Hello! I acquired a Hipolito H 202/250 V. Automatic lantern yesterday. I am familiar with the swedish lanterns but this is my first Hipolito. The lantern is in very good shape. Unmarked glass cylinder. I have no knowledge of Hipolito lanterns but know that Petromax was involved. This lantern is marked on the bottom 2528, maybe someone can determine the manufacture date? I notice that this example has a black controlwheel, black pump knob. It also have the known preheater from other models. NRV is the one with a slot on it. Says Petromax Germany on the burner. Can someone give some info about it, age, generation? What does ”automatic” mean? Some pics.
Nice lantern you have :-) Your lantern was made by Casa Hipolito in Torres Vedras, the company that actually made the Petromax lanterns from the 1970s to the 1990s (Neil states 1974 to 1999). There are no "generations" or whatever. That's just a story told by a US lantern shop as it sounds nice to the customers.) "Automatic" is the product variant which comes with the Papid-preheater. The date code on the bottom is valid for lanterns of the 1960s, there are suggestions it was still used in the 1970s but these have not been proved by hard facts. Sounds reasonable but not found in the papers: First two digits indicating the week, third the year and last the day of the week (1=Monday). But as a "8" does not make any sense for a day of the week, I'd say this code does not work for your lantern. Erik
Looks great ! - a little sooty under the hood, perhaps the rapid burner needs a cleanout. 2528 is week 25 of 1982 - so 21st to the 27th June.
Thank You! Thank You! I will post more pictures later when all parts have been cleaned and washers changed. Have a nice werkend!
If you do facebook (which I do not) and understand Portuguese language (which I also do not) you may get more out of: Memórias Da Casa Hipólito De Torres Vedras as I do. There are some images to look at, anyway. Erik
Or try this link to a (that?) document of Joaquim Manuel Jorge Moedas Duarte: "Casa Hipólito – História, Memórias e Património de uma Fábrica Torriense"
It took a while until I assembled the lantern but here it is in action. The mantle is a Butterfly 500-600CP, not correct but to test that all is well it is good enough. Will report back when I have testet it with a 250CP mantle. Regards Matti
That'd be very informative for anyone who understands Portuguese. Unfortunately, I do not . Translation to English for such a lengthy document would also require much effort.