How the gas mantle made lamps 10X brighter

Technology ConnectionsPřed rokem

Hey! We found what “forced my lute” meant! Back in ye olde chemistry days, lute was a substance used to make seals between your various chemistry apparatus. So, Clayton was probably saying the 330 year old equivalent of “blew the seals” (or indeed, the pressure was sufficient to break the glass!). Oh, and somehow I missed pointing out when the Aladdin lamp was first produced. The trademark was obtained in 1908 and the first lamps went on sale in 1909. Also of note, one source claims lamps made after 1935 were technically side-draft designs, meaning air doesn’t actually travel through the center of the wick. So “central draft burner” as used in my script here might be considered a misnomer.

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  UsernameNotDefinedPřed rokem

  Basically sealing putty

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  Jacob PoucherPřed rokem

  "did you blow a seal or is that frost on your mustash?" famous youtuber "AVE"

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  Total Internal ReflectionPřed rokem

  @UsernameNotDefined sulphuric acid is the standard joint sealer in chemistry except where that may interfere or react badly with the reactants or products.

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  Ted FortPřed rokem

  Well now the post I was about to make explaining that feels a lot less inciteful.

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  JMPřed rokem

  A "lute" is still a term we use in industrial sampling systems today

TayZondayPřed rokem

Thank you for gaslighting all of us.

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  Semechki for PutinPřed rokem

  first

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  Sawyer LightseyPřed rokem

  A wild Zonday sighting! Such a marvelous creature! Hope you're emerging well from the plague!

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  RidinDirtyRollinBurnoutsPřed rokem

  Chocolate rain!! Pepperidge Farm remembers!

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  AlexPřed rokem

  Hay tay

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  SrcsqwrnPřed rokem

  I hope you've been well, and it's cool to see you enjoying the same amazing content that I like!

David KantorPřed rokem

Here’s another interesting connection. When electric lighting was first being installed in buildings, they already had a route to run the wires: the gas pipes. The electric fixtures went up right where the gas fixtures had been, and the wires were pulled through the pipes that were already there. This way, electric conduit was “invented”.

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  ????????Před 3 měsíci

  ah! I didnt know that!

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  Pasa335dPřed měsícem

  Source? If you've pulled wires through actual conduit you know how hard even that is. Pulling wires through gas pipe seems almost impossible; the elbows are too sharp and the pipe has most likely not been reamed at the ends. I call BS

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  David KantorPřed měsícem

  @Pasa335d Thanks for the reply. I don’t recall the source; sorry. You make a good point. I bet that the insulation could get stripped as the wire went a joint where the pipe ends were not reamed. But still, it could have been how the practice got started. Then, subsequently, people figured that they needed to have tubing that is more suitable for wire; curvy bends and free of sharp edges.

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  David KantorPřed měsícem

  One source: the Wikipedia article on electric conduit.

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  Pasa335dPřed měsícem

  @David Kantor Yeah, interesting. I'm guessing some of the early gas piping was probably bent brass tubing. That could certainly work as electrical conduit.

Norma JohnsonPřed 5 měsíci

Please heed the safety instructions! The lamps must be monitored during use. DO NOT light and walk away, as the flame increases as the lamp heats. I did this once, lit, turned flame very low, got distracted, smoke alarms went off and red flame was roaring out the top of the chimney. The lamps are still used in rural areas, by the Amish, they tell me, and mantles, wicks and burner parts are sold in one local hardware. I collect them, they're fun to tinker with, a pain to trim the wicks, but fun to just turn off the lights and watch the lamp run.

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  windy farmer.Před 4 měsíci

  I was raised with aladdin lamps, only 65 years old, we built home made diesel lamps for using while milking cows. My neighbour still doesnt have electric, his mother in her hundreds has moved to a house with electric but she was carrying coal buckets at 99, she couldnt start the generator so had to wait till her son got home, the generator would only run for a while at night. ( We installed electric in several farms when i was young). (In Scotland).

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  Ron UnderwoodPřed 4 měsíci

  Lehmans in Kidron OH?

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  Howard OsbornePřed 4 měsíci

  Norma,I am wondering if the old style Aladdin lamp idea with an incandescent mantle could be adapted to a mantle lamp that uses Bio Ethanol for fuel rather than Kerosene/Paraffin. Ethanol burns much hotter than Methanol and carries far less toxicity issues with its use. As far as wicks for burning Bio Ethanol are concerned I already use homemade wire filament wicks in small bottle type burners. I think there may be some worthwhile experiments in adding an incandescent mantle.

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  Mark BernierPřed 4 měsíci

  @windy farmer. I never had them as a kid but when I started going to rural areas in the 70's all the types were very common, flat, Dietz and Alladin and the Coleman types. I still have examples of all of them at the ready for the inevitable power failure and the occasional evening just for ambiance.

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  brkbeat junkiePřed 4 měsíci

  My grandmother had one in the 80s

Oivin FPřed rokem

We found an old mantle at our cabin once, it did surprise me that 1) It said it contained thorium 2) It was tied onto the lamp with an asbestos string 3) The instructions were to cut off the excess string with scissors

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  Chuck- e cheesePřed 4 měsíci

  Sounds very safe.

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  TantalumPolytopePřed měsícem

  ah yes, *_safety_*

barry craigPřed 8 měsíci

My 92-year-old mother who grew up without electricity knows all about these lamps. Matter of fact there was one left in The Farmhouse and when we had a power failure amazed how much light it puts out

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  methos1999Před 6 měsíci

  Hard to believe we've gone from burning fuel for light to color-changing wi-fi enabled LED smart bulbs in a single person's lifetime. What's even crazier is that we already take our modern lighting for granted.

Josh PradoPřed 7 měsíci

The Coleman fabric mits reminds me of my childhood. Going camping using the propane lamp. I can still remember the hissing sound and bright light. The moths and other insects buzzing. The smell of the campfire.

JacobPřed 10 měsíci

I’m always stunned by the fact that arc lights, literal LIGHTNING in a tube, was invented before bulbs that just needs to get a filament hot

John SmithPřed 11 měsíci

There are still a lot (about 1750, I think) of gas lamps in London. They're scattered around Westminster and the city. Others that look alike have been fitted with electric lamps. A team of six people maintains them, which includes winding up the clockwork timer that opens and closes the valve. The mantles come from Germany.

Russ WaynePřed 8 měsíci

You've done it again! This is the second video of TC that I've watched and like the first, it is so entertaining and educational, both at the same time. You're such a natural explainer of complicated things.

R2robotPřed rokem

Some of my fondest memories from childhood are watching my dad change the mantles on our Coleman lantern before heading out to 'the land' for a hunting weekend. And then the gurgling hiss of the lantern lighting up our entire campsite from pitch black. Good times.

Matthew BlackerPřed 5 měsíci

I am familiar with hurricane lanterns and Coleman lanterns, but I never heard of the Alladin variant. I've always wondered about how mantles actually work and what they are made of despite my using them numerous times. Thanks for your thorough and interesting video.

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  Jon HohenseePřed 4 měsíci

  Aladdin

AndrewPřed rokem

This series has been illuminating.

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  gates531Před rokem

  It has brightened my day.

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  Marcel de JongPřed rokem

  Thanks for shining a light on these lamps

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  FloppeyPyroPřed rokem

  It really *shone a light* on the details.

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  N0616JC ProductionsPřed rokem

  My life just went up a few lumens.

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  João vitor De Jesus rochaPřed rokem

  Badun tiss

GregPřed rokem

Your videos are consistently impressive and informative. I remember my first encounters with these mantles, initially on white gas-fueled Coleman lamps, later in propane lamps. You answered the many questions I had up until today. It was also interesting and eye opening to gain the perspective that filament electric light was readily adopted because of it’s similarity to the popular gas light.

brini'stacoPřed 4 měsíci

Extremely interesting. Really appreciate bridging the gaps leading up to electric light. Your research and presentation ability, attention to detail and admission of imperfection in knowledge in some rare but understandable cases make your videos a true pleasure to watch. It amazes me how curious you are about such a wide range of topics.

Kevin WhitePřed rokem

I grew up with kerosene Aladdin lamps lighting up my family vacation cabin in Northern Michigan. I think they're nice and rustic as my dad does; my mom always hated the smell. It is definitely a smell. They really are bright, too, almost as bright as modern electric lights (we eventually installed some of those to run off a generator. It's a remote cabin.) We actually almost installed propane gas mantle lamps before we got a generator.

Abitibi_DougPřed 5 měsíci

Interesting and informative video. I remember many years ago having a Coleman lamp with the bag shaped mantles like at 17 minutes. When new, you had to burn off some material that was blue if my memory serves me right. After that, they worked well, putting out a lot of light. The fuel it used was naptha.

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  AlanTheBeast100Před 5 měsíci

  You beat me to it by a day - 1 year after the video came out...!

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  Susan LangleyPřed 4 měsíci

  I still have a couple my parents used when camping, when I was a kid. They still work but I always start them outdoors.

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  Russ BPřed 4 měsíci

  I have two of those old Colman lanterns. My dad bought them back in the 60's.

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  Matthew WilloughbyPřed 4 měsíci

  They are pressurised lamps

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  Daryl LectPřed 4 měsíci

  Some mantles (Coleman) are thoriated, meaning they are treated with thorium and are radioactive. The thorium increases the brightness.

fenrar36Před 11 měsíci

I remember the coal yard and the gasometer or as we just called it a gas tower. it would raise (very slowly) over time as gas was produced. It was then sold in yellow metal tanks for use with a stove much like butane is today. You could also bring the tank back to the yard when it was empty for a refill, for a fee of course.

Noah bPřed rokem

As a hard of hearing / deaf person, I really appreciate that you always make sure that your videos have captions. I'm a fellow engineer and I love it when you release new content, even if I already know about it. I've been meaning to post that comment for a while, but figured I would do it on this video that you just released and it already has captions. Thank you!

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  technopoptartPřed rokem

  it is brilliant isn't it?

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  AnonymaxPřed rokem

  Proper subtitles also really help when using auto-translate for non-native speakers to follow along, such as my wife :D

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  WindyPřed rokem

  ​@Anonymax As a non-native speaker myself I'm sometimes getting lost when people talk too fast. Unfortuatelly automatically generated subtitles usually derail at the same time, so unless author ads proper ones, parts of the video stay incomprehensible

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  AnonymaxPřed rokem

  @Windy Auto-generated only works 85% well if the script is good (to give proper context so words that have different meanings will translate properly) and the audio is crystal clear. My wife prefers the English auto-generated ones because the translations of them just add to the confusion. Scripted captions are amazing, and I think there's many CS-tvrs who gain an audience purely because of them.

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  Marc KylePřed rokem

  Same here. Captions are needed with all video that I watch now.

Chris BrookingPřed 9 měsíci

I always assumed that gasometer were so called because you could see how much gas they were holding by sight. If I remember correctly some in London used to have a scale painted on one of the upright beams in the support cage.

nkronertPřed 2 měsíci

I've always been fascinated by the well-defined perimeter of candle flames, which suggests that the soot particles that cause the bright light burn up completely in a very consistent time (i.e. as long as it takes to reach the "edge" of the flame).

Robert BrindleyPřed rokem

Your channel is one of the easiest mentally stimulating channels out there for learning and just covering subjects no one does good on you dude I love your channel

George NewlandsPřed 5 měsíci

I was born in a farm cottage that was lit with “Aladdin” lamps (mid-1950s)…if I remember correctly my dad converted a couple into electric table lamps (these were ones with metal fuel tanks, so he drilled holes in them to run cables). They even had lampshades because the original light from the mantle was so white and harsh.

JoshSaysStuffPřed 4 měsíci

Finally, an explanation of the mantle! I have a vivid memory from my childhood of finding an old lamp like this, removing the glass, and touching the mantle. It crumbled and I was beyond confused, having thought it was a cloth of some sort.

herzglassPřed rokem

I always liked the German term for gas mantles. "Glühstrumpf" which literally translates as "glow stocking".

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  Crow Demon - The ArchivesPřed rokem

  Technically not even wrong 😂

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  Stefan BrixPřed rokem

  Even the term "Strumpflampe" "Stocking Lantern" was quite common. My Grandmother used it often to distinguish between gas mantle lanterns and (standard) "Petroleumlampe" (flat-wick kerosene lamp). And the "Petromax", which burns pressurized (with a hand pump) kerosene within the gas mantle is legendary ...

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  Jonatas Silveira BaldoPřed rokem

  In Portuguese it is called "camisinha", little shirt, which later became a slang for "condom".

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  SatumangoTheGreatPřed rokem

  It's called 'gloeikous' in Dutch, which means the same thing.

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  omzig18Před rokem

  German is the most literal language I think drax is german

Bowie TwomblyPřed 4 měsíci

I grew up with an Alladin mantle lamp that we would use during power outages. I was always fascinated by it but never really knew the mechanisms behind it. Fantastic video! Now I feel even worse about the time I knocked it off the shelf and broke the chimney and mantle! (Thankfully not while it was on operation)

Angel ArchPřed 4 měsíci

amazing video! I always wondered how those woven wick things worked or what they were made out of and why, duh, it really makes so much sense now!:)

Jakob LarokPřed 7 měsíci

I only just started watching this channel's videos. I have to say, I really enjoy how the host has the bearing and cadence of Ben Franklin. It's a nice way to look back into older technologies - good on you for your character research!!!

anthony:Před 11 měsíci

My family's cabin built in the 80s uses wall mounted, propane powered, mantle lamps. Never really thought about them before. It's awesome to learn a bit about how they work!

Jerry PurvisPřed rokem

We used to have a gas plant here in the southwest portion of Indianapolis that had several of those large gasometers. It closed down sometime in the late 90s early 2000s. I remember you could clearly smell the gas whenever driving through the area and it was NOT a pleasant smell, like a rotten fruity smell. They claimed it would be a hundred years before the soil was ever usable again.

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  Pill-pilledPřed 2 měsíci

  They figured "who gives a damn there's plenty of land" during operation

DALX. & ADNAMA MediaPřed rokem

22:45 I really appreciate you fully showing the carbon buildup disappearing. that was very satisfying

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  grumpus27Před rokem

  ISTR it wasn't always easy to remove a soot spot, it could take a while fiddling with the wick to burn it off because too low and there wasn't enough heat to get it glowing, but turn it up a fraction too high and you'd see the yellow flame licking up the outside of the mantle. I still have an Aladdin of the type we used in the 1970s, but haven't yet had a use for it, Kerosene OTOH is a useful degreaser, I usually have some handy.

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  Bill Does StuffPřed rokem

  Yeah it was, it was like a movie special effect and very cool.

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  RogerWilcoPřed rokem

  Yes.

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  EmeliePřed rokem

  @Bill Does Stuff Come to think of it, it looked similar to the disintegration effects I've seen recently catching up on the Marvel shows. Or rather, Marvel have captured that disintegration effect wonderfully in their CGI.

PetrichorPřed 7 měsíci

Holy crap I remember all of these mechanics from my childhood- new mantle is flexible, the initial burn in, then its fragile- and most of all, do not touch that glass if it goes out after an hour. Really cool man.

Raj55Před 5 měsíci

These gas mantles are still used in petromax kerosene pressure lamps where the kerosene is first heated in the round tubular burner and as it gasifies it comes out with force and when lighted produces a gas flame that is surrounded by the mantle that amplifies the intensity of the light even more than before. Oh ya that was your next video.

TheOriginalJphyperPřed rokem

I once toured the house my grandmother grew up in back in the '40s. I don't know how old it was before that, but it had gas lights installed at regular intervals on every wall. It was interesting. Sadly, the house is very dilapidated and my uncle has grown too old to finish the restoration, which would cost more than the house would be worth. No one knows what's going to happen to it.

Ragnar StormPřed 5 měsíci

I remember we had a celling lamp in our mountain cabin in Norway utilizing gas mantle back in the 80s. I do recall they was expensive and a massive upgrade on normal parafin lamps we had in the rest of the cabin. Thanks for the entire series of fantastic videos.

Chimera PhotographyPřed rokem

The first time I used one of these old fashioned mantle things, I thought I had made a huge mistake when I lit it! It burst into flames and looked like it was melting all crazy, then poof! As quickly as it started it was almost a perfect little ball putting out a glowing warm light.

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  J VPřed rokem

  LoL. On a camping trip back in the 80s, I was told to light up the only lamp we brought, which had already been used once. Thinking that whatever the burned mesh material was useless, I removed it. It got dark too soon and we didn't have spare mantles. The only other source of illumination was one of those old dim flashlights that lasted about an hour at best. I believe that was the last time my parents and I went camping.

GoattacularPřed rokem

I'll never forget the first time I went camping in the 90s, and my dad lit up a Coleman lantern. Damn near blinded me, and he said the trick is to set it up in a direction you don't need to look. We'd toss a rope over a sturdy tree branch, hoist the lantern up to about 8 feet off the ground, and tie off the line. It was like having a shop light in the woods!

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  Blockstacker561Před rokem

  The propane stuff will never beat the old multi-fuels

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  James BassPřed rokem

  I had the same experience but my first camping trip with my dad was back in the 50’s.

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  no peacePřed rokem

  We placed ours outside the tent several feet away and it was so nice knowing we'd see a shadow if anyone wandered by

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  SuperTrampPřed 11 měsíci

  @Blockstacker561 don’t tell Hank Hill!🤣🤣

Nishandh MayiladanPřed 2 měsíci

wonderful nostalgic watch

Andrew BeckerPřed 5 měsíci

Pre-heating the air can help the flame in colder temperatures outside where you also have to deal with wind.

Prying EyesPřed 7 měsíci

My mom used to have a Coleman gasoline-filled lantem with net mantles it seemed magical as a kid. Also a flat-wicked kerosene lamp. I don't really remember the latter smelling all that bad, but it was up on the mantle above the fireplace.

Sean CoynePřed 11 měsíci

I discovered an Aladdin lamp in a garage sale, sans mantle and at the time didn't know anything about them. A bit of research led me to a shop in Melbourne, Oz, that sold them and of course spare mantles. When I first got it to work properly I was truly amazed at how bright it was. I ended up buying some more and used them often just for the lovely light they produced.

AdamPřed 10 měsíci

Thank you for going into detail about coal-gas production / collection! I spent several google-minutes between last video and this one looking for exactly this info!

Herminigildo JakosalemPřed rokem

As a young boy in rural Philippines, I enjoyed watching my father light our Petromax lantern that had a mantle. I still remember my elation whenever the mantle would suddenly burst into brightness as it got heated and immediately flooded our dark living room with an intense light. Yes, whenever the mantle needed replacing, he would buy one from the town hardware and the new mantle would seem to me like a sock that he would fit over the lamp's burner. I did not quite understand how it worked then and I was just fascinated by it. I brings me happiness, now as old man, to remember these things.

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  Cerberous+1Před 8 měsíci

  You have seen such change in this world. I wonder what I shall see. Hope your still being fascinated by stuff

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  Herminigildo JakosalemPřed 8 měsíci

  @Cerberous+1 Yes, a lot of spectacular events in my lifetime: the first landing on the moon, the first successful heart transplant, the invention of the cellphone and its progress into the smart phone, the internet and how it has made exchange and acquisition of communication so much easier , among other things. When I was young, same sex relations were frowned upon, today it is touted as part of basic human rights. A lot of change, indeed has happened in the world within my lifetime, and yes I am continuously fascinated by it all. Thank you. And yes, (and here, judging by your comment) I am assuming that you are of the much younger generation) you shall see a lot of "change" I am sure one of which shall be the first landing on Mars. Oh, I envy you for by then I shall be dust.

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  Cerberous+1Před 8 měsíci

  @Herminigildo Jakosalem hey don't say that last part. Earliest estimates are within 9-12 years in the Artemis gets the public interested again enough for the fed in the usa to give nasa the funds. You made it this far hold strong and hope. I might not be very religious but il find a prayer tonight to hope you live to see it. It's my dream to see that as well and to be able to go to space one day. Jot as an astronaut but as a tourist.. hopefully by my 50s since I'm 23 now they will have made space hotels and all.

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  Herminigildo JakosalemPřed 8 měsíci

  @Cerberous+1 You are so young. You have all the time in the world. 9 -12 years? I would be so blessed if I make that. BTW I am now 65 years old, having been born in 1957 and beset with all the ails that come with the age (hypertension, diabetes, vertigo, etc) he-he (hu-hu-hu)

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  Cerberous+1Před 8 měsíci

  @Herminigildo Jakosalem thanks and hey I've had a 108 yo great great aunt. A 101 yo great uncle, 97 yo great grandma, and a good few other family memebers live into their early 90s, late 80s. And our family has a history of high blood pressure and diabetes. And medicine is getting to the point that it actually scares me. But either way I hope you enjoy every last day you got. And let's hope for some incredible things to see in the next 5 years.

UnfinishedRiotPřed 4 měsíci

My family has a cultural fondness for hurricane lamps. I think it was a symbol of light for us. Our area did not get electricity until the 1950s (poor rural area). I also think they were probably expensive to replace and so treated with extra care. This extra care turned into reverence for the children, which led to a special fondness in today's time.

MsAwyeahPřed rokem

The most consistently interesting and engaging content. 10/10

Pellervo KaskinenPřed 11 měsíci

In my youth, there were two names used for the glowing sock lamps. A common name was "Petromax". The other name, mostly in school text books, I seem to remember, was "Auer lamp". I believe the second one related to the Austrian gentleman mentioned in this video. By the way, what I understood about the composition of the sock, it was thorium oxide in those days. The radiation scare came later and yttrium oxide was the answer to that.

Terry Le Gros BissonPřed rokem

Hey, a cool episode; very informative and I like style which you portray your shows. Well done..!!!

Sean HoudePřed 7 měsíci

The good ole Coleman lantern for the win! Always loved these while camping as a kid and had been thinking about getting a couple for emergency purposes. Definitely doing so now.

scott haddadPřed rokem

“It forced my lute.” When devices were made that had pipes or other attachments added to them which need to be made air tight or pressure resistant, a paste of some sort was prepare and applied to the joint. This paste was referred to as “luting.” Moonshiners used a paste of barley or rye flour mixed with water.

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  Francis WolfePřed rokem

  Like Fuji 9 luting cement!

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  Mihai Voicu DrebotPřed rokem

  @Francis Wolfe It allows you to do your own dentistry, too!

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  TywnoPřed 11 měsíci

  Sounds plausible. This means that 'forcing the lute' and 'breaking my glasses' might imply that pressure was building up in the destillation apparatus. The pressurized/quickly expanding gas either forced the joints to leak or simply bust the glass equipment.

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  Andrew DriverPřed 11 měsíci

  @Mihai Voicu Drebot Fuji 9

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  Michael BourdetPřed 11 měsíci

  Exactly! See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lute_(material)

Minestrone9000Před rokem

We had ceiling lights like this in a old cabin when I was younger. I always wondered how they worked and not just burned everything! So cool to learn about it today! My dad was the one lighting them and at the end of the video I recalled.. yes! he actually had to (get on a chair and) blow on the ceiling light to turn them off when it was time to go to bed! Huh, nostalgia, such cool technology. Thanks

SimonSimoncitoPřed 5 měsíci

I like seeing how things are invented and created. And it just shows people new how to do it from way before they just never pressed on to actually master it and obtain utility. That is why I believe we are more advanced than we think, and we need to discover less and tie more ends to get what we want.

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  Robbie👾Před 4 měsíci

  right !!

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  Robbie👾Před 4 měsíci

  there's papers out there that discuss phenomena but they're not used commercially yet. who knows !

Ben AvrahamPřed 7 měsíci

Wow!!! I've seen these things for nearly 60 years and never had a clue how they work! Thank you so much for explaining it! 😆🌟🎉

TaffytheGreatPřed 4 měsíci

The house I grew up in still had the gas lights mounted on the walls and they were still in working order. Eventually the gas mantles disintegrated and they no longer sold them in shops. Also there was still an old street gas lamp still working. Some say it was to burn off the gas that was still in the gas pipes

Dan KeithPřed rokem

I love the Aladdin lamps! I have around 15 of them. They are bright and are a pain in the ass to use. LOL Really nice for when the power is out.

LMacNeillPřed rokem

"Lute" can be defined as "a clay or cement used for sealing a joint or coating a crucible." So, I imagine, in this case, "forced my lute" might mean the gas cracked the cement he used to attempt to seal the gas inside a container? Maybe indicating that the gas was under a lot of pressure somehow? Just a guess...

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  Total Internal ReflectionPřed rokem

  You’re pretty much correct, though exactly what he was using to seal the joints is unclear.

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  ᛋᛒᛖ‍ᚱᚫᛞᚻᛏPřed rokem

  That's most likely what he meant. The distillation of coal has to be done in an air tight vessel, such as when they made town gas or coke or when burning wood to make charcoal.

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  Neophobic NyctophilePřed rokem

  Could he have meant to say he "came undone"?

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  Asmodius JonesPřed rokem

  The author was quite likely precisely describing what physically happened, but we are so used to these old-timey mechanical phrases being used for dramatic flair it is hard to hear it that way. Imagine an electrician working on a circuit and saying he blew his fuse; he would probably be talking about the actual fuse in his system.

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  BorisTheDogPřed rokem

  This was my guess also. If you look at the retort, there is a hole in top to fit a stopper or additional fixtures. "Forced my lute or broke my glasses" sounds like, "popped my cork or shattered my retort."

Danny BanfordPřed 8 měsíci

I've had several of these lamps for more than 30 years and love them, including a railroad caboose lamp with mount. I also love your channel. Danny

Howard OsbornePřed 4 měsíci

Very interesting history on gas and oil lighting. I wonder if a more up to date and cleaner burning version could be created by using a Bio Ethanol burner/lamp?

Fred BlonderPřed rokem

You may also wish to look into Pintsch Gas, which was used in portable gaslight systems such as railway carriages and navigational buoys. The maps that used this were largely immune to physical disturbance.

zakestersPřed rokem

Linguistic note: remember that the stem of _measure_ and its cognates also carries with it the sense of distributing portions (you may have heard phrases like "mete out justice," and so forth,) so, as a device that is the central part of a gas distribution network, _gasometer_ is a perfectly accurate word, especially according to the usage of the time (it may have made a bit more sense in French than in English, too, but that's more than I can say...)

Niyan LanPřed 4 měsíci

Great video! It’s answered a question I’ve had in the back of my head since I was a teenager many decades ago. When I was 18 I went to Kenya on safari. The tour guides brought into the mess tent at night these type of lamps - i’d only ever seen wick- burners but these ones had this strange net over the flame. When they installed them the net was like a small flexible string bag but then when we were clearing up I touched one of the nets (after the lamp had been turned off for awhile) and it shattered like glass. I could never understand how that could be as when it was installed it was like a string net! Now you’ve explained it- my life is now complete 😁

​Před rokem

"That's terrifying." Not as terrifying as when you *_tipped over a kerosene lamp in your home._*

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  Technology ConnectionsPřed rokem

  I did it for you!

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  frecio231Před rokem

  @Technology Connections and we're grateful

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  MonkeyJedi99Před rokem

  @Technology Connections Yeah, that's what the maid said to Damien just before the hung herself in the foyer...

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  ​Před rokem

  He replied to me! Mom, did you get that on camera?!

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  42lukePřed rokem

  I need to watch that video now!!!

TheMatron'sMilitiaPřed 5 měsíci

Today I built a crude inverted wick vegetable oil burner, because I noted that candles and lamps seem to always produce light more above them than below, and generally I need light like, down on what I'm working on. Now I want to knit my own gas mantles. I also want to find out if I could get wood-gas lighting with mantles bright enough to grow like, herbs and tomatoes through the winter. The heat and even the additional CO2 would be useful in-situ

thedanyesPřed 11 měsíci

Great video. If you're reading books that people suggest, might I recommend Rogers' "Diffusion of Innovations"? I've heard it's great, but I had a difficult time following it. I feel it's really 'in your wheelhouse', and I would love to see you explain it in a video.

William KuhnsPřed 7 měsíci

The indoor hurricane kerosene lanterns glass globe had a rare variant that had a horizontal brass tube through the top of lamp chimney to hold/heat womens hair curlers. Also there were teapot heater attachment that rested onto of lamp chimney that worked like a tiny hotplate.

AlanPřed rokem

Well done , enjoyable as always .Presented with intelligence and humor .

Tay ThreePřed rokem

"someone asked for a simulated hurricane, I can't do that but" -proceedes to do that Lol I love this series, it's just the right amount of comical built into a very informative package to me.

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  Scuba ManPřed rokem

  I was expecting (hoping?) the lantern would slide out of frame. No no nonono.

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  Narei MooncattPřed rokem

  I was hoping to see the leaf blower used on the Aladdin lamp.

Michael SelewachPřed 4 měsíci

Still have my Coleman lantern from the 70's. Never know how the mantles worked but it's a great piece of machinery. I was also using my Svea stove. Good times!!!

Dan MillerPřed 7 měsíci

I was blown away 20-30 years ago, taking the family camping, I picked up a Coleman propane lantern and had to figure out how to tie those little mesh bags onto the pipes. I could not believe how bright that thing lit up and never understood it. It was so amazing, it's stuck in my memory to this day. Finally, today watching your video I get it. Kind of. Thanks!

Mortarback MusicPřed rokem

This video came out at the same time as I am developing a game with this type of lighting system and this will help me greatly in portraying the house gas system accurately.

H2 L1Před 7 měsíci

This was really informative. Thanks for putting this out.

Benjy's ShedPřed 5 měsíci

When I was a kid (1970s) we spent our summer holidays in a caravan that had gas lamps with mantles.

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  TJ MPřed 3 měsíci

  I remember that. I got quite good at changing mantles. Some had a little spark wheel with a flint for ignition.

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  Benjy's ShedPřed 3 měsíci

  @TJ M We weren't allowed to mess with them, that was dad's domain 😆

Sergio DPřed rokem

I realize I’m stating the obvious here, but dude, you have a gift. You can take topics which would normally be considered dry, boring, mundane, and make them RIVETING. I don’t know how you do it, but please keep doing it.

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  Reefs RoostPřed 10 měsíci

  He's a really good story teller.

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  Raw PotatoPřed 10 měsíci

  He should do a video on rivets

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  Teh Gwintow-NikkePřed 9 měsíci

  There isn't such a thing as "boring topic". The people who make a topic feel boring, tend to make anything boring.

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  HarryPřed 7 měsíci

  He makes it relevant.

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  Robert GossPřed 7 měsíci

  This chap does have a knack.

Vaun KillionPřed rokem

We have a few oil lamps back at my parents little farm for when the power goes out, they work great and I'm glad we keep them around.

Range RyderPřed 7 měsíci

there has to be a diesel mix you can use in the Aladdin lamp. I use an alcohol/stabilizer/diesel mix to burn in a kerosene heater, it doesnt have that mantle, just a wick, but I think you could just adjust the mixture ratio to make it work. it burns clean too, and it's never set my CO detector off.

Gordon BurnsPřed 4 měsíci

I refer you to the British Tilley Lamp. It's a mantle lamp and runs on paraffin (kerosene), dispatched to the heating tube to vaporise for delivery to the mantle and produce an intensely bright light.

Jaspurr6Před 7 měsíci

This is hilarious, ‘AND’ informative, well done, better than watching TV 😂

AJPřed 7 měsíci

I love this dudes videos 🙂 very informative & quite entertaining

Greg StachowskiPřed rokem

You need a counter for "we'll get to that later" which counts up and then back down as you, well, get to those points later.

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  Paul HaynesPřed rokem

  Or not!

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  Edward BlairPřed rokem

  Yeah, the problem with that is when the counter does not return to zero by the end of the video it is visible to all. The way it is now, he has some plausible deniability to say "oops, I forget about xxx" in the comments or another video.

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  TimotheaPřed rokem

  Still waiting on Teletext.

Michael MickelsenPřed 7 měsíci

I just want to thank you for making all these video's. You channel is very educational. I look forward to seeing them and learn something new everytime.

LucianriderPřed 4 měsíci

Loved this!! I grew up on a boat with my parents and we had both an Aladdin lamp and pump up Tilley lamps, we used the Aladdin lamp below in the saloon to save electricity on a nightly basis for many years. The Aladdin lamp was a pain to constantly monitor and if it got very sooty one trick was to sprinkle salt onto the mantle to help burn it off. Thanks for the memories!!

bella bluePřed 8 měsíci

I'm quite familiar with the flat wick lamps, they worked well when power went out in the winter for both light and heat, but I'm not sure I've ever seen one of these mantle/mantled lamps. Fascinating. And no kerosene scent when in use, even better.

Justen KelleyPřed 2 měsíci

Lute usually refers to a musical instrument that is played by plucking its strings. In this context, forcing one's lute could mean playing the instrument forcefully or with more energy than usual.

Simon BrownPřed rokem

Fantastic video, kept me interested start to end and fascinating history lesson! Really enjoy your videos, keep up the great work, from England in the UK

Anonymous FreakPřed rokem

I love how the stock footage of the guy writing with a feather quill is so obviously *NOT* someone who actually knows how to write with one. All the text on the page when the clip begins is clean and precise - his writing is full of blotches and thick drops. :-D

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  Tripp MoorePřed rokem

  Then why don't you marry it?

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  Jacob OsbornPřed rokem

  @Tripp Moore you're gonna find a lot of "um actually" people in these comment sections.

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  Benjamin SchwartzPřed rokem

  Came here to comment on the little kid writing stock video when the quill writing video concluded.

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  Motor City BoilerPřed rokem

  @Benjamin Schwartz surprised this hadn't been mentioned yet...

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  Vigilant Cosmic PenguinPřed rokem

  Well, obviously he was startled by the lighting phenomenon he just discovered.

The Garden of EatinPřed 11 měsíci

I wonder if you could use some kind of heat expanding contraption to regulate the height of the burner to regulate the light of that Aladdin lamp, like the nichrome wire from that fancy schmancy toaster. As the wire heats up, it relaxes and allows the burner to lower a bit?

NeuKroftaPřed rokem

We had a cabin in NH that had Aladdin lamp fixtures on the walls with a central kerosene system. It was pretty awesome, sure they required some attention but it wasn't that much of a pain as you would think.

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  JohnnyArt PavlouPřed 7 měsíci

  Cool. What is the kerosene reservoir gravity feed system?

Lovecraftian HitchhikerPřed rokem

The timing on the phrase "The best thing to use for a gas mantle is... Gas" was absolutely perfect and I burst into laughter because of it.

Kelly CoxPřed 5 měsíci

My background and career is in physics. I'm really curious how a mantle can put out more light than a blackbody emitter of the same temperature! Oh, and since I'm 60 I certainly remember the thorium issue with mantles, and I didn't know they don't still contain thorium.

Paul KramerPřed 4 měsíci

Quite interesting. I used to use Aladdin lamps in my cabins before I got batteries in the 80's. They certainly did better than candles. But when I switched to batteries and 12 V lights, I stopped using them. Now, still off grid, (on solar) I use LED lights, which are even better. I too am curious as to whether the mantles are actually some type of catalytic device. I suspect that they are. Normally a catalyst "allows combustion to take place on it's surface at a lower temperature or pressure than normally would be allowed". They DO allow the reaction, to mainly be on the mantle, and the mantle, like a catalyst, does not get consumed. However, I suppose it is possible that the mantle just becomes so hot that it becomes the easiest place for most of the gas to light, as it escapes from the wick. . It is true that most catalytic reactions would probably have nearly all the combustion on the actual surface, where I suppose that with the mantle, not all (but the majority) of the reactions are on the mantle. I've been involved with a scientist that has been developing (and patenting them) catalytic devices for years. While many have worked on such, no one prior has been able to make a catalytic device that was totally "enclosed" (like an internal combustion device, but being catalytic.) But this physicist has. One of the great advantage of such devices are that one can burn a fuel at lower temperatures than normally required for the fuel to burn, and of course VERY cleanly. If you have enough oxygen to burn the fuel completely, (stoichiometric) then really all you get as by products are CO2 and water vapor. Obviously the simplest method to do that is to use a decent Venturi to allow for gas/air mixture to get a good enough ratio of fuel/O2. That cannot really be done with most fuels, for propane requires (at sea level) something like 24 times the amount of air to fuel, and Isobutane is even worse, at 32 times, BUT there are fuels that are able to be burned with ratios down like 15/1 which can easily be achieved. Natural gas is easily burned very efficiently, but of course natural gas is not easily made portable. But gases such as DME CAN be easily portable and might indeed replace gas canisters in the future. This would be very good, as they burn much cleaner than Isobutane or propane, by a couple orders of magnitude! Of course there are other advantages of combustion using a catalyst. You can control exactly where the combustion is taking place. If you want to heat something, you can have the reaction take place right on the surface that you want heated, and much more efficiently. With it internal combustion, there is no fear of something catching fire that you didn't want to catch fire, nor is it subject to wind, as the Aladdin was! It is pretty amazing how far the science has advanced even in the last 50 years.

Marc FuchsPřed rokem

I was like "damn this video is long" when suddenly the sentence came "we'll talk about this in the next video". Shows how well his content is produced.

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  Burken ProductionsPřed rokem

  You mean dragged out so one has to scroll thru to get thru quickly or not even bother watching anyway.

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  Marc FuchsPřed rokem

  @Burken Productions Erm, what? ......... My content was supposed to say, that the length of the video just flew by, because those were some entertaining 30 minutes.

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  Leo VangPřed rokem

  @Marc Fuchs he scored low on any reading comprehension test.

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  Andreas ProteusPřed rokem

  Excessive narcissistic prolixity imitating main stream media demented documentary narration.

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  Henninger HenningstonePřed rokem

  @Burken Productions If you don't like the video then why would you torture yourself watching it?

Praying Biblically with David ProfittPřed rokem

When I watched the last video and you brought out the Aladdin I was disappointed you did not talk about the mantle but now I see you made an entire video for that purpose. Discovering Aladdin lamps has been one of the most expensive and enjoyable aspects of my life. I burn mine constantly in the winter for the light and extra heat. Regarding the uneven flame, that is definitely a problem with the new maxbrite burners and the old 23 burners. It is usually caused by air leaks. But if you get yourself an old model B burner you may find you have a perfectly blue, perfectly even Flame. I've tried most of the burners and the model B is by far the best. Well-worth an eBay purchase.

Ma SatoPřed 11 měsíci

A friendly reminder: It may be a good idea to turn off other light sources when you are testing the brightness of a certain lamp. Anyway, great video!!! It's the first time i visit your channel and i'm sure i'll come back for more!!!

LindaPřed 7 měsíci

Who knew? These videos have actually been interesting. Enjoyed the out takes too. :)

DonaldscheidPřed 8 měsíci

Interesting video. I don't recall it having the round wick and my brother-in-law swears his grandparents would turn the wick down to put out the flame once the mantle was hot enough, but we were both young and not allowed to touch them, so our memory is suspect.

MD J.Před 5 měsíci

The first traffic control light in London used gas and was manually operated. It apparently exploded on the guy who operated it...

Michi UnfriedPřed rokem

"lute" means something like putty or cement... So I would interpret "forced my lute" as "It broke the seals on my still" (so pressure was building, becuase a gas originates from the heated coal and this gas could not be condensed, as the guy wrote before)... And it "broke my glass", so after he enforced the seals, the glass broke, because it couldn't hold the pressure...

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  SonOfFurzehattPřed rokem

  You beat me to it. You're spot on

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  Michi UnfriedPřed rokem

  @SonOfFurzehatt thanks. I only realized I was like 5 hours slower than everybody else 😅

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  Utkarsh Amitabh SrivastavaPřed rokem

  Go to the very end of the video and turn on the captions.

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  Quincy FryPřed rokem

  Came here to say this.

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  Ken TPřed rokem

  Missed your post before I replied the same.

zappatxPřed 4 měsíci

Omaha still had their Coalgas towers (Gasometers or colapsable towers) around up to 1967. But if you watch old movies from Hollywood you can see the coal gas towers in the background. I think they could even be seen in Perry Mason but all the Lorel & Hardy films - parts outside they often are seen.

Happy HomePřed 11 měsíci

Fascinating episode. There was a hurricane in 2006 and we were without power for a week. We have natural gas in the house, and I want on a campaign to convert as much of my energy needs to run on natural gas. Included in that, I installed for dual-mantle gas lamps. We routinely use these winter as they provide a pleasing glow and take the edge off the chill.

Viki AiPřed 4 měsíci

I imagine the gas mantle lamp would make perfect reading lamps, since if you are reading near one you are also inherently monitoring it the whole time.

The EndermanPřed 7 měsíci

I have a old lantern that uses a couple small mantle's kinda like the green lantern does. It uses Coleman fuel also known as white gas the lantern puts out a lot of light I used it a long time ago for night fishing from shore. Still have it just has not been used for quite some time.