Apex Marathon: South Africa

I have found a very fine example of Marathon lantern by Apex, Johannesburg Metal Pressings. JMP was bought out by CADAC in the mid '70s. CADAC (Commercial and domestic appliance company) is still a large manufacturer of LP Gas camping and leisure equipment.

The Marathon is a well made 300CP lantern with a large capacity brass fount. It is similar to the Coleman 339, and our fellow member Phaedrus commented that it uses a Coleman 201 generator. The burner assembly is also pressed metal. The frame collar carries instructions in English and Afrikaans (my South African language similar to Ducth). The pump and NRV are of the Primus type. The lantern is equipped with a fuel shut off valve and needle pricker, each with separate control wheels. The fuel cap has a pressure release feature. I received the lantern with a Jenaer Suprax Schott glass. It would be nice to confirm whether they were sold with the German made glass.



After the normal safety checks and replacing only the pump leather, the lantern started up perfectly first time.

 

Hello,

Cool ! i see the preheater cup around the generator, is it a Kerosene fueled lantern then ?

 

Good day Tive

You are correct, it uses Kerosene. Pre heating using methylated spirits or similar is required.

 

That’s a nice looking lamp and in great condition, how old is it?

 

Hi BigStevie

I have not seen any date markings on it. From the little I have been able to research, my guess would be mid 1970's.

 

It’s in excellent condition considering it’s age, an interesting find!

 

Truly a beautiful example, Johan!

 

Really nice and one I never heard of...Wait, I think I saw mention of it in Neil's PLC! lol

 

A very lucky find!

 

Johan

That’s a fine looking lantern.

A lot of Australian lanterns (eg Austramax) were sold in the later periods with “Janaer Suprax Schott” glass, so I guess yours could be original.

Cheers

Tony

@JohanOptimus

 

@JohanOptimus
Nice lantern.
Any chance of pictures of the valve assembly with the frame, vent and collar removed.

 

Hi Andrew

I hope this helps.

 

Yes thank you. Quite different to the Dolphin lamp.

 

Nice catch there @JohanOptimus and looks to be in top condition. I’ve not heard of this breed before. It’s very reminiscent of the Coleman design especially knowing it uses the 201 generator.
I like it.
Cheers
Pete

 

Halo!

resurrecting a thread :-)

I got hold of an Apex Marathon that is rather worse for wear. Main point is the model I have has a steel fount, not brass.

I’m in two minds about the fount - repainting but destroying the label is not an option.
Anyways - quite a bit of work ahead to get all the bits nice and shiny.

 

To the best of my knowledge, they all had steel founts. Still a nice find of a quite rare lantern. Mine is in pieces in a box. I really should get around to reassembling it one of these years