The History of the Welsbach / General Gas Mantle Co
During the manufacture of gas mantles in the early 1900's, ore
containing radioactive thorium was processed. The thorium added to
the gas mantles made them glow brighter when lit. As gas lighting
was replaced by the electric light, the market for gas mantles dried
up. The factory stopped manufacturing in the early 1940's.
In 1992 the building was occupied by Ste-Lar Textiles, who
was using the building as a warehouse. Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) examined the site and determined there was a serious environmental threat in the
Welsbach building due to radiation contamination. As a first step
they removed approximately 15,000 bolts of textiles contaminated
with thorium. Removal of the contaminated textiles significantly
reduced the potential health risks to the public in case of a fire. The
NJDEP continues to study the site and plan for the eventual complete
clean up. The plan is to have the building listed as a Superfund site.
The production process at Welsbach was state of the art at the
time. Many other manufacturers were not equipped with the
knowledge on the technical side of the business, nor the machinery
and appliances for them to properly complete the process. Their competitor's
equipment was assembled with unskilled labor and the product was
shoddy.
The Welsbach Gas Mantle Building was constructed of
reinforced concrete with unusual window areas and was
exceptionally well ventilated. The cost of the building was over 1
million dollars in 1916. Individual rooms were set up to
accommodate each step of the process: knitting, hardening, dipping,
etc. The women employees had their own facilities in the factory
consisting of restrooms, music rooms, reading rooms, writing rooms,
dressing rooms, and a hospital.
Producing Gas Mantles
The process of making gas mantles involved several steps,
beginning with the knitting of the cotton/silk fabric. In the
saturation step the fabric is saturated in lighting fluid. This fluid
contains the thorium and cerium salts. The fabric is then dried on
wood or glass forms and then carefully plaited together. An asbestos
cord is drawn through to form a loop. The fabric is shaped to fit a
mantle by fitting it over a wooden form. It was estimated that
American consumers used 40,00,000 mantles per year when gas light
was being used.
Written by : Angel Mitchell of Camden High School and
Mike Gallo, Tom DeGrazia, John Amadio of Cherry Hill West High of the Case History Team.
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