Veritas Club Discussion

@David Shouksmith

It doesn't surprise me that the old Veritas building has been knocked down yet the buildings either side remain. I think a lot of old factories/buildings have suffered the same fate and I think it has something to do with the thorium products used to produce mantles. In America there was a organisation set up to identify and decontaminate buildings related to mantle manufacture and storage.

I'm not sure I believe all the hype surrounding thorium. W C Coleman was around Thorium all his adult life and died a reasonably old man from heart faliure. So too did, a lot of others that were into the nitty gritty of lamp manufacturing, live to a ripe old age.

@X246A

Jeremy,

Yes, that is how my hood looks. Well, my enamel is much worse but you get my drift.

 

Looks like the Farringdon road buildings suffered the same fate as well. I gather the red fronted ones are 83, 85 and 87. To the right is 91 and 93 and to the left is 79. Onslow street is around the back and I think that would have been the same building so is also missing.


A real shame as it would appear the buildings next door are the originals and much better looking.

 

Matthew,

The evidence is building (excuse the pun) that the buildings used for mantle manufacture or storage were knocked down in the UK due to contamination hysteria.

I suppose asbestos would have been used too.

 

@David Shouksmith - what Bank Holiday?
Isn't that the one they moved to this Friday for VE Day?! Never mind you can have it all over again.

 

Yeah, that's right, John - I'm a silly old bugger. My daughter informed me that, for some reason, we can't have two holidays in one week so I think it's VE75 this Friday and early Spring Bank Holiday next Monday giving us all a lovely long weekend holiday to look forward to. Mind you, the weather forecast is the typical Bank Holiday stuff.

I cleared out a bit of the greenhouse yesterday and came across a jerrycan half full of kero so I might try to get something fettled instead of just sitting with me thumb up me bum and me brain in neutral being mindful...

 

David

The last time I heard anyone else use that expression other than me was my long departed father.

Tony

 

I think it may have it's origins in the military, Tony, although I don't know that for certain.

Anyway, my daughter now informs me that next Monday is NOT a Bank Holiday. HMG have merely moved Monday to Friday this week. Obviously, I needed to check my diary to ascertain the actualité :-



See, this is what you get when you pay £3.99 for a diary (the whole thing including binder and two years' pages!) from Lidl. I'll take it back and complain when this is all over - 1. It's wrong and 2. there's nothing happened this year worth putting in.
As Barry Cryer once said, ...I've so little going on, when I open my diary, I get snow-blindness!" Bah!

OK, sorry about going off-topic. To redeem myself, maybe I should find a Veritas to fettle this weekend...

 

In a way it’s a relief to open the desk diary and see no entries in it, no appointments for hospital, Doctor, nurse, dentist, chiropodist or physio! Just hope there is nothing going undetected that will show up later.

 

G'day fellas - you too Jean.

I'd appreciate it if one of you could tell me what size the jet should be in a Model A Lantern.

0.0085 / 0.2159mm and it fit in the orifice of the jet I have. I'm assuming that is too large?

 

@Matty

According to the info I have:
0.0079" / 0.20mm = 300 cp
0.0092" / 0.23mm = 400 cp

I reckon 0.0085" / 0.2159 will be near enough 350 cp. If we're talking Veritas 350A, it should be on the button.

Henry.

 

A, B, and C at the end of the model number i.e. 350A, 350B and 350C refer to the various finishes of the tank and hood rather than any operational differences between the lanterns themselves. That is to say that the 350A, B and C are only cosmetically different...

Edit: I've just been checking some Veritas literature I have and it would seem for the tanks:-
350A - Plated finish
350B - Painted finish
350C - Polished brass finish (presumably then lacquered)

I can't find anything specific about the hood finishes other than there were also three - A, B and C - and that A was vitreous enamelled (I'd guess that's the top hat part and the rest was plated to match the tank - i.e. what Jeremy is holding in the earlier picture; the plating having succumbed to serious rust)...

 

That’s some good information @David Shouksmith I didn’t know about the 350C, I’d be interested to see one or own one.
Cheers
Pete

 

Thanks Pete. I think I've got polished and lacquered Veritas lanterns hereabouts and I'll look in the morning

I'm sure I posted something about this a few years back but I can't find it at the moment. I remember it because I was amused at the Veritas literature which said something along the lines of, 'there are four finishes - A, B and C' - maybe I posted it over at CCS and that's why I can't find it here. I presumed at the time that meant the three hood and tank variations A, B and C were available in four different combinations of tank and hood colours.

I think I'm forgetting more than I'm remembering these days...

 

@Henry Plews

Many thanks Henry. That is super cool information and I'm sure it will be helpful to collectors for many years to come.

@David Shouksmith

Thanks for the great descriptions which allow us to know how to decipher wat lamp we have in front of us.

My Veritas has an A stamped on 'control body' I always struggle to find a description for the part I speak of. What I mean by 'control body' is the brass part that screws into the bung and is normally covered by a collar. Perhaps a terminology topic should be started? I know I often struggle to find the term used for a specific part of lamp. Having said that, I'm as thick as a fence post.

Is it true that B and C are stamped on those models? Perhaps it is embossed rather than stamped but you get my drift.

 

Pete,

Most of the ads I have seen for Veritas in Australia, when they state a Model No, they refer to Models A and C

Have you come across a B Model here in Australia?

 

@David Shouksmith

Monday was Star Wars Day - May the 4th be with you.

 

OK, I've done a little digging and it seems that the house/business numbers in Grainger Street were transposed at some point - what are the chances of that! Anyway, it seems that the current No. 35 (the entrance to Maybrook House on my earlier pic) was previously No. 40 and can be seen as Harker's furniture store to the left:-



Now, the folk who are helping me think (note, think - and I don't happen to agree with them) that Falks must have been associated with the Gas Offices which can be seen on the other side of the street just after the railings. However, the Gas Offices were in Nos. 27 and 29 so I think Falks in No. 35 must have been behind and to the right of the photographer. Anyway, you see what Grainger Street was like in the 1890s - believe me, it does NOT look like that now, although most of the buildings as pictured still remain. If it wasn't for this bliddy lock-down, I'd drive up and have a look for myself...

 

Will a Viton washer work where I've put the arrow? The bunsen test revealed blue flame, but very little... too lean? Maybe a leak or three?

 

It would seal but better is a lead one.
Any rubber washer tends to deform, so being part of the "holding it all together" I would use a lead one.

 

I'm sure the original was a fibre washer but yes, a Viton one will do.

 

Thread seal tape ???

 

@Matty
In regards to a Veritas 350B in Aussie, well I haven’t seen one yet, 350As and 350Cs but no 350Bs has surfaced in front of me as yet .....
Cheers
Pete