Re: i got trapped in Wales because

Whiskers <catwheezel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Whiskers <catwheezel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

[...]

Now, if I could get my hands on one of the things and have a fiddle, or
at least be exposed to some proper engineering drawings of the rig, it'd
be obvious. <sigh> (again) One day, I expect.

The details vary - it is mature technology :)) The essential feature is
that the wick or wicks is/are arranged to give a circle of flame, with air
being supplied to both the inside and outside of the circle, thus
improving combustion efficiency and getting more light and less smoke from
the same aount of fuel.

Oh yes, I've got that far - but what /exactly/ is the arrangement? I
want a poke around, I do.

I'm afraid you'll probably have to get your hands on one then. They are
pretty ingenious :))

Well, there's no particular reason why someone can't draw the
arrangement properly, is there? But the only drawings and explanations
I've seen are suitable for those who already know about the things, as
far as I can tell. Argh.

I mean, I think I could build something that exploited the arrangements
and principles of the Argand lamp that I've read about - but I'm not
sure, and I've certainly got no idea how the real ones I've seen
pictured work.

(If using a single wick, it is a very wide flat
type fed through the burner in such a way that the two edges meet at the
burning place, thus leaving a convenient gap lower down through which the
air to the inside of the circular flame can be drawn).

You see, that kind of description makes no sense to me at all - I've got
such a hazy idea about how it's all arranged I can't create any sort of
picture in my head.

Take a ribbon and a tube small enough for the width of the ribbon to wrap
around the outside of the tube without over-lapping. Wrap the width of
the ribbon around the tube.

Okay, I've got that.

The rest of the ribbon will fall away to one
side in a neat 'drape' that leaves a gap on one side ...

But I can't figure that out /at all/. What `rest of ribbon'? Where is
it? The gap is there regardless, surely?

Never mind - best to drop it, I think.

Give me the real thing, and I'll see how it works instantly. Give me a
proper set of engineering drawings, and I'll see how it works inside a
minute or two. But give me a description in words that doesn't come
from someone with the slydexic outlook, and I'm probably completely
confused.

An 'improvement'
to the basic Argand design has the air for the inside of the flame being
deflected outwards by a 'flat cap' or perforated pipe so as to make the
flame spread outwards and thus get even better mixing of the fuel and air.

Argand's own design was for lamps burning 'kolza oil' - something similar
to rapeseed oil but made from a different plant

Cabbage, according to one source I read, which I can't help feeling
ain't right.

Probably one of the cabbage (Brassica) 'family'; rape is one such plant,
swede is another, as well as 'greens' cabbages, cauliflower, and many
others.

Gotcha. Rapeseed oil is something I've heard of, so it might have had
something to do with that end of things.

[snip]

A cheaper burner arrangement uses two flat wicks side by side to get nearly
the same efficiency as an Argand burner - you can spot that type by its
having two knobs for adjusting the two wicks. An Argand or dual-wick lamp
is noticeably brighter than an otherwise similar lamp with only one flat
wick, even if the total 'width' of flame is the same, and even more so
compared with a lamp using a single 'round' wick.

But don't Argand lamps have round wicks? It's the impression I've got.

Argand burners have wicks in a circle; a ring or tube of flame is the
intended result - no flame in the middle of the ring. A 'round' wick
describes something like a rope; solid wick of cylindrical cross-section.

Ah! And there was me foolishly thinking that circles were round.

[...]

Blue-flame wick burners can be used for space-heating or cooking, so
they certainly get hot. There are some 2kW per burner wick stoves
here <http://www.hurricanelamps.co.uk/paraffin_stoves.htm>.

Blimey. Radically different exteriors to the paraffin heater that used
to live in my dad's parents' front room...

My '70s room heater in a very angular tall cream and brown enamelled steel
casing - but inside is still the wide fuel tank and the tall slender
chimney of the earlier models which were usually enamelled a mottled blue,
I seem to remember.

Mottled green, with mica windows at the front, is what my dad's parents
had.

Ah yes, mica windows. I don't think they use mica much these days.

I shouldn't think so. I'd guess at glass myself. Cheaper and easier
these days, I'd've thought.

[snip]

Uhuh. I recall those days - any time the lights went out, I trotted out
to the `shed' (actually a full sized concrete garage) and pulled out the
camping gear - two `Camping Gaz' lamps, the Optimus lamp, and the
Camping Gaz stove (two hobs, one grill). Then all the candles in the
house got lit too - my mother used to make 'em, and we always had a
stash of `household whites' somewhere in any case, not to mention the
odd night-light kicking around.

I still don't feel comfortable without a good supply of candles in stock.
My mother used to make candles too.

Possibly in a slightly less `1970s macrame' sort of way, mind.

Well some of our candles were square or pyramid-shaped, and multi-coloured
in various ways.

Oh good! I like candles like that.

Anything that solid wax could be removed from was likely
to get used as a mould <G>.

ISTR my dad making a few moulds himself.

[snip]

I could probably knock up a pretty efficient hobo stove from old
food tins, if pushed.

<grin> I've never been very good at *efficient* fires, me. Large and
impressive, yes.

I prefer not to have to find and carry any more fuel than necessary.

That makes sense. It's just that I've got this `thing' about fire.
Mind you, I'm 40 years old now, not 14. I probably would be sensible if
I had to build a fire for cooking on these days.

Sensible? Not /too/ much so, I hope ;))

Well, there's the whole `efficiency' thing to think about, you know?
Back when I was young, a damned big blaze is what I wanted (and got).
Now? Well, that still appeals, but so does `doing it efficiently'.

Come Nov. 5th, mind - well, one of these days, I'm going to get my arse
into gear and have myself an illegal bonfire night party. Me and maybe
the wife with an unregistered fire, that is.

Rowland.


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