Alcohol Lamp

 After learning about the flame rectifier and flame triode (see yesterday's blog):

https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/11/it-flames.html

I knew I had to try this for myself, my first inclination was to check ebay and buy an alcohol lamp.  There are a number of choices for alcohol lamps there.  But that would take time/money :)  So then I thought:   Alfred Morgan must have had some thoughts on the subject.

Sure enough in his book: Getting Acquainted with Chemistry on pages 21 & 22 he shows an alcohol lamp made from a mucilage or ink bottle, a rubber stopper, metal tube and some cotton cord as the wick.

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.84767/page/n23/mode/2up

.

Well, I haven't seen mucilage in years and the same is true for bottled ink.  After thinking about it I found a 4 oz canning jar, usually called a jelly jar.  It has the advantage of being very stable, no one wants a tippy alcohol lamp.  Also, it should be easy to punch a hole in the metal lid.  Finally when not in use an old plastic mayo jar lid can be substituted for the metal lid to keep the alcohol from evaporating.

I went over to Mann's and bought some 91% denatured alcohol.  I couldn't find any thick cotton cord for a wick so I took roughly 6 feet of cotton kitchen twine, and by folding and twisting was able to fashion a short wick to fit a 7/32" hole punched in the lid.  I filled the jar about 1/2 way, drenched the wick and put it through the lid, using a canning band to hold the lid in place on the jar.  I then lit the lamp, it flared up several inches high but then calmed down:

the blue mayo lid is put in place of the metal ring to keep the alcohol from evaporating

Probably I should have used a metal tube soldered to the lid to support the wick but I was in a hurry to try it out.

Next blog:  making and trying out the flame rectifier.

Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm