to its destination. The user installs the mantle and then burns it to remove the cotton bag and convert the metal nitrates to nitrites which fuse together to form a solid mesh. As the heating continues, the nitrites finally decompose into a fragile mesh of solid oxides with very high melting points.

Early mantles were sold in the unheated cotton mesh condition, since the post heating oxide structure was too fragile to transport easily. The mantle converts to its working form when the cotton burns away on first use. Originally, unused