materials, and may be used to describe measures taken to prevent nuclear and radiation accidents. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Röntgen equivalent man or rem (symbol rem) is an obsolete unit of radiation dose. ... General Name, Symbol, Number yttrium, Y, 39 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 3, 5, d Appearance silvery white Atomic mass 88. ... General Name, Symbol, Number zirconium, Zr, 40 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 4, 5, d Appearance silvery white Atomic mass 91. ...

History

For centuries, artificial light had been generated using open flames. Limelight had been invented in the 1820s but the temperature required was too high to be practical for small lights. In the late 19th Century several inventors tried to develop an effective alternative based on heating a material to a lower temperature but using spectral lines to simulate white light. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Limelight is a type of stage lighting once used in theatres and music halls. ... Events and Trends Nationalistic independence movements helped reshape the world during this decade: Greece declares independence from the Ottoman Empire (1821). ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Many early attempts used platinum/iridium gauzes soaked in the metal nitrates, but were not successful because of the high cost of the materials and poor relibability.

The first effective mantle was the Clamond basket in 1881, named after its inventor. It was exhibited in the Crystal Palace exhibition of 1883. This device was made from a mixture of magnesium hydrate, magnesium acetate and water which was squeezed through holes in a plate to form threads, which were then moulded into a basket shape and ignited. The acetate burnt, the combustion products forming a matrix to support the magnesium oxide formed as the hydrate decomposed. The fragile structure was supported by a platinum wire cage and heated by a coal gas flame. 1881 (MDCCCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Crystal Palace may refer to: The Crystal Palace was a 19th century building in Britain. ... 1883 (MDCCCLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... General Name, Symbol, Number magnesium, Mg, 12 Chemical series alkaline earth metals Group, Period, Block 2, 3, s Appearance silvery white Atomic mass 24. ... General Name, Symbol, Number magnesium, Mg, 12 Chemical series alkaline earth metals Group, Period, Block 2, 3, s Appearance silvery white Atomic mass 24. ... Water (from the Old English waeter; c. ... Magnesium oxide is a white solid mineral that occurs naturally as periclase and is a source of magnesium. ... General Name, Symbol, Number platinum, Pt, 78 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 10, 6, d Appearance grayish white Atomic mass 195. ... Syngas (from synthesis gas) is the name given to gasses of varying composition that are generated in coal gasification and some types of waste-to-energy facilities. ...

The modern gas mantle was one of the many inventions of Carl Auer von Welsbach, a chemist who studied rare earth elements in the 1880s and who had been a student of Robert Bunsen. His first process used a mixture of 60 % magnesium oxide, 20 % lanthanum oxide and 20 % yttrium oxide which he called Actinophor, and patented in 1885. Carl Auer von Welsbach ( 9 September 1858 - 8 April 1929) was an Austrian scientist and inventor who had a talent for not only discovering advances, but turning them into commercially successful products. ... Chemist Julie Perkins of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory pours from a Florence flask. ... A rare earth is an oxide of a rare earth element. ... // Events and Trends Technology Development and commercial production of electric lighting Development and commercial production of gasoline-powered automobile by Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Maybach First commercial production and sales of phonographs and phonograph recordings. ... Robert Bunsen Robert Wilhelm Bunsen (31 March 1811 – 16 August 1899) was a German chemist. ... General Name, Symbol, Number lanthanum, La, 57 Chemical series lanthanides Group, Period, Block 3, 6, f Appearance silvery white Atomic mass 138. ... General Name, Symbol, Number yttrium, Y, 39 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 3, 5, d Appearance silvery white Atomic mass 88. ... 1885 (MDCCCLXXXV) is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

The original mantles gave off a green-tinted light and were not very successful, and his first company, which established a factory in Atzgersdorf in 1887, failed in 1889. In 1890 he discovered that thorium was superior to magnesium, and in 1891 perfected a new mixture of 99 % thorium dioxide and 1 % cerium dioxide that gave off a much whiter light and produced a stronger mantle. After introducing it commercially in 1892 it quickly spread throughout Europe. The gas mantle remained an important part of street lighting until the widespread introduction of electric lighting in the early 1900s. 1887 (MDCCCLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. ... 1889 (MDCCCLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ... 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Thorium dioxide (ThO2), also called thorium(IV) oxide (IUPAC) is a white, crystalline powder. ... Flash point None R/S statement R: ? S: ? RTECS number  ? Supplementary data page Structure and properties n, εr, etc. ... 1892 (MDCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... // Events and Trends Technology First flight by the Wright brothers, December 17, 1903. ...

To produce a mantle, cotton is woven into a net bag and impregnated with the soluble nitrates of these metals and then heated; the cotton burns away and the nitrates are converted to nitrites which fuse together to form the solid mesh. As the heating continues, the nitrites decompose into the final solid, (but fragile) very high melting point oxides. Cotton ready for harvest. ... In inorganic chemistry, a nitrate is a salt of nitric acid. ...

Early mantles were sold in the unheated cotton mesh condition, since the oxide structure was too fragile to transport easily and the purchaser carried out the conversion when it was first used. The cotton quickly rotted because of the corrosive nature of the acidic metal nitrates (although was later reduced by soaking the mantle in ammonia solution to neutralise the excess acid). Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula NH3. ...

Later mantles were made from guncotton or collodian rather than ordinary cotton, since extremely fine threads of it could be produced; it was converted back to cellulose before heating (since these materials are highly flammable or explosive) by dipping in ammonium sulfide. Nitrocellulose (Cellulose nitrate, guncotton) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose (e. ... Ammonium sulfide, (NH4)2S, is obtained, in the form of micaceous crystals, by passing hydrogen sulfide mixed with a slight excess of ammonia through a well-cooled vessel; the hydrosulfide NH4•HS is formed at the same time. ...

It was discovered that the finished mantle could be strengthened sufficiently by dipping in a solution of collodion which would coat it with a thin layer of the material to be burnt off when the mantle was first used, although modern mantles are now usually sold in their original fabric condition. Collodion is a solution of nitrocellulose in ether or acetone, sometimes with the addition of alcohols. ...

Early mantles often had a binding thread of asbestos for tieing onto the lamp fitting, but because of its carcinogenic properties it has been replaced with wire in modern mantles. Fibrous asbestos on muscovite Asbestos Asbestos Asbestos (a misapplication of Latin: asbestos quicklime from Greek ἄσβεστος: a-, not; sbestos, extinguishable) describes any of a group of fibrous metamorphic minerals of the hydrous magnesium silicate variety. ... In pathology, a carcinogen is any substance or agent that promotes cancer. ...

See also

• Candoluminescence
• Coleman_Company

http://www.woodenmantles.com Candoluminescence is the (archaic) term used to describe the light given off by certain materials which have been heated to incandescence and emit light at shorter wavelengths than would be expected for a typical blackbody radiator. ... Coleman Company, Inc. ...

External links

• Historic Lamp forum
• The International Guild of Lamp Researchers

References

• A Brief History of the Incandescent Mantle Pressure Lamp
• 1911 Encyclopedia article on lighting
• Guttenberg project – Scientific American October 2, 1886, article on the Clamond Gas Burner
• Auer von Welsbach
• Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency article "Radioactivity in Lantern Mantles"
• The Straight Dope - Are camp lanterns radioactive?
• Document at New Jersy Consumer and Environmental Health Services containing a description of contamination at former factory site at Camden, New Jersey