Bethlehem Burners, a division of Bethlehem Apparatus Company, Inc., and manufacturers of surface-mixed glassworking torches since 1950, has introduced the new Bethlehem Alpha Glass Bead Burner. The Alpha torch, Bethlehem’s starter burner, was designed to produce a wide range of flames in order to provide artists, particularly bead makers, with a safe, versatile glass working experience.
Bethlehem Burners’ Alpha torch is a surface mixed burner, providing a soft single flame without loud noise or the hazard of flashbacks. Due to its surface mixed design, the Alpha torch produces a quiet, yet penetrating high heat flame capable of working both soft and borosilicate glass. Unlike pre-mixed torches that require users to change burner tips, the surface-mixed Alpha burner allows the operating artist to safely alter the torch’s flame size by adjusting the oxygen and gas valves. With the torch’s simple valve structure, users can adjust from a larger, bushy flame to a pinpoint flame smoothly and precisely.
The low-pressure, versatile burner is constructed entirely of stainless steel, providing a torch body that stays cool regardless of flame size or usage time. The torch is 5” long and weighs 2.5 lbs., making the burner a smaller, more convenient torch for artists working in a home setting.
Engineers at Bethlehem Burners recently developed a new internal torch construction, designed to provide users the option of working with a low-pressure fuel source. This new design results in lower oxygen and fuel demand. The Alpha delivers a higher volume of fuel at a lower gas pressure, running at 7 cubic feet per hour at only 2 psi, and subsequently producing a flame ideal for glass working. Glass workers can operate their Alpha torch on household gas and an oxygen concentrator.
Additionally, the Alpha comes standard with Bethlehem’s new sturdy, flat torch base with locking knobs. The steel base was designed with a flat surface to enable easy, safe mounting and clamping, ideal for travelling artists who lack a permanent workstation.
For more information please contact Rachel Lawrence at (610) 838-7034 or via email: rlawrence@bethapp.com
The Alpha is available for purchase online through the Bethlehem Burners website or from a local distributor.