Pressure lantern

[Mike K]

It appears that most of the Coleman lanterns ran on petrol. Maybe kero was not as easy to buy in Nth America ? Many petrol stations here ( and the UK ? ) used to have a kero bowser as many houses had those smelly kero heaters .

http://www.oldtowncoleman.com/manuals/tb_qm_47.pdf

[maple_leaf_eh]

Kerosene is not common, except for those portable carbon monoxide generators, sold as indoor heaters. The typical kerosene lamp in Canada has a cotton wick on a little adjustment wheel, and it smokes worse than six old dolls out on a Saturday night at the bingo parlour. (Youtube Stompin' Tom Connors' "Sudbury Saturday Night" for more cultural reference)

What we call White Gas or Naphtha is clear and almost odourless distillate. It is sold in the equivalent of 1 gallon tin jugs with a cap and neck guaranteed to slop fuel everywhere. The Army's version of a container has a long plastic spout that is easier to control, but still manages to pour fuel everywhere. They are typically dark green and have orange fittings.

[Mike K]

I found this early Austramax lantern and it appears it could be WW2 vintage.

The citric acid in warm water does wonders for cleaning up these old lanterns

[Mike K]

I picked this up recently . A D/\D marked Austramax . It is a earlier model, there is a chance it was made during WW2 but not sure.

[Mike K]

I managed to find a 1945 dated WW2 US issue Coleman lantern. These lanterns were made during WW2 by at least three different companies from 1943 to 45 . The basic Mil Spec lantern design was little changed and it was in production until 1991. The WW2 versions run on leaded petrol, they run at a lower pressure and temperature compared to other contemporary lanterns . Leaded petrol is not the ideal lantern fuel , it tends to foul up the vapouriser and they had to design a special vapouriser running at lower temps , the minimum required for vapourizing the fuel . These lanterns can be tricky to use but the requirement for a universal fuel that was already available in the field was important.

These lanterns have a spare parts well in the fount. The colour is the original forest green.

A rebuild log http://www.colemancollectorsforum.co...pid=1303026524

Some of the various wartime lanterns were made with steel founts, brass was in short supply and the lanterns were not expected to last for a extended period.

[pauldavies]

Hi Mike and I have quite a few old Tilley lamp spares in my possession and will dig em out, your more than welcome to them as there only gathering dust. Mantels, stems etc. Kerro fuel use of course, don't like the sound of petrol in these lamps.
Paul

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by pauldavies

Hi Mike and I have quite a few old Tilley lamp spares in my possession and will dig em out, your more than welcome to them as there only gathering dust. Mantels, stems etc. Kerro fuel use of course, don't like the sound of petrol in these lamps.
Paul

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your help. Yes, I have a couple of the ubiquitous Tilley lanterns - a simple design but generally reliable .

As for the petrol , I agree it appears to be hazardous but 'gas' as the yanks call it seems to be a relatively safe fuel in lanterns.