Does anyone know of any resources or instructions for setting the
gas rate and mixture for a gas lamp? This is the type with a
preformed inverted mantle, as used in old gas street lamps.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

Andrew Gabriel wrote:

Does anyone know of any resources or instructions for setting the
gas rate and mixture for a gas lamp? This is the type with a
preformed inverted mantle, as used in old gas street lamps.

Mixture is simple enough, if its too rich the flame gets yellow
patches, if too thin it makes a blowing noise.

Re gas rate, I dont think theres any one required setting...
efficiency falls off when the flame gets too big for the mantle, so
you can choose max output or max efficiency or any setting with less
gas & light.

If the above doesnt cover it, can you describe the problem some more?


NT

In article . com,
writes:
Andrew Gabriel wrote:

Does anyone know of any resources or instructions for setting the
gas rate and mixture for a gas lamp? This is the type with a
preformed inverted mantle, as used in old gas street lamps.

Mixture is simple enough, if its too rich the flame gets yellow
patches, if too thin it makes a blowing noise.

Re gas rate, I dont think theres any one required setting...
efficiency falls off when the flame gets too big for the mantle, so
you can choose max output or max efficiency or any setting with less
gas & light.

If the above doesnt cover it, can you describe the problem some more?

The lamp has a variable orifice jet and adjustable airholes,
which then feeds on to a second variable orifice jet and second
set of adjustable airholes, and then on to the burner/mantle.
The large number of adjustment combinations make for something
of a complex setup. I suspect this is for dealing with a range
of different gases and presures (it's an old gaslamp, well
predating natural gas). The two jets seem to allow me to set
relatively independently the velocity and the rate of the gas.

I went into my local traditional hardware store and asked
for mantles, and they brought several boxes from the back. We
tried them until we found the one which fitted on the burner nose,
which was actually the largest one they had, so I presume this was
quite a powerful gaslamp in its day.

In trying to run it, I can't get the mantle burning as brightly
as I see in gaslamps in London. With certain settings, I can get
the bottom of the mantle glowing brightly, I think due to adjusting
the second jet to let a fine high speed jet of gas through, but
there doesn't seem to be enough gas to make the whole mantle glow.
By opening the second jet, more gas comes though and causes all
of the mantle to glow, but not anywhere near as brightly. Allowing
even more gas through just results in a faintly visible flame
starting to come out of the top opening of the mantle, with no
further increase in light output. It looks to me as though with
today's natural gas pressure, I can't get enough gas through the
second jet at high enough velocity. (What pressure was town gas?)

I haven't yet played with the first airhole so there's more
experimenting to do. For now, I completely closed it to be sure
gas wouldn't come out if I closed down the second jet too far.
I've not come across a pair of daisy-chained jets and air mixers
in any burner before. The first airhole is supposed to be preset
and can be completely closed, and the second is user-adjustable.
Both jet orifices are user-adjustable.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article . com,
writes:
Andrew Gabriel wrote:

Does anyone know of any resources or instructions for setting the
gas rate and mixture for a gas lamp? This is the type with a
preformed inverted mantle, as used in old gas street lamps.

Mixture is simple enough, if its too rich the flame gets yellow
patches, if too thin it makes a blowing noise.

Re gas rate, I dont think theres any one required setting...
efficiency falls off when the flame gets too big for the mantle, so
you can choose max output or max efficiency or any setting with less
gas & light.

If the above doesnt cover it, can you describe the problem some more?

The lamp has a variable orifice jet and adjustable airholes,
which then feeds on to a second variable orifice jet and second
set of adjustable airholes, and then on to the burner/mantle.
The large number of adjustment combinations make for something
of a complex setup. I suspect this is for dealing with a range
of different gases and presures (it's an old gaslamp, well
predating natural gas). The two jets seem to allow me to set
relatively independently the velocity and the rate of the gas.

I went into my local traditional hardware store and asked
for mantles, and they brought several boxes from the back. We
tried them until we found the one which fitted on the burner nose,
which was actually the largest one they had, so I presume this was
quite a powerful gaslamp in its day.

In trying to run it, I can't get the mantle burning as brightly
as I see in gaslamps in London. With certain settings, I can get
the bottom of the mantle glowing brightly, I think due to adjusting
the second jet to let a fine high speed jet of gas through, but
there doesn't seem to be enough gas to make the whole mantle glow.
By opening the second jet, more gas comes though and causes all
of the mantle to glow, but not anywhere near as brightly. Allowing
even more gas through just results in a faintly visible flame
starting to come out of the top opening of the mantle, with no
further increase in light output. It looks to me as though with
today's natural gas pressure, I can't get enough gas through the
second jet at high enough velocity. (What pressure was town gas?)

I haven't yet played with the first airhole so there's more
experimenting to do. For now, I completely closed it to be sure
gas wouldn't come out if I closed down the second jet too far.
I've not come across a pair of daisy-chained jets and air mixers
in any burner before. The first airhole is supposed to be preset
and can be completely closed, and the second is user-adjustable.
Both jet orifices are user-adjustable.

I've never come across owt like that. Good luck.


NT