Hi all, I picked up a couple of boot fair lamps this morning, what have turned out to be an optimus 300 and a bialaddin 300x. The 300x is a chrome version with green hood, its cleaning up okay but covered in a layer of crud which may actually have helped preserve the chrome! The optimus however is much harder to clean. So in the first instance, does anyone have any tips to getting this cleaned up please, specifically lifting the hard dusty film that many years in a garage have produced, once at the dirty chrome stage, I can polish up okay. Second question is a date on both please. The optimus has 'optimus' written over '300' with I think made in Sweden beneath that and the optimus globe at each side of the '300'. Very difficult to see due to dirt and not worth the attempt at a photo unfortunately. There is no end on the pricker, no jet and there's an exposed thread on the burner where it fits over the jet so maybe something missing here, also no filler cap. Where can I get spares at least for the vapouriser etc? Next, when were the chrome 300x's produced pls?
I normally clean off some dirty lanterns in a hot/warm mild citric acid solution with a sponge and then a good rinse in clean water to deactivate it but recently i tried Isopropyl alcohol with a clean rag on a speculum plated Tilley Guardsman which worked well, it may work out dearer but i'm going to try that more often, Basecamp.co.uk is good for spares in the UK, Possibly 1950 - 60's for the Bialaddin, not sure about the Optimus, 40's maybe but one of the more experienced collectors will no doubt be along soon with more accurate dates.
The bialaddin is 1950-52 which then changed to model 305 with a smaller filler cap, hope this helps IAN
I'm no expert on optimus lanterns but if you look in the reference gallery the 200 models go back possibly to the 1930s, yours could be a fairly early one, with a bit of luck more knowledgeable members will be able to help out .
@Nils Stephenson , there's no filler cap so any other way of establishing date? Its cleaned up a bit now so the words are a bit more visible
@Nils Stephenson, @JEFF JOHNSON , @Mr cod, Uncle Tom Cobley and all, thanks for your replies. Finally fettled the Optimus whilst on camp last Friday. Okay, the plating has seen better days but it's all part of the story. No leaks, filler cap replaced with closest relative, NRV replaced etc etc. Now a usable, incredibly bright lamp. Nothing better than making a silk purse out of a sow's ear. I abs love it. My oldest lantern and superb for camp. Think I'll get a frosted glass for it aswell. I'm right in thinking that this is the Daddy of the Petromax and subsequent clones? Thanks all.
No-one mentions it much but GSR has been my brass, copper and nickel cleaning solution for quite a while now. What is GSR I hear you say? Why it's George's Stove Restorer and you'll find the exact recipe over on CCS, but... essentially it's a mixture of citric acid powder and wallpaper paste. If you're making say a pint of paste, thoroughly mix in 1 - 2 tablespoons of citric acid powder with the dry wallpaper flakes and add the required amount of water. The resulting goo sticks to the surface of the metal object while the citric acid content gets to work on the cleaning. It works a treat and you can adjust the amount of citric acid and the thickness of the paste to suit you needs. I keep some in a large glass jar and slap it on with a paint brush whenever needed. GSR: a miracle cleaner courtesy of George - thank you George!
Actually, the Optimus can be classed as a Px clone. Optimus released their first lamps in 1930 as almost direct copies of the current Px lamps. The numbering was even the same, using 821 for the 200cp lamp and 826 for the 300cp lamp. For some reason (probably Px complaining) Optimus changed the numbering to just 200 and 300 in 1931.
Nice Bialaddin and Optimus there. How does the fuel filler cap of the Optimus look like? Can you take a picture of it? Is it original to this lantern? The lantern appears pretty early.
@MYN alas the filler cap is a brass stove cap, closest in age to the lamp but not plated. However the condition of the plating is such that the filler cap doesnt stand out too much. @Fireexit1 thanks, I cant believe how bright it is, like fairly difficult to look at directly. Seems much brighter than bialaddin or vapalux and all are 300cp. Incredibly easy to light, I am very impressed with it all round and it was a simple fettle really. @Nils Stephenson, thanks for the info. I don't know much about Petromax tbh, just had it in my head that they were younger than Optimus. @ColinG, recipe sounds good, will seek out the ingredients. Thanks all.
