A few weeks ago I posted images of my lamps, mostly Tilleys, with one Aladdin that I considered scrap. Well, time on my hands, so did some research here and thought I'd take a look at it. Found it was complete except for the glass and mantle. Now this lamp was filthy. It was given to me by an old friend, now passed. It used to reside at a beach shack and I know for a fact it has not worked for over 40 years. So, first up I checked tank integrity. One stress crack but looked ok. I then had to make a tool to remove the pump valve. Valve looked good. The pump tube was filthy, full of crud. Toothbrush and some thinners took care of that. I then used some old cloth on a stick dowel with brasso and a cordless drill to polish the inside of the pump tube. Came up like new. Made a new leather pump cup to fit. Interestingly the pump rod was worn down in the middle almost 1mm in diameter from years of use. I cleaned the tank by putting in it around 30 ceramic tumbler balls I had and some thinners. Ran these around the tank for a while. The crud that came out was amazing. Refer photo. Commenced cleaning the control cock and associated parts. Unfortunately the control cock rod snapped at the wheel as was truly stuck in the gland nuts, so will need to fix up. The jet was really clogged. Soaked in thinners loosened most. Ended up heating and quenching. This cleaned the jet nicely. The top end of the lamp is fairly solid. Ceramic burner is ok. Cage is a bit rusted. I didn't touch these as I wanted to see if it would burn properly before further work undertaken. So, assembly commenced. I just used o-rings for seals for now where needed. Would this lamp fire up after more than 40 years inactivity?. I'll let the photos tell the story. Needless to say I'm pretty happy. Fired up great. No leaks. Now to finish off cleaning the outside of the tank, cage and hood and of course source a glass and mantle. Will post further images when all complete. Cheers Michael
@Zigfire Now that is just incredible! What a strip down and clean up. You must be really pleased with your work. EDIT: I must admit it had never occurred to me to use ceramic media tumbler balls to clean crud from a tank. Notes have been made for future projects. Regards Jeremy
Very cool, well restored, i like the 1A Aladdins, i have done a fair few of them, they come up a treat, ive sent them to friends in Switzerland they just love them, i like how you have left some of the old patina finish, not all lanterns need to sparkel, job fell done
Thankyou Jeremy. It amazes me how such an old piece of kit can be brought back to life. I'm surely looking forward to getting the mantle and glass. Cheers Michael
Thankyou Darryl. Yes, not much left to do. The tank has been hand painted so I will strip that off back to original chromed brass finish plus get the glass and mantle of course. Question.. do you know how the original hood was finished. This one has so much crud on it I'm not sure what's underneath. Cheers Michael
It was most likely nickel plated. What does surprise me is that the glass cage looks to be steel. Maybe the hood is as well. I would have expected brass. Later hoods were black enameled steel, but it doesn't look like enamel in the photos.
Your lantern is one from probably the 50's-60's. The top is more than likely black porselaine enameled, you can soak it in vinegar, the vinegar will kill the rust, it will clear up the hood. Is the tank made of steel or brass. Stress cracks are common for their age, do you need a pump rod, i have one if you do.the globe frame, is corroded rusted surface, vinegar will sort that out, small brass wire brush will help, if its not too bad they can polished up, but i have a beed blaster, cleans up everything, i then spray paint high temp paint, aluminium . The tank my polis up the same way, and the collar, i hope this helps.vinigar will assist in stripping the old paint of the chrome parts
Thankyou Nils. Yes the cage is steel, looks chromed plated and is starting to rust. The hood has 40plys years of blah on it, so yes, hard to recognise. Cheers Michael
Thanks Darryl for the tips. I will try them out. The tank is made of brass. Looking at it, it looks like the paint has protected the chrome underneath so hopefully it should come up ok. The only real daggy bit is the cage, but mainly surface rust that hasn't damaged its integrity. Thanks for the offer of the rod but I'll keep this one as part of it's history. I am liking your idea of leaving the patina though, so perhaps I won't do anything more, in tribute to my old mate who gave me the lamp. Cheers Michael.
@Zigfire Looking good so far. You can get a reproduction glass from OIL LAMP PRESSURE LAMP GLASS. Aladdin Glass for Aladdin Pressure Lamp | eBay or try TW Sands Kerosene Lighting Melbourne – T W Sands & Co or wait for an original to turn up.
I then had to make a tool to remove the pump valve. Quote unquote.... just wondering if your valve has the 13mm slots that seem to accept an open ended spanner? I tried to remove my pump valve and it appears someone used top shelf Loctite on it. The long and short of it...... can I/should I remove the pump valve with a 13mm spanner with a crank handle on the end of it, or should I make the old cut out socket trick and put it on an impact driver...... or more importantly, am I likely to damage the thread or the valve or the fount when removing said valve? Is RP7 and or WD40 etc any good on this stuck thread? .... no pun intended.
I'll have a go, Darryl. Thanks. I notice a post mentioning "anti calc"... just wondered if anyone has had amazing success with this product? I tend to be interested in the active ingredient as opposed to a brand name.
I assume you're referring to this part. Mine was very tight as well and got it off with an adjustable spanner. If it's loctited on then perhaps a bit of heat whike applying torque woukd work, but not too much as you may melt the solder. Cheers Michael
Some advise for removing this part. Hold this part in a vice with some soft jaws, then turn the tank with your hands. That way you are less likely to bend the top of the tank. If it's still too tight, then it's probably a good idea to leave it alone.
These1A's are a really nice lantern. I have only one in my collection. It still has some of the decal/transfer on the tank!
@Damien Try filling the fount with hot water. It can cause expansion in the parts and loosen the NRV. Try removing the NRV whilst it is hot. However, if the NRV isn't leaking don't risk damage by removing it.
Just as a side note, we were watching Babe on the tele last night (yeah I know, isolation works wonders) and I noticed in one of the scenes that farmer Hoggett was using an Aladdin 1A lamp doing night inspections. Thought that was pretty cool.
Okay, in a previous post above I mentioned I had broken the control rod in front of the control knob when trying to free up this part of the lamp. Well I managed to machine up a hack that works well. It slips over the end of the broken control rod and the knob screws on as usual. I have to solder this onto the original rod which means it has to be done when all assembled. If I ever need to replace the packing then I will just need to de-solder and pull apart.
Fair dinkum brilliant... the word hack is selling yourself short. Was it silver solder, flux, propane, mapp gas oxy goggles and all that jazz?
Thanks Damien. Just used normal electrical rosin core solder, a bit of bakers soldering flux and light heat from the thread end with my kitchen souflett burner. Just enough to flow the solder without damaging the packing inside. Cheers Michael
Great job, very resourseful, but i could just send you one complete, still your own skills , very cool
Thanks Darryl, much appreciated and I will keep that in mind, but for me it is more about the journey than the destination, getting great pleasure out of restoring old things, even the things I stuff up when trying to restore . Cheers Michael
...just lost the brass nut that holds the red bakerlite toggle knob... I was attempting to polish it on a 6" sisal wheel
