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
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
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
[quote=hungry.knight]
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.
Sorry, had some problems with my internet connection. This is only a small part of the collection. currently most of it is stored in packing boxes.
Are there many Petromax collectors in US?
I'm sure there are people in the US that collect petromax, but I'm not one. I am currently hoarding my PayPal funds in hopes of getting a new matte petromax. I know they are not the same quality as the ones from years ago, but I think I am willing to take the risk. I want a kerosene lantern, and love the look of the petromax. But we will see, I'm known to change my mind after saving up the money for something lol
Yeah, thats the one I am looking at getting. My thought is I would rather take a risk on something new than something old used and untested. But, I have a tenancy to change my mind pretty quick so I never know what I will end up with until its shipped.
In my opinin the best solution would be a NOS Lantern from the german Bundeswehr. I don’t know the actual prices. A few years ago with some time for finding a good ebay offer you could by one unused lantern with metal box for about 75€.
Of course you have to disassamble an old light and change all the seals. But I had a lot of new ones where a disassembling was also needed.
295 on the left and 290 on the right both on full blast.
Both turned down low. The 295 on the left has off brand quick clip mantles that stay white while turned down .The 290 on the right has Coleman gold top mantles that turns to red/orange when turned way down, though hard to tell in the picture. You can tell if you look at the heat shields at the bottom of the generator
Hi,
