Aladdin No.23 Loxon mantle lamp...

[twocvbloke]

Well, I think that mantle's had it already, the hole that started off not too big has expanded and looks like the aftermath of an explosion in a bee hive...

Trying to use it now it's just imbalanced, with hotspots where the hole is, and soot trying to build up elsewhere, so, I think I should concede defeat and use the brand new mantle and not use old-stock radioactive material mantles...

Pictures below comparing the before and after...

[19and41]

I'll probably be ordering a couple.  I found a supplier at around $14 per on ebay.  I want to light it on halloween night.  It might not be a pumpkin, but it will be the most expensive jack o lantern on the street. 

[twocvbloke]

I should probably order a couple more too, just in case...

The new mantle's definitely not as bright as the old one, and it's also not a greenish-hue like the old one, more an incandescent bulb colour, which is a shame as I liked the soft greenish glow of the traditional mantle...

But then, I guess the green glow was the radioactive materials in the old mantle...

[19and41]

The greenish hue was probably caused by an incomplete burn with the hole.  It should burn with the whiter light with the burn ocurring on the intact screen.  It is a catalytic burn.

[twocvbloke]

Nah, older mantles made with thorium tend to have a greenish tint, not sure what the modern ones are made of but it's definitely a lot more tungsten filament bulb colour now...

[19and41]

Those older mantles must be pretty old, I can't find the older model number mantles here, and the newer model number mantles appear to be 40-50 years old at their oldest.  They have had some mighty shopworn ones for sale.

[twocvbloke]

Apparently the thorium mantles were made into the late 90s & early 2000s, they only stopped making them because people were concerned that the radioactivity was dangerous, even though it's pretty weak...

[19and41]

From what I've read, the mantles made after 1990 are made with yttrium.   I guess I would prefer the whiter light as opposed to the weaker light of a flat wick lamp, but I guess I'll not be able to see the difference, not having an old mantle.  The only other use I have known for yttrium is it's in an yttrium-iron-garnet solid state microwave oscillator.

[twocvbloke]

It's still a useful light with the modern mantles, it's just a different colour and not as bright, but a lot brighter than a standard wick lamp...

[twocvbloke]

Forgot to put this video link up last night, burning off those mantles is fun...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuW73PlTozA

[19and41]

At least you have a little extra of the burn saving it on video. You can make combustibles light like that by saturating them in a potassium nitrate solution, then drying.  That was done to the later paper cartridges for percussion rifles, so the whole thing could be placed into the bore and be completely burned.

[twocvbloke]

In the ever descriptive words of Jeremy Clarkson; AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHH!!!!

Broke the new mantle already, and it was entirely my fault.............

[19and41]

Yeow!  How did that happen?

[twocvbloke]

I was performing some maintenance on the burner assembly (seems I left something loose), and knocked the mantle quite hard and now it's holding on by a few threads...

[twocvbloke]

That mantle stated curling inward on itself making it rather difficult to keep illuminated, so, for now I've put the old thorium mantle back in (surprisingly that didn't break up when I placed it in the padded envelope!!) and have yet another mantle (old thorium one again, I prefer the light output and colour of the thorium, despite it's radiation output) on the way, this is getting expensive...