Improvements in Means for Incandescence Gas-lighting.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Nov., 1896-Accepted, 30th Jan., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means for Incandescence Gas-lighting.
I, RICHARD VAN DR-GHINSTE, of Rue de la Cuiller No. 8, Brussels, Belgium,
Pharmaceutical Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to an incandescence mantle designed for use with gas-
burners and composed of metallic wires of pure platinum, or of an alloy of
platinum with iridium, or with rhodium, or with palladium, or with any two of
these metals, or with all three of these metals.
The use of pure platinum has the disadvantage that its melting point is not
sufficiently bigh in some cases, and that it emits a light that is less white than
when it is alloyed with the metals or with one or two of the metals herein before
mentioned, which form with it alloys whose melting point is higher than that of
pure platinum.
The alloys intended for forming the wires may contain a greater or smaller
proportion of the metal or metals alloyed with the platinum, and this proportion
should increase with the intensity of the flame produced by the burner employed.
With burners producing flame of low intensity, the proportion may fall to a propor
fraction of one per cent., whilst with burners producing flame of very high
intensity, this proportion may rise to several per cent., and it might even become as
high as about 50 per cent.
However, too great a proportion of the rare metal or metals alloyed with the
platinum is prejudicial to the malleability of the alloy and renders difficult the
manufacture of the fabric of which the mantle is made.
According to the greater or less intensity of the flame of the burner employed,
the wires of the fabric should be more or less thick, and the meshes more or less
wide.
In order that the mantle may have an incandescence that will emit a good light,
it has been found that it is necessary to employ either a burner with an intense
flame or a burner of the Bunsen type constructed in such a manner that there
may be free circulation of the atmospheric air at the place where the gas escapes
from the distributor or nozzle before entering the tube on which the mantle is
mounted.
With a Bunsen burner constructed as herein before described, I have obtained
good results with mantles composed of a fabric made of wires of about 5 thousandths
of a millimetre in thickness and with meshes about four tenths of a millimetre
wide, the wires being composed of pure platinum or of an alloy of platinum with
2 per cent, of iridium or of an alloy of platinum with 5 per cent. of iridium.
With a burner in which the flame was rendered intense by a current of air
acting as an injector for the gas, I have obtained good results with mantles formed
of a fabric of wires of about one-tenth of a millimetre in thickness with meshes
about half a millimetre wide by employing wires of pure platinum or of an alloy
of platinum with between 5 and 20 per cent. of iridium or of an alloy of platinum
with about 10 per cent. of iridium and 10 per cent. rhodium or of an alloy of
platinum with about 10 per cent. of rhodium.
It will be understood that the preparations of the various metals of which I make
my alloys may be varied, as also may the thickness of the wires and the width of
mesh of the fabric of which I make my mantles.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I'
claim is :-
1. An incandescence mantle for gaa-burners, made of fabric composed of wires
of an alloy of platinum with rhodium, or with iridium or with palladium, or with
any two or all of the last mentioned three metals.
2. The combination of an incandescence-mantle of the kind mentioned in the
preceding claim, or an incandescence-mantle made of fabric composed of wires of
pure platinum, with a Bunsen burner constructed so as to allow of a free circulation
of atmospheric air where the gas escapes from the nozzle into the burner-tube, or
with a burner in which an air-current is used for injecting the gas.
Dated this 20th day of November 1890.
Dated 2018 20th day of November 1890.
For the Applica
'W. LLOYD WISE,
46 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Chartered Patent 'Ageut.
'W. LLOYD WISE,
46 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Chartered Patent 'Ageut.