For THIS Lilor butane-fuelled lamp I used what I judged to be the correct mantle, which was the Veritas #6831 pictured here. I've a stock of #95 'Instaclip' mantles for a Coleman Northstar lantern I bent the wire clip to form a mantle hanging loop - the one on the left. Hooked up, clip at the bottom gripping the lamp riser tube and ready to fire. The distinctive 'concertina' form of the Coleman mantle coped well with the shrinkage and the output is pleasing. Best of all, a fraction of the price of the new-old stock Veritas mantle. John
An excellent improvisation which has got me thinking. I just might see if I can achieve a similar result on a Petrolite lamp which I have. Henry.
@Henry Plews I hope that works, Henry. Let us know how it goes. The intention in bending the top clip into shape - as well as creating a hanging loop - is to constrict the top opening as much as possible to 'bag' the burning fuel and ensure uniform illumination bottom-to-top without a flame spike emerging that hasn't sufficiently heated/illuminated the top part of the mantle. The Veritas mantle developed a crack in it after a couple of firings (its age can't have helped) and I quickly removed it and retired it to its box as a shelf collectable. The Coleman mantle is comparatively much more durable, before and after firing. John
@presscall A bit of hair spray on your Veritas mantle might help hold it together. I just sprayed my camping lantern mantles in preparation for a long road trip. Cheers Tony
I've never had the bouffant to require hair spray Tony, especially these days! Seriously, a good tip I've heard of but the price of those NOS Veritas mantles, from a couple of sources, is prohibitively expensive to justify their use for anything other than a static (unlit) display. 15GBP I paid for one, three pounds something for two of the Coleman tubular mantles. John
@presscall My 'Elvis' days are over as well, but my daughter was a competition gymnast so there is residual hair spray still in the house. I was thinking more of the spray keeping together your recently used one with the crack in it while stored on the shelf... Cheers Tony
Well you are lucky, you can spray used and unused mantles. One thning though: keep a safe spra distance or your mantle sticks to the wall. Been there, seen it.
@presscall I will, though it may be while as I've only just put it on the lamp fettling list. It's years since I last had it lit and the few remaining drops of unleaded petrol have gone to a very sticky varnish, so a good cleaning is needed. Henry.
John - nice use of the Coleman mantle! Henry - Good luck with the fettling of the Petrolite lamp. I think I used the Aladdin upright gas mantle in my try of my Notkin (Petrolite type) lamp years ago. Good light and it functioned very well; and not that expensive as the old Veritas type gas mantles. /Conny
@Conny C I have had the Petrolite working but it was a long time ago. It just needs a good clean and a new mantle - in fact, I've got some of it soaking in a cleaner / de-greaser as I type. I've used an Aladdin type mantle "modified to fit Welsbach #4 upright and Reflex #107" with success but it didn't last very long. I've also used a N.O.S. "ZEIMAR" upright gas mantle but had the same experience as @presscall .
@paul m If you find them, I would be interested in one, or at least an image or two (including the box) with dimensions. Henry.
Henry, Do you still have the box this Zeimar mantle came in? I was hoping you could tell me the manufacturer of the Zeimar mantle. Does it have 'Lighting Trades' written on the box?
@Henry Plews Henry. I missed the 10 minute edit limit to my previous post. Perhaps the mantle box has Ramie Co on it?
@Matty The cupboard that the box is in, is inaccessible at the moment, I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Henry.
@Henry Plews You are a gentleman, thank you. In a recent post on a different topic, I mentioned to @Mackburner if he knew why Curtis & Harvey would manufacture essentially the same lamp under two brand names, Kildark and Evening Star. Neil suggested there might be some obscure article out there somewhere from about 1922 giving hints as to why such a thing was done. I had a quick poke around and found where Lighting Trades Ltd had registered patents for Kildark, Zeimar and Urit in 1922. I knew Lighting Trades Ltd was a subsidiary company set up by Curtis & Harvey to handle their lighting. When researching Zeimar, I found that it was the Ramie Co of Scotland that looked to be the manufacturer of Zeimar mantles. I wasn't sure if Lighting Trades had sold the brand Zeimar to Ramie Co or if Ramie Co was a company used as a manufacturer either as a further subsidiary or under contract to Lighting Trades. The writing on the box explains it all. Many thanks. Now, I wonder why Lighting Trades patented an upright mantle in 1922. I doubt it would be for any of their pressure lighting so either they may have had non pressure lamps in their arsenal or they felt there was still a strong market for upright mantles that they could break into.
