G'day all, I know the answer to the follow question but I thought it would be fun to see what others thought the reason might be. Why did hollow wire lamps have the coiled hollow wire above the connection as per the image?
Colin, that is a decent guess and I see where you are coming from. Your answer is incorrect but as I said, a decent guess.
Hmmmm... expansion maybe? As in the coil allows for expansion of the gas as the ambient temperature differs? Actually that's just another thermal consideration isn't it. Ok, I'm stumped!
There are no dumb ideas, thanks for having a well thought out guess. While you are incorrect, I suspect plenty of owners would have done what you suggested. I, being the lazy cur I am, would probably have done that.
Is it to allow the lamp to sway back and forth without creating a stress point in the hollow wire and causing it to break?
Could be to give a sort of "resistance" backwards and dampen the back-pressure and variations that will occur as the liquid fuel is getting vaporised - and thus expanded in volume - further down. Most hollow wires I deal with has solved this by other clever ways directly in the vaporiser assembly, but since this lamp has a pretty simple "generator", I assume it's possible the extra length of hollow wire in this coil could help. But I doubt that this is the case.
To dampen vibration and reduce the damage caused by minor tremors when installed in areas affected by earthquake?
Christer, Martin and James, again all very well thought out guesses but unfortunately they are incorrect. In reality, I suppose all your guesses would have benefited by having the coil and would have helped in the scenarios you proposed. Christer, I think that's the reason why packing was used, to stop such surges in pressure?
The coiled section was used for a very specific reason. However, not all hollow wire needed the coiled section, just in a certain circumstance.
How about: Spare tube in case of the delivery tube work hardening and cracking. Or: Allowing for lowering the lamp thus altering the lighting focus. Cheers Pete
It reminds me of a condenser coil. Or a cooling coil. Perhaps to cool the delivery pipe and prevent it getting too hot from the heat of the lamp.
The coil works like a damper and prevents the mantle to break, when let´s say vibrations emerge to the ceiling tubing, from the upper floor activities. /Conny
Conny is correct. The coil would be used when timber was used as flooring between levels of multi story buildings. Thanks to everyone that participated.
Upper bedroom activities... They must have been right at it in those days, I guess due to the absence of television... Imagine the gossip in the local hardware stores... "MORE mantles Mrs Johnson... MORE??"
Yeah, Martin had the right idea just the wrong circumstance. I was going to use part of Martins guess as the next clue if the guesses started to dry up.
