The effect of the mantle lamp inventions-, between.1910 and 1924 was to improve substantially the illuminating power obtained. In his book Pertoleum & Its Products (1913) Sir Boverton Redwood stated that a flatwick type burner emitted a light of about 28 candle power whereas an Argand burner gave 38 candle power.

In 1924 three Aladdin type mantle lamps were tested by Faraday House Testing Laboratories. The first lamp was provided with a normal generator or flame spreader with perforations in its top and sides and gave under test a candle power of 64.1.The second lamp was altered by blocking up all except two holes in the top of the generator leaving the perforations at the side open. This lamp gave a candle power of 41.2. The third lamp had no perforations in the top of the generator but all perforations at the side and gave a candle power of 1.7. These figures show firstly the greatly increased efficiency produced by 14 years of invention and secondly the sensitivity of the burner parts and the need for keeping those parts completely clean and free from solid deposits.

Having overcome the teeting troubles, Aladdin Industries Ltd. decided to advertise nationally and they adopted the original idea of offering “New Lamps for old”. These advertisements produced an astonishing response and so many and varied were the old lamps received that many have been retained as curiosities to the present day.

The increasing popularity of mantle lamps in the United Statca from about the year 1910 enabled a considerable amount of data to be accumulated concerning their behaviour under domestic conditions. In addition, the Mantle Lamp Company of America employed a team of technicians to study the behaviour of lamps under a variety of conditions and to propose improvements in construction to overcome irregularities however trivial they might appear to be. The result of their observations and experiments was a series of inventions all devoted to the attainment of more stable operation, increased illuminating power and greater safety for domestic users or in other words to produce a mantle lamp that was “foolproof”.

By the year 1927 the widespread use of incandescent mantle lamps brought to light the need for further improvements and modifications and it was appreciated that for the lamp to continue as a succesful illuminator, its construction had to be such that a non-technical could replace wick, chimney or mantle and generally control the operations of the lamp without interfering with or detracting from its efficiency.

The widespread use of Mantle Lamps during the nineteen-twenties brought to light the need for further improvements in the following respects:

1. The length of time required to establish a full flame and the instability of the blame before and after it has attained its full size. Observation had shown that an intense heat is developed by the burner which by radiation and conduction is transmitted throughout the burner structure. This heat transmission was found to affect the wick tubes, causing exessive vaporisation of fuel and creeping up of the flame which often resulted in the deposition of carbon on the mantle.
   
   

2. To protect the flame from the direct impingement of external air currents, wich is particularly necesary when the burner is first lit.
   
   

3. To prevent an excessive quantity of oil from the wick flowing over and burning on the flame protecting flange on the outer wick tube.

To meet these requirements a new construction was envolved which included the usual flame flange whose object is to diminish the force of the air current which might extinguish or otherwise adversely affect the flame at the tip of the wick, and an additional baffle which is supported from a gallery and is perforated for the passage of cooling air. The additional baffle is thus not connected with the outer wick tube and therefore the heat it receives is conducted to a part of the burner from wich heat is dissipated without affecting the flame.

These improvements proved to be so satisfactory in operation that the burner design remained the standard for manu years. When the burner is to be used, the wick is turned low and the oil at its tip ignited (Fig. 14).

Immediated thereafter the wick maybe turned up to produce approximately the maximum flame.

This is due to the large exposed area of the wick which is shielded from air currents and enables the user to producc a large flame and the maximum light from the mantle at once.

Another important improvement among the 1927 group of inventions altered the mantle fitting whereby the main part of the burner cone remains a fixed part of the burner assembly, whilst only its top portion is renewable with the mantle.

This burner cone top comprises a ring provided with means for the attachment of the mantle suspending loop and an inwardly directed annular flange. The ring is constructed to resist distortion by heat and its vertical wall is provided with perforations for inlet of air. The ring is supported independently of the lower part of the burner cone by an air cooled perforated cylinder having an internal seat in which the ring engages.

This arrangement, owing to the separation between the lower cone portion and the ring, disperses the heat from the ring through the perforated cylinder instead of to the wick tubes. Overheating of these tubes and excess vaporisation of fuel are thus completely avoided.

A further improvement introduced by the 1927 group of inventions was in the mantle itself, wherein a metal reinforcent was inserted in the top of the mantle to uniformity in the size of the outlet for the products of combustion, to preserve the outlet in circular form and to maintain complete concentricity with the burner cone, wick tubes and wick (Fig 15).