Platinum glow lamp

Dulong and Thenard confirmed that platinum wire glows in a mixture of hydrogen and air. Dobereiner used this property to kindle a jet of hydrogen in air ( the Dobereiner lamp, many modifications of which were proposed). Schiibler found that copper wire or gold leaf wrapped round a thin glass tube, Chladni that steel wire, and Pleischl that steel and nickel wires, would glow in alcohol vapour and air when heated. 

The Nernst lamp bulb was nearly 80% more efficient than the carbon fiber bulb. But it was difficult to produce reliable contacts for the glower and the platinum heater made the lamp very expensive. Glowers also had to be protected from melting by special isolators. Turning on the lamp s glow took about half a minute. The Nernst lamp was the first commercially produced solid electrolyte gas cell (Table 1.2). 

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