WannaDig3687
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Releventchair, this is from the mid to late 1970?s. Not terribly old. Barely used. It is going to be my light in the shed.
View attachment 1930865
Early to mid eighties maybe.
Tip it upside down (careful now..) and you'll see numbers stamped on the bottom. On the left side of the founts bottom is the month , on the right , those two digits are the year.
Your lantern has a Schrader valve. Not unlike a car tire valve stem has in it.
It allows adjustability of the lights output (combined with the cleaning/pricker wire).
I'm not sure how long such a valve lasts. The only thing I have against such newer models.
I have one CL1 single mantle. And a CL2 like yours.
Ordered a heat shield for the CL1 and installed it. Didn't add one to the CL2.
Just watch mantles for holes allowing rays (jet of hot gas) to over heat glass , or in the case of no heatshield , the top of the fount/fuel tank. High temps emit from a leak through a mantle hole! It takes high heat to get the mantles material to incandesce. Any of that heat escaping through a hole in the mantle is super hot.
It's not the fabric the mantle is made of that glows , but the remaining metal oxides (formally nitrates before being burned ) glowing.
Concerns of thorium being mildly radioactive , construction/ metal mineralish material used led to yttrium being used here instead.
Up to you to research how much a concern thorium mantles should be. (don't huff the fumes when burning off a new mantle outside...).
But , if you want a brighter lite than yttrium mantles , there are thorium ones still made in the world.
New mantles (at least those we see commonly in box stores) are lousy quality.
Often breaking or blowing a hole faster than older ones.
Keep that in mind when fleamarketing /garage sailing ect. Coleman silklites are old thorium types. But the quality is higher too.
When we burn off a new mantle all that remains is an ash cage of the metals(former nitrates before firing) to hold together.
The better the quality , the longer it lasts.
So at least have spares. Cheap ones , you might have a failure at first lite up.
In your shed a good mantle should last years.
Your lantern will work best(?) with #21 size mantles.
White gas (camp fuel here in the U.S..) I suggest "Crown" brand (Walmart carries it in quarts or gallons usually ) for best price but still good ol 50 octane clean gas.. Coleman camp fuel is fine. Though pricier. Others exist. But be sure it's American termed "white gas".
(If you know Amish with a bulk source , don't tell me!!! (So not to create any jealousy.)
Don't bother using automotive fuel. Way too much crap in it. And you'll be replacing the generator or more. Not worth it.
Congrats on the Coleman!
Ahh, my memory is slipping. I remembered my dad was fed up with the old lantern (which may still be around) and bought a new one for our camping trip. I was thinking it had to be when we went to Nashville when I was 15/16. It must have been after I came home from the army and they took us camping. March of 1984 is the date on the bottom. Thanks for that. Also, when I lifted it off the base, I found a couple packs of mantles. It still has fuel in it. I bet the thing was used less than 10 times.
Snapped a few pictures on my morning walk. The first picture is the Lachine fur trade museum which was originally the main warehouse for the Hudson Bay Company where the trade goods were stored.
A couple of pictures of the Lachine wharf and an anchored boat nearby. Those pictures of the anchoring slots for boats is the Lachine boating marina which got shut down and that peninsula will be turned into a nature preserve.