Pressurized fuel mantle lanterns... who uses them? Please step inside.

Nice to see this thread revived - shouldn’t we ask Mr. Admin for a pressure fuel lantern sub-forum? :wink:

I was thinking the same, but liquid fueled maybe. That could include stuff like Aladdin's also.

PS: I have been debating hard about getting an Aladdin lamp lately lol.

I was only half joking; some of the recent restorations posted in a few threads are really beautiful, and “off topic chatter” doesn’t do them justice.

Just noticed a NOS 237, was sealed, opened to take pictures, on ebay for $950 or make offer.

Yeah, if its the same I saw there's significant rust on the bottom of the fount. Don't know for sure, but I'd say don't put in a deal anywhere near what they are asking

If the varnish is firmly attached, I wouldnt worry to much about it. It sounds like you’ve already flushed it well enough. The fuel pickup tube typically doesn’t draw fuel from the lowest part of the fount, and most have a safety screen at the bottom of the tube to prevent lose contaminates from being drawn in. Kero lanterns typically have no screen. After use and before refueling, you can pour the remaining fuel into a glass to inspect its condition. If you find particulate on the bottom of the glass, shake out the rest of the fuel from the fount, blow out with compressed air and you’re good to go. A disposable coffee filter is good enough for filtering old fuel if it hasnt become contaminated or stale. If the lantern is further disassembled, I usually open the fuel valve all the way, remove the fuel cap and blow +150 psi straight down the generator to clear any debris. So far, this method hasn’t loosened any old carbon from inside the generator and and clogged anything.

If its rust, Evapo-Rust™ Rust Remover is probably the best budget nondestructive rust remover available. Search and you’ll find amazing testimony everywhere.

I just moved this thread over to another sub-forum. But you know, the most sought after lanterns are kept secrets so they dont get bought up by the myriad of lantern hoarders who scour the earth for the rare “barn finds”.

That one has popped up several times on ebay. As a general rule, the 237’s will always appreciate in value.

I don’t have a 237 yet in my collection, this restored Model #236 is the closest it size and shape i guess:

I had no idea about thorium, thanks, will buy some peerless mantles to try out.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/201131644654 bought a lot off eBay. Based on my limited reading, all of the Peerless mantles use the old-school radioactive thorium, like they used thirty years ago. The new Coleman mantles you buy at Wal-Mart are reformulated with non-radioactive materials and about 30% less brightness and a more yellow burn.

Anyone correct me if I'm wrong; I'm just learning this myself...

Nice sister of the 237 you’ve got there. :bigsmile:

That is my understanding as well. The old Coleman “Silk Lite” mantles contained thorium and burned nice and white/bright. Many of my used old lantern finds often come with several unopened Silk Lite packages. But since they are old vintage (+40 years old) and no longer made (and not as robust as Peerless mantles), I save the Silk Lites for another day. Coleman later replaced thorium with yttrium. Unfortunately, yttrium is said to be poisonous. I have experimented with Coleman yttrium treated mantles and they burn a dingy yellow. Not quite as yellow as Coleman’s current production mantles, but still not as bright & white as thorium treated mantles.

There has been some speculation that some Peerless mantles may have been formulated without thorium, but no one I spoke with seems to be able to confirm it. I just spoke with the owner of OCP (who services parts for thousands of lantern enthusiasts) and he tells me that no one has complained about his stock of Peerless mantles. If anyone would know, he’d be the first to hear the complaints of others. Link to OCP’s store: http://www.oldcolemanparts.com/home.php

Anyone needing Coleman parts, old Coleman parts is awesome. Ordered late Friday night, just got my parts today. Pretty awesome I think.

Mike, (owner of OCP) is a friendly guy and usually available if you call the store.

Pretty damn good service for obsolete partsbif you ask me. When I get home from work tonight I'll be putting the 290 back together and maybe try it out if I got time

The soothing sound of a freshly rebuilt powerhouse

I did drop the top of it on the floor during the rebuild, and chipped some of the paint around the hole for the top nut

Under the collar on the fount there is some chipped paint as well, I am assuming that is fairly common just the way they are made. That and the bottom lip of the fount has some chipped paint. Besides that, this lantern has done a lot better since it was made in 1985 than I have in the same amount of years

Put some new mantles on the 295, and fired her up. Runs just as smooth as the 290 I rebuilt. Now I just need to get some Peerless mantles on them

There is a little ticking noise, but I think it is from one of the metal clips from the Quick Clip mantles I used thats touching the burners air tube.

Will get a group photo of the two burning tonight. Will be interesting to see if theres any output difference between the two, though they do have different mantles so it may not be a fair comparison

Peerless mantles burn much whiter than the newer Coleman mantles. looking forward to pics.

Also hoping Pulsar is able to get some good pics... I swapped out my mantles yesterday and tried to get some comparison pics that would give a good representation of the difference but had trouble getting pictures that worked well.

Although I did setup a light meter to get an indirect ambient light reading using both the new-manufacture Coleman mantles and the newer Peerless. Using my ultra-cheap DX light meter, the measurement went from ~60 lux (Coleman) to over 90 lux (Peerless).

I had to end the test after I noticed one of the mantles was contacting the generator tube. I went to great length to prevent that, and ensured that there was no contact during and after the initial burn-off. Only after the first lighting, which shaped the mantle, I noticed the contact. I'll have to remove that mantle and install a new one now.

It's a two-mantle lantern, maybe I'll install another Coleman mantle alongside the Peerless so I can do a side-by-side comparison shot...

Sorry guys, been a busy weekend and havent been able to get out to my toy tool shed and play with test my lanterns.

On top of that, been not feeling right. Wake up in the morning exhausted and just a general feeling of blah all day. Must be some sort of bug or something

Hi,
I’m Chris from Germany. Befor I got infected with LED-Lights I was an enthusiastic lantern collector. Here a picture of a few lanterns i own.