Signedunsigned
FunctionThis is the outer bottom vessel of a lighter that used the gas produced in a chemical reaction as fuel. There would be a glass vessel inside with sulphuric acid. If one placed metallic zinc in it, hydrogen would be produced. The glass vessels would be closed by a cap with valves to regulate the gas that came out and a burner. A sponge made of platinum would hang in the chamber with the acid and zinc. By its catalyzing effect, the platinum sponge would make the hydrogen ignite.
For an example of the entire burner, see instrument with inv. number DW0625.
Related WorksA lighter identical to this one but complete is displayed in Gerard L'E. Turner, Nineteenth-Century Scientific Instruments (Sotherby Publications and the University of California Press, 1983), p. 127.