G'day all, I had to do something with this lantern as it was looking in very rough shape. Being mostly made of steel meant that rust was becoming problematic. I'd previously fettled this lantern some 18 months ago and I was quite shocked at how far it had deteriorated since that last fettle. I kept the lantern as close to factory as I could when doing the previous fettle but this time, I had to cover the steel surfaces such as the cage and bail arm. I chose silver metal cover paint that is heat resistant to 320F for the cage bottom and top. To break up the gaudy silver paint I used a glossy black metal cover paint that is also heat resistant to 320F. I decided to remove the chrome from the fount. It was in very poor condition with lots of bubbling and some spots were missing the chrome. I wire wheeled the chrome off and as I was sanding with 240 grit wet'n'dry paper, it dawned on me that the fount steel was of high quality. I decided to polish the steel and after a lot of work, 240, 400, 1,000 and 2,000 grit paper then the bench polisher, it ended up looking more than decent. The hood was as black as it could be with burnt on grime. 3 soaks in full strength vinegar with 0000 steel wool polishes inbetween and after, then some Mothers polish, the hood came up incredibly well. I didn't think there was much hope of salvaging the nickel but with such a good job that was done at the factory it made it possible to still have a shiny nickel plated hood. I didn't take too many photos prior to the fetlle which is a shame because the difference between then and now is stark. I think it was a good choice to paint the bail arm and cage supports black because it breaks up the bright silver paint. Yes I know that isn't how it left the factory, I was just doing the best I could. All in all the lantern turned out to be a most satisfying result.
Matt, that fount has been polished to mirror finish, and the vent came up superb. A fine restoration indeed. Well done,
Great looking again. It appears to have a positive shit off valve. Perhaps it could run on gasoline, shellite, CF?
I tend to drift a little. I could hardly read whatever's been typed on my tiny cellphone.screen. The keys 'u' and 'i' are always mixed up.
I was idly watching one of those New Zealand 'border force' programmes the other day. They stopped a young woman at the airport because her laptop showed positive traces of cocaine. When all came to all, it turned out that her boyfriend (who was back at home) used it to cut lines of cocaine on. She, being innocent, was then allowed on her way. She said her boyfriend would definitely be in "the bed-box" when she got back home. I initially had visions of one of those Japanese overnight hostels for businessmen which are little more than a sleeping compartment. Well that couldn't be right so I then supposed she was going to punish him by banishing him to the small bedroom or box-room for a couple of nights - serve him right, too! I swear it was fully 5 minutes before it dawned on me she was saying he would be in 'the bad books' when she got back. Anyway, sorry for the diversion and back to Matty's Molitor lantern...
Yes, it did have prior to fettling now it is positive shut off. It would need a jet reduction to run on petrol. The Model 100 is a petrol lamp, that has much the same burner. It never bothers me if a topic twists and turns.
This is a fine lantern and very well restored. I note only one (from Collin Mills) in the Reference Gallery. Was this lantern found in Australia? And do we know when “Molitor” were on sale? Cheers Tony
Malcolm, it certainly is amazing how well the fount came up. I have purposely not sealed the tank because I want to see how well the metal copes. I'll end up re-polishing the fount then clear coating it. I am intrigued to see just how good this metal is. Martin, correct, it looked very shabby. I found it interesting that both chrome and nickel was used in the construction of this lamp. There were telling differences between the quality of nickel plating too. I simply don't believe all the parts were manufactured under the one roof. Conny, anytime one gets a thumbs up from the master, you know you have done well. Thank you.
@spiritburner Shouldn't this thread get shifted to the "HASAG" area? BTW: incredibly good job on that lantern! Well done!
@Martin K. Molitor was (is) listed in CPL separately to Hasag. I suppose it’s a bit like the brands that use Nulite lanterns and badge them “Kynoch” etc. Tony
@Tony Press OK, that sounds reasonable. Although I'm not yet convinced that it's a rebadged Nulite. The HASAG 100 series are pretty similar, but have some special features that are unique to HASAG lanterns. In this case the valve block...
@Martin K. I wasn’t meaning to imply it (the Molitor) was a rebadged Nulite - just a rebadged Hasag. I was using Nulite/Kynoch as an example of how the Reference Gallery is structured as I’m working on a Kynoch at the moment. Cheers Tony
I didn't intend for the lamp to be put in the Hasag gallery. I didn't photograph it well enough, I just wanted to show the lamp in the fettling forum. Thank you for the kind words on the fettle. There is about as much chance of my lamp being manufactured by Nulite as there is of me flying to the moon. I know everyone thinks these lamps (more the 100 series) were made by or licensed by Nulite but for my own reasons I don't believe that to be the case. In fact, I would argue the exact opposite happened originally. The problem is I'm not up for the fight anymore to contradict accepted history as it never, ever, ends well for me.
It's a fairly rare lantern, so it was better placed in the reference gallery. And the pictures were better than many others in the reference gallery where some posts just contain one single image of the object, so nothing wrong there. And it's just to add more pictures if you think there are details that didn't show up too well in the first ones.
@Carlsson Since you decided the topic should be placed in the gallery, it should be in the Hasag group not other brands. This lamp was manufactured by Hasag and sold by a retailer in Australia that used Molitor as a brand name. I doubt it is known, as I've not seen mention of it anywhere, Molitor also sold Hasag Model 100 and also Hasag stoves. Prior to selling Hasag products Molitor also sold spirits stoves and a raft of other brands. It appears that Molitor may not have added the badge to the 100 series lamps. To my knowledge, no Hasag 100's have been found with the Molitor badge but that doesn't mean one won't be found. Hasag 100's are found in Australia and from memory, they are usually painted. The Hasag Model 100 Molitor was sold as a benzine lamp but later it was shown as a benzine or kerosene lamp. That may be because they were now selling the Hasag Model 102 and didn't update the lamp depicted in the ads which still showed the 100 lamp. It could be that the wrong lamp was depicted from the start and it was always the Model 102 being retailed. I don't think so because it was referred to as a benzine (petrol) lamp and the retailer was selling enough lamp products to know what he was talking about. Having said that, a different retailer was marketing a Hasag table lamp as benzine or kerosene. As you can imagine, these lamps were not sold after 1940. The 1940 ads were probably 1939 stock. To help with the dating of this lamp I would say it is somewhere between 1935 and 1939. You might want to include the date in my title just so anyone researching can see the date easy enough.
Possibly, but we need some more input to make that move. As Tony pointed out in a post after yours, Molitor is listed under Germany in the PLC, but separately to Hasag, so that's what we have to go with for now. (Of course the PLC does not know everything, but it's a very good guide line for us here, and both the catalogue and this site is evolving and changing the more we learn.) There was already another Molitor listed under "Others", but both can-and will-be moved to Hasag if that is the consensus here. @Mackburner
My lamp has Made In Germany and a 102 badge on it. If you are going to list this Hasag under the retailers name, for clarity, Molitor should be stated as the retailer.
For clarity, for the uninitiated following this discussion, “Molitor” is listed in the Classic Pressure Lamps (CPL) Reference Gallery separately to Hasag, under the country “Gemany”. In the extensive Pressure Lamp Catalogue published by @Mackburner , Molitor is also listed separately from Hasag and there is discussion about its manufacture. I note that there are other lamps (such as “Kynoch”) that are rebadged Nulite lamps that are separately listed in CPL. Cheers Tony
Neil has decided to list the retailers separately, which IMO makes sense to distinguish them from the OEMs. We always have the problem to "connect" different topics meaningfully and correctly. Maybe links would help to discover related information...
I know very well the PLC is not perfect and I get proved wrong often enough to realise I certainly don't know it all. In this case I am by no means convinced the European Nulite types are in fact just re-badged Nulite. They may be but they may also be from Hasag or in fact from some other manufacturer. Copies or licenced production is another matter. In general I list by brand not manufacturer and Molitor is a brand so listed as such. When anyone is looking to find examples of a newly acquired lamp they will search for the marked brand on the lamp. We cannot assume that a new collector will look at a lamp marked as Molitor or PeeBee and realise they need to search Hasag or even perhaps Nulite. The PLC is in part a guide to collectors and to enable identification. Not easy when a new lamp is not marked but when it is then the PLC will probably get you there and so should this site. ::Neil::
