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Small Lamp - Make Unknown

Started by FABphones, October 24, 2021, 06:33:23 AM

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FABphones

Received this small lamp (or is it a Lantern?) this morning in amongst a bundle of none phone related (Bushcraft) items I was wanting, and alongside a new jar of Molasses (keen to try out Teleplay's restoration method), but now I have actually seen it I quite like it as is, so will be just giving it a mere tidy up.  :)

Checked it over but can find no makers mark, not much weight to it either so am guessing it is nothing special, but still cute. Am no lamp expert so don't know how to tell for sure.

It has a bit of a rattle of loose 'somethings' in the tank. Can't imagine what is in there.

Any pointers much welcome.
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
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Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
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TelePlay

It's had a rough life.

Looks like it has been painted black, can't tell if factory or rattle can. Rattle can comes off easy but if factory paint, then most likely a post war terne plate which will rust through factory paint - some rust is visible, I think it's rust.

If the rattle in the tank is soft, it could be an old wick accidentally dropped into the tank by turning the adjuster the wrong way and never fished out. If metallic, it could be a fuel tank retainer chain and clip that was attached to the fuel cap to keep it from getting lost (could be a replacement cap that does not have the retainer chain loop on its bottom side).

Been dropped on its top but don't see the typical tabs sticking up through the cap and bent over so don't know if the top cap is removable to take the bend out.

Has the older squared off air tubes but that original design was released to China by Dietz when they moved some of their manufacturing to China in the 50s and other lantern makers in European Soviet Bloc countries made their own similar style lanterns so without maker marks on the tank and cap, it's impossible to know it's origin.

The air tube design including the loops for the bail, it's small size and small tank are similar to a lantern I have that was made in the Czech Republic (factory painted gray). Post the measurements: height, tank diameter, globe height and both top and bottom diameters and if you can get to the wick, it's width.

Decision to restore is predicated on the fuel tank condition, is the bottom rusted through or rusted soft in places (shining a bright flashlight into the tank in a dark room will expose fixable pin holes (pouring an ounce or two of acetone into the tank will quickly expose leaks).

If the tank is shot, it will make a good display piece. If you like it as is, clean it off, flush out the fuel tank with a thin organic solvent (and a hot air dry out) and display it as found. If not shot, it could be brought back to working condition with a bit of work.

Best part is having it in hand and deciding what to do with it!

FABphones

Firstly, super impressed with all that information. Thank you! I could see none of that.

Only thing I know about it is it was taken out on camping and 'Bushcraft' expeditions by it's former owner. Guess that accounts for it's rough life. It caught my eye in amongst a bundle of other kit I was looking for, so this was an extra treat.

Tomorrow in daylight I will get better photos, work my way through your checklist, take those measurements and update here.

Thanks again.  :D
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
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TelePlay

This is the Czech Republic lantern I have in my collection. It was made for one purpose, the give people in hard times a lantern that would give off a bit of light but would not be expensive to own and operate. Here are the dimensions:

Height (lantern only):  10"
Top Cap diameter:  2 3/4"
Base diameter:  5"
Fuel Tank Height:  2"
Globe Total Height:  3 1/4"
Globe Bottom diameter:  2 1/4"
Globe Top diameter:  2 1/2"
Wick Width: 1/2"

It has a small fuel tank but also a very small wick to some light, less than 1 candle power, would be given off for a long time due to the small wick. Most likely not tin plated so painted with a grey factory paint. Construction was good enough to hold the lamp together under years of use.

Differences are the air tubes on my lantern are half way between the squared off 90° bend original style Dietz lantern air tubes as in your lantern and the 45° bend in the Dietz Streamlines design (not shown). Also, the solid adjuster wheel is unique and unusual in that I do not remember seeing another lantern with a solid wick adjuster wheel.

The lantern site I used for parts changed their web site and no longer provide images of lanterns so searching that site is no longer an option, and I refuse to pay the $100+ for several books they sell covering several manufacturer's lanterns.

A quick search of eBay turned up this attached red lantern made in China which has the solid adjuster wheel, a top cap that appears similar to yours and with air tubes similar to yours. What you may have is an older version of this red lantern, one that was made with the 90° bend air tubes. There are many such lanterns on eBay with solid adjuster wheels and the same type of top cap being sold as new from China covered with shrink wrap protection but I haven't found one with the 90° bend air tubes. Getting a general manufacture date for your lantern will be difficult but your lantern precedes the newer air tube design - you have an antiquity.

There are so many countries that made these over so many years that the designs evolved so while many similar lanterns can be seen on eBay, finding an exact match may never happen.


countryman

Wasn't the name "Czech Republic" first used from ~1990 on? This and the warning in English make me think it might be quite recent?


TelePlay

#5
Yes, mine is newer. FABphones' is older. But the small tank, small wick, marginal light output lantern for the masses goes way back to pre-war days. Fuerhand in Germany was making Deitz equivalent 1 candle power lanterns well before the war and added a globe covering device to shield the light output for night blackout use but the lanterns were large fuel tank, wide wick high light output.

Dietz made the 1/2" wick Comet, I have 2, post war and these were 3/4 the size of that Czech Republic lantern. They have a very small fuel tank and they don't produce much light at all. Those lanterns became the official Boy Scout camping light source before flash lights were invented and probably used after that in that fuel lasted longer and was cheaper than batteries.

Korean, Japanese and Chinese lanterns to this day are 1/2" lanterns.

The lantern FABphones has is unmarked with square tub bends leading me to believe it is older and probably made by the same manufacturer before the Czech Republic came into existence. The dies to stamp out the parts could have been created and used by any company making a fuel efficient marginal light output lantern as far back as the early 1900s. Costs money to include manufacturer info in due parts and probably no need to do so back then over there. Just making affordable cost affordable lanterns for the masses.

I can easily read a book using a 3/4" wick full sized lantern. Hard to even find the book with a 1/2 wick lantern.

As to lamp vs lantern, I always thought lantern was a fuel burning light source that used air tubes to feed air into the combustion chamber and lamps that did not such as oil table lamps that did not. Also a lamp is a bulb or a stand or fixture the uses a bulb(s).

The air tubes of a lantern protect the flame from being blown out in strong winds, oil lamps with their open flame less so.

countryman

Interesting, in fact I have a couple "Feuerhand" lanterns which really look identical to Dietz models at first glance. The expert will easily tell the differences though :-)
When I was a kid they were faded out as an illumination of barriers around road construction sites. I found them in the ditch for free. I also found a way to remove the matt yellow paint from the glass to have better light from them. I believe to remember that a special type of paint solvent did the trick, using enough elbow grease :-)

FABphones

Quote from: countryman on October 25, 2021, 06:59:41 AM
Interesting, in fact I have a couple "Feuerhand" lanterns which really look identical to Dietz models at first glance...

Photos please.  :)
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

FABphones

Here are the measurements. Searched but don't have a measure with inches on so they are centimetres.

Not great photos - rushed between jobs and no electricity for a few hours due to ongoing renovations...

The tank has a metal rattle, will investigate that tomorrow.
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

FABphones

#9
Last two images of wick.
Plus one other.

The wick width is 1cm (0.393701 inch).

:)
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

19and41

Looks like it'll need a dose of paint stripper before the molasses.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
— Arthur C. Clarke

FABphones

Quote from: 19and41 on October 29, 2021, 08:10:04 PM
Looks like it'll need a dose of paint stripper before the molasses.

Once seen in hand it wasn't quite as bad as I thought it might be, so it will just get a tidy up. Nothing special but nice as is, and good to know it has a bit of age to it.
No doubt there will be plenty of other opportunities to try out the molasses.
:)
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************