Lovely little lanterns these. Look nice and work well. To think that when Optimus released this model in 1954 it was the cheapest lantern they sold. If all the parts on this lantern are original I would date it to 1957 or just after. This was the year that that type of wheel was introduced on almost all Optimus product and it only lasted a short while on the 930 before the more familiar small wheel was introduced. I would love to know when the small wheel was introduced, but so far have not been able to track it down. I believe it was very early in the 60s. Christer, do you have the shade as well to make it the 930A?
Thanks Nils. I was hoping someone could give a decent date for the lantern. Funny indeed that their cheapest lantern back then almost is the one that pays the highest price today! No I have not the shade for it. I was about to say thankfully, because I really think that piece is so ugly and spoils the look of the lantern.
Is this early 930 the 350 cp model? Do you guys know when the stamps on the tank were changed to 300 cp. ::Neil::
From what I can work out, the lanterns changed from the 350 version to the 300 version in 1957. During that year and maybe the next there were a lot of lanterns produced that were a mixture of parts from both versions. Obviously Optimus wanted to use up old stock. Considering that most of the burner parts are the same dimensions as the Optimus 200, these cp claims are a bit optimistic. They are a bright little lantern though, so maybe they get to 250.
Well my 930-350 does 232cp and given the age I guess 300cp may well have been reasonable when they were new and for old parts it is possible that 350 was achieved back in the day. My 930-300 measured 226 so they both do a very respectable light output. ::Neil::
I would expect in a brand new lamp by shoving the pressure up to around 50 psi you could probably achieve 300 to 350cp. I rather doubt Optimus were lying about the power but they would of course be testing a new lamp in the factory and you might expect the manufacturer to know how to get the best out of a lamp. ::Neil::
I've seen 930's with dished out bottom plates, so I'd be careful about going above 30psi. The burner does work well with a 300cp jet and gives a lot of light for a lantern of this size. It's more 'comfortable' to use a 200cp jet.
What did actually this lamps cost back in the day when they were sold? What kind of peoples did use this, middleclass?
We had them in the Swedish army as late as 1988 in the command tents when i served at a tank batallion (P6).
Unfortunately the earliest price list I have is an English one from 1979. Then they were £36.95. For comparison, the 1200M was £44.50 and the 1550G was £47.95. Originally the 930 was introduced as a budget model, so it would have been people trying to save money that bought them.
