This venerable old lady was resurrected from the grave with some replacement parts but the burner assembly and tank didn't need anything more than a quick clean. The original frame was so badly rusted to the control valve it had to be cut away in pieces. That was a horrible job and quite tricky but I had a replacement (thanks @Jean J ) and after an hour of careful work, it lay in pieces! I have never had to perform such brutal surgery on a lamp and I hope I never have to again! Anyway, once the new frame was fitted, I cleaned and polished the rest, assembled everything and risked a test fire. There were a few issues - I had to change the NRV pip, but once that was done and both gland nuts were tightened up I tried again. Success! I made a new bail (a horribly crude job) and now she's whispering merrily in the sunshine which is a bit daft but it's been steady as a rock! Here are some detail photos.. I'm not touching the paint as it's in relatively good condition and the decal is lovely!
Interesting to see another Veritas '350' with a horizontally placed pump rather than the more common, angled pump. Nice job getting this lantern back on its feet.
Thanks guys. As for the horizontal pump tube, I think it might indicate an early model when Falks we're transitioning from the P9955 to the 350 but I have no evidence for this, merely a supposition. I've also seen quite a few 350 models with an extra hole in the frame's baseplate that would have been for the pricker lever on P9955. Again, most likely using up perfectly good stock rather than throwing it away. Most manufacturers seemed to have these crossover periods when they used up existing stock parts as new models took over. Willis & Bates are infamous for doing this but Tilley did too: I'm thinking of the early 246A that are basically Guardsmen with 246A stamped on the tank.
@Sedgman do you have many Veritas lanterns? I was a bit late to the party but even so I've ended up with 10 of the little beauties and they all work exceptionally well.
Well done @ColinG. Another Veritas save, they’re very good lanterns, ain’t that the truth. Cheers Pete
That's a nice Vestas lantern and restoration. Not heard of these before yesterday when I spotted a well loved and used (long ago) Veritas 350 in a yard sale. It's glass globe, an instructions booklet and bail are there. There's no date stamp to be seen anywhere (assuming early 50's from other CPL posts). The fount and collar are brass, the base plate is rusty steel with only one elongated match/lighting hole, the top cap's green enamel and still ok. Andrew
The veritas 350 once had a bit of a bad reputation for not working to well. I have restored a few of these with great success. The veritas likes a very clean fuel line from the font , uptake,shut off valve, generator, restriction, Pricker rod and Pricker and jet. All like to be spotless, even the air tubes. Veritas likes a long peerless mantle to better heat the generator and they like a long preheat. You can see my threads in the gallery.the 350P for petrol also has a reputation for not going to well, Swiss army but don’t confuse its a petrol/shellite/ Coleman fuel not kerosene. You can see my thread also in the gallery. I do like my veritas.
The date is often exceptionally hard to find on a rusty base plate but it is usually there, (but not always). It is usually located around this area on the rim of the base plate. and it looks something like this: Well done Darryl on your Veritas success and the advice provided.
