Mantle Lamp
A variation on the "central draught" lamp is the mantle lamp. The mantle is a roughly pear-shaped net made when new of fabric that contains thorium or other rare-earth salts; on first use the cloth burns away and the rare-earth salts are converted to oxides, leaving a very fragile structure which incandescences (glows brightly) upon combustion of fuel. Mantle lamps are considerably brighter than flat- or round-wick lamps, produce a whiter light, burn fuel faster, and generate more heat. They are bright enough to benefit from a lampshade. A few mantle lamps may be enough to heat a small building in cold weather. Mantle lamps, because of the higher temperature at which they operate, do not produce much odor, except when first lit or extinguished. Like flat- and round-wick lamps, they can be adjusted for brightness; if set too high the lamp chimney and the mantle become covered with soot. A lamp set too high will burn off its soot harmlessly if quickly turned down, but if not caught soon enough a "runaway lamp" condition can result.
Most mantle lamps contain a gas generator and require preheating the generator before lighting. An air pump is used to deliver fuel under pressure to the gas generator. One model of mantle lamp uses only a wick. Large fixed pressurized kerosene mantle lamps were used in lighthouse beacons for navigation of ships, brighter and with lower fuel consumption than oil lamps used before.
Read more about this topic: Kerosene Lamp
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