Hello everyone!!! I've always used Coleman gas lanterns as a source of light in the summer and heat and light in my ice shanties while ice fishing. Anyway, my father passed away a couple years ago and one of the final cleanups resulted in a call from my Mom. She'd found 3 lanterns hanging in the garage. 2 where lamps that we'd used as a family for camping, and my nephew was interested in them, and the other was an old lantern that was missing the control knob and he didn't really want to mess with it. Mom figured I might be interested because I have a few Aladdin lamps, and this one said Aladdin Conversion 1944 on the inside. So, I picked it up and I remembered it being a lantern Dad had picked up at an auction for $.50 about 25 years ago. It was hung up and never touched again, as we had perfectly good units to use. So, the lantern has been repainted over the old enamel. The top is green, the bottom is battleship grey. The globe sections are marked US Quadrant Globe, Gasoline Lantern, Stock Number 6260-174-3874 The inside is marked Aladdin Conversion 1944 The underside of the tank is marked American Gas Machine Company, Albert Lea, MINN Gasoline Leaded Fuel and in the middle is US 1945 The spare parts cap is there, but the control knob is missing, so I've ordered a used Coleman knob on eBay for $6 to make it usable. My intent is to clean this up enough to see if I can get it to operate. I won't remove any finishes and I'm not about to change out any parts, but just see if it'll pump up. I figure if it doesn't operate right away with minimal work, I'll just enjoy it as it is and put it on the shelf with some of my other WWII collectibles such as a cut M1 Garand receiver, a few bayonets and other trinkets I've picked up over the years. Any suggestions from folks here are very welcome.
@Paper Commiserations on the loss of your father. Mine died nearly 50 years ago and I still grieve. As someone this side of the Pond a photo or better still photos of your treasure would be a real boon. The odd mainstream Coleman I have, but I can’t visualise what yours is. John
I've got three US lanterns (which were listed on eBay as Primus!) which appeared to have been converted to US Milspec, presumably at the start of or during WW2. I can't remember what make they were now but certainly not Primus and AGM does ring a definite bell. We sorted out this mystery for ourselves on here over one weekend when Neil just happened to be away, but he confirmed our conclusions when he returned to base the following Monday/Tuesday. They're listed in the PLC the OP won't have a copy of that. I wonder if I can find the thread (or the lanterns!)...
AGM made many milspec 252A lanterns. The fount should be the same forest green as the vent with 3 large, bright yellow decals with use instructions on them. I have a 1944 version here which used a one piece globe, but by the time yours hit production I believe they had moved to the quadrant glass either as standard, or as an add-on with the rails and glass quadrants. Before you dive into it in an effort to get it running, you'll need to check the fount for vertical stress cracks. These will look like hairlines that have either broken through the paint, or they'll look like a thin ridge in the paint. Typically, they start on the bottom rim and head up an inch or so. AGMs are notorious for this, and my '44 is a prime example. If yours is uncracked, buy a lottery ticket for tonight's draw! Even if not visible, best to pump up the fount with the valve closed, and dunk it in a bucket of water. Any bubbles mean stress cracks and they can show up in many odd spots on the fount. AGM's can be heartbreakers, but they do look great on a shelf! Mike.
I had no luck finding the thread but did slightly better with the lanterns - or, at least one of them:- I've no idea where his two mates are but probably off to find a couple of Colemans to party with. Over-paid, over-sexed and over here as was the saying during WW2! Anyway, here are a couple of further photographs:- Showing the conversion i.e. the fitment of the aluminium Milspec generator. Note that the original spanner, er, wrench is still in place in its housing on the baseplate. The text on the label is extremely difficult to read but it's definitely AGM and Model No. 3927. Edit: - I'll just go and have a look for stress cracks...
Thanks @David Shouksmith @MikeO I see. I’ve got a (much more recent) ‘regular’ Milspec with the quadrant globe components, but didn’t know that model existed.
Thanks for all the replies and the dunking method of crack testing is right up my alley. Anyway, here's a few photos.
Um, well, I did have a quick look at it (but in poor light and with tired eyes) and I thought I saw a couple of vertical stress cracks. I'll have a better look in the morning...
There does look to be one to the right of the valve wheel in your second pic, but AGM steel founts are usually pretty immune. It's their brass founts that are crazy prone to stress cracking. Mike.
I managed to have a better look today in good light:- It is a steel-tanked AGM as suspected. The rust was a bit of a clue and I didn't really need the magnets - but still, I knew they'd come in handy for something sooner or later! And if I'd had the sense to invert the lantern and read the underside of the tank, I wouldn't have had to bu&&er-up my eyes trying to read the label on the collar. The good news is that what appeared possibly to be stress cracks are just scratches in the paint. The pump now works and it seems to be holding pressure. I think this lantern deserves a thread of its own...
Yes, that's it - great! - thanks... It's hard to believe that was almost 10 years ago. I never got the electrolysis bath I mentioned so I made no progress with any of these three lanterns. Oddly enough, though, I managed to find another one of them earlier this afternoon - the Akron Diamond lantern in the centre. It looks exactly the same now as it did back then. However, when I picked it up by the top of the hood, that separated from the rest almost all the way round...
@David Shouksmith this might be the post you were looking for COLEMAN Mils.pec Why? @presscall Lots of milspec threads going on right now. Just finished fettling a Thermos one. Short synopsis of the breed. Pre-war/early war the US government bought twin mantle lanterns from all the big makers, basically anything that was the equivalent of a Coleman 220. For AGM it was the 3927 or 3927-A. Not sure of the Akron model. Most of the founts made for government contract lantern (pre-milspec) are stamped US on the bottom. The government put out a request for a lantern that would run on the same gasoline used in military vehicles. Aladdin came up with a single mantle burner that filled the bill. They produced it in a kit that would fit the founts of the other lantern companies. Early burners are stamped "Aladdin conversion". Coleman called theirs a model 252, everyone else's is a milspec. Later a design change incorporating a parts well in the fount was added. Coleman called this a 252-A. Postwar a four-piece globe was added. Production ended in 1991, I don't know when or if service ended. There may very well still be some floating around the DOD supply system today. It certainly wouldn't surprise me if someone found a few dozen pallets full in some warehouse. I believe, but couldn't find verification in a short search, that the idea that State Machine Products (SMP) lanterns were a product of prison labor was disproved. I await confirmation or disputation. Here's a list of the various contract awardees over the years. Military Lantern Manufacturers
Interesting, Reese, and thank you for the synopsis, which is great. Well, it sort of takes the wind out of my sails that my SMP milspec hasn’t ‘done time’, but in an age of ‘fake news’ I shouldn’t be surprised. All the best my friend, John
@presscall Maybe Neil will weigh in on the prison story. I know it had a lot of traction at one time and there is a prison/jail in the same town as SMP. I was pretty sure I had seen some discussion that said no prison connection. However, I can't find any trace of that so I'm not hard over either way.
I don't believe the prison fable. We had this info some time ago from the son of the manufacturer Jon Schoenman.:- "Auto-Fab and State Machine Products were both owned by a Mr Schoenman. Auto-Fab made a batch of 33,040 lanterns in 1967 but sold the business later that year to Monarch Aluminum of Cleveland OH. Mr Schoenman then made about 350,000 lanterns between 1979-1990 with his new company State Machine Products." I can't see an owner of a factory placing work out to the local prison and there was no suggestion from the family that they did so. ::Neil::
The SMP prison labour story has pretty strong legs and has been circulating for years. This is an interesting excerpt from a post on the Coleman Collectors' Forum that reaffirms that SMP was not using prison labour. Unless of course the three family members were doing time! "...I had no idea that State Machine Products were the ones manufacturing these soldiers from 1980 until they closed last year I believe. I have recently found out that from 1980 to 1985 both Coleman and State Machine Products shared the contract to manufacture the MilSpec lanterns. What really blows my mind is State Machine Products 'S.M..P', is located in Dry Ridge Kentucky which is only a 15 mile drive from my home and that 3 family members of mine from Grant County Kentucky worked at the plant." This is an interesting site that makes it sound like a number of UK companies are only too happy to use prison labour. About Us | Incarcerated Workers Organising Committee Mike.
Up until at least WWII and perhaps beyond it was common for several state in the US to lease out prisoners for labor. In Alabama the two big users were turpentine plantations and coal mines. It was arguably not much more than state sponsored slavery.
@Paper Although not the original color, but battleship grey does look good on a milspec too. Well, at least in my opinion.
