[pct-l] Alcohol Lantern Design Theory -- a possible solution

[allangrey@hotmail.com (Tim Reid)]

   Alcohol lantern -- what a great idea!
   Ok, I love to tinker and the lantern's light problems were in the back of
my mind. So, while I was relaxing after work and staring off into space, the
postings about the alcohol lantern design popped into my head and I realized
that I was staring at my light.
   A thought occured to me, what did Edison make his first lightbulb out of?
A wire, a glass bulb and electricity -- Ok, if I'm not remembering exactly
it's been a long time since 7th grade science.
   Ok, alcohol burns in the blue spectrum right? Humans see best in the
yellow/red spectrum right-- at least that's what I see when I look at a
candle flame.
   So what is the problem? Changing the spectrum of the flame/light produced
by the alcohol flame. That's where the lightbulb comes in. Living here in
Seoul, Korea I don't have all the stuff I would have to tinker with back
home, but I was able to discover that I could change the color of the
alcohol flame.
   See where I am going yet? Light is created in a bulb because the element
becomes hot due to it's resistance to electricity -- thus light and heat.
So, it seemed logical that if you heat a wire with an alcohol flame, the
wire could act as an element and generate yellow/red spectrum light.
   Well, I am excited to say -- it works!!! I don't have a lot of material
choices, so I used some fine wire I tore out of a radio antenna -- I have no
idea what it is but it doesn't look like copper. I wrapped the wire around a
Bic pen -- about 25 turns -- stuck each end in opposite holes Pop can stove,
fired it up and wha'la!! Readable light!! Not quite as bright as a candle
but it was close.
   Here is my thought. I am not an engineer, but I know that there've got to
be other metals/wires that would burn brighter at lower temperatures while
remaining stable and not becoming overly brittle -- and it is killing me
that I don't have my handy Hardware Sales store nearby to go find what I
want. (By the way, if you are ever in Bellingham, WA and you love to tinker,
you have got to go to Hardware Sales -- they've got next to near everything
you can imagine! No kidding)
   Anyway, to continue... Here is the idea (Someone please try this. And if
you make it work I want .001% of all commercial sales -- yeah right!)
   Use a fiberglass wick (snitch a bit from a floating oil light) form an
arch with both ends immersed in the alcohol -- punching two holes in a
tomatoe can or whatever should work. Create an element out of really fine
wire by wrapping it around a large dowel or something-- so that it is 5
times bigger than the wick. That way the wire will be impacted by the flame.
   Fire it up and see if it works. I figure it should work -- with some
tinkering of course. I am bummed that I couldn't figure out a way to use
duct tape too. But hey, nothing is perfect.
   Give it a try and let me know your results. I wish I could experiment
more here in Seoul, but we do what we can with what we've got!! Sorry this
was so long. Later --






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