Auer gas mantle burner
The mantle that glowed white in the flame and gave gas light a new lease of life against electricity.
Auer von Welsbach patented the mantle in 1885 and the improved mixture in 1891. It made gas light cheaper and brighter and was used in street lamps and homes well into the 20th century. Examples are in the Technisches Museum in Vienna.
Materials: Mantle of thorium and cerium oxides, brass, glass chimney
Manufacture: A cotton net was soaked in metal salts and burned away, leaving a fragile web of oxides.
The white mantle hanging over the burner inside the glass chimney.
The light was white and steady, not yellow and flickering like an open gas flame.