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canopic jug [soylentnews.org] writes:

In part 5 of his "Keropunk" series, blogger Russell Graves, covers mantle lanterns [sevarg.net].

All of the previous lanterns I’ve talked about use the flame as a source of light - carbureted in various ways, but “carbon in the flame glowing directly.” A mantle is a device that, when heated, glows brightly in the visible regions - it puts out more light than a blackbody radiator at a given temperature, because it uses materials that are low emissivity in the infrared spectrum (heat), and high emissivity in the visible spectrum (light, useful to humans). There are also some benefits from helping contain the flame and the heat within the enclosure, but the end result is rather more light for a given amount of heat than you’d otherwise get.

Earlier parts in his "Keropunk" series:

• Keropunk Part 4: Kerosene Heaters Thermal Images and Operating Notes [sevarg.net]
• Keropunk Part 3: Kerosene Radiant Heaters [sevarg.net]
• Keropunk Part 2: Lantern Analysis [sevarg.net]
• Keropunk Part 1: Lanterns [sevarg.net]

Be careful of the thorium in some mantles.

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