welsbach burner

1 definition found

welsbach burner - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Welsbach \Wels"bach\, a.
     Of or pertaining to Auer von Welsbach or the incandescent gas
     burner invented by him.
  
     Welsbach burner, a burner in which the combustion of a
        mixture of air and gas or vapor is employed to heat to
        incandescence a mantle composed of thoria and ceria. The
        mantle is made by soaking a "stocking" in a solution of
        nitrates of thorium and cerium (approx. 99:1), drying,
        and, for use, igniting to burn the thread and convert the
        nitrates into oxides, which remain as a fragile ash. The
        light far exceeds that obtained from the same amount of
        gas with the ordinary fishtail burner, but has a slight
        greenish hue.
        [Webster 1913 Suppl.]