Welsbach, Baron Carl Auer von

SUBJECT AREA: Chemical technology, Metallurgy, Public utilities

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b. 1 September 1858 Vienna, Austria

d. 4 August 1929 Treibach, Austria

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Austrian inventor of the gas mantle.

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Welsbach studied at Vienna Polytechnic and then at Heidelberg under the distinguished German chemist Bunsen. He carried out research into the rare earth elements and in 1885 succeeded in separating didymium into two earths, neodymium and praesodymium. He observed that asbestos fibres impregnated with rare earths, when strongly heated, gave off a bright light. This was the basis for his invention of the incandescent gas mande, which he patented in 1885. He found that a mixture of 99 per cent thoria and 1 per cent ceria produced the best light. The invention was well timed, for during the 1880s gas light was being challenged by the new electric light and the Welsbach mande gave gas light a new lease of life. It was in wide use by 1900, and in that year it was further improved by the introduction of the inverted mande burner which had a higher light efficiency and better light distribution. For industrial and street lighting, Welsbach and Lucas achieved still higher efficiencies using the regenerative principle. Welsbach sought a use for the ceria waste from the lamps and formed an alloy of 35–40 per cent ceria with iron, known as Auer metal. This material is in wide use as the flint in cigarette and gas lighters.

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Bibliography

Articles in J. Chem. Ed., 1929, pp. 2,051–2, and Chemical News, 1902, pp. 254–6.

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