I have been meaning to get one of these to see how they work. Some cleaning, fabrication of a spring wire to retain the glass and some carbide and water later:
@Fireexit1 Lucas, the Prince of Darkness! On the bottom part of the 'swinging arm' there should be a 3 or 4 digit number giving month & year of manufacture. I have a 914 and a 131 being september 1914 and january 1931.
Hi Wim, thanks for that and it is there. 928 - so September 1928 I guess. A more general question - did these ever have a felt pad in them ? I have never encountered one. Chris
@Fireexit1 All carbide lamps do, to trap droplets of water condensed from the water vapour that results from the chemical reaction. If water forms in the burner it’ll block it.
Interesting any idea what holds it in place and where it’s place is. It does have a spring and plate but that holds the carbide in place
@Fireexit1 I haven’t my Calcia to hand and can’t visualise the chamber components in detail, but anywhere between the plate and the outlet and away from the water drip. Some pads are the diameter of the carbide chamber, with a hole in them to accommodate the end of the water drip sleeve. Others (lanterns rather than lamps) are in a frame surrounding the outlet. This one has a pad with a diameter corresponding to that of the carbide chamber. … as this one does. There’s no felt vapour trap in this one, the manufacturer rightly assuming that water will have condensed in the oulet before it reaches the burner and drip back into the tank, letting gravity do the job.
It looks like not much to hold it in place but the only thing I can see that might hold anything away from the water/carbide is the two ears on the water pipe.
Great to see it shining again! perhaps there was a washer with a slotted hole that slid over the ‘ears’ then twisted 90 degrees ? please excuse the bad illustration
@podbros Mmm, I think you’re right. On reflection, any filter would be above that plate, removable when the orange-coloured seal is removed.
I think the tabs or ears are to retain the spring. The top part of the chamber does look like it is threaded and would unscrew but I am reluctant to dig out the orange seal as it probably wouldn’t survive the experience. Looking at the relative position of the gas pipe to the chamber roof there is not much room for a filter. However the burner has a fine gauze and note the drain at the bottom of the gas pipe.
Looking again at the 'drain' pipe it also looks like it would be possible to put a rubber hose on it. Maybe for a "burner only" rear light ?
Probably, but a marketing ploy if so for what’s essentially a low-output cycle lamp, which would be hard pressed to generate sufficient acetylene to power a rear lamp as well, and for a much-reduced duration for the small carbide charge also. In the early days at least, I visualise a bicycle carbide lamp’s purpose was to light up the cyclist’s road ahead, with merely a red reflector on a mudguard at the back. As traffic volumes (and accidents) increased thought was given to being seen rather than just lighting up the way ahead. The Calcia was in production for a decade at least and the addition of that outlet for a non-generating carbide rear lamp could well have been incorporated in the later production models to reflect changing views on road safety.
In short, the Defence of the Realm Act passed in 1915 made an illuminated red rear light compulsary. However, after the end of the Great War, the act was repealed. The motoring lobby fought hard for its reinstatement, the Cyclist's Touring Club vigourously opposed it! They thought it was not the cyclist's responability to make him/herself visible to cars coming from the rear..... Hard to understand their reasoning if you ask me! In april 1928 a statute was passed requiring ALL vehicles to use red rear lights during dark hours.
Ok so a mixture of curiosity and seeing dark liquid coming from the base led me to open it up and just like @presscall suggested - a felt pad. Well the remnants of one anyway :
So one new seal made, a felt pad made from wool felt and aligning the burner so the flat flame faces the throw of the light beam and we have a brighter and less smelly lamp. I have to say the equal of earlier battery and bulb bike lamps.
Excellent! Yes, carbide lamps do work decent enough compared to really old battery lamps. The anti-condensation pad on carbide lamps was often made out of pressed horsehair. Regular felt might be a bit to damp after some use, and perhaps still start to drop some water down. But I'm sure you won't have any troubles. I usually take scotch brite when I replace the pad, and that has worked a treat for me.
Yes I have had thoughts on the suitability of the craft felt. - I looked at using material from a cooker hood filter. I did a combustion test and was very surprised Annoyingly I disposed of an old sofa last month (in now easy to handle parts ) which did have horse hair in it.
I get that retaining water (soaked) might hinder the passage of gas but I’m not sure what you mean by “drop some water down” Christer?
I observed that the waterlogged felt (the old stuff I took out) was holding so much moisture that water was dripping from it.
Yes, but does that matter? Horsehair maybe doesn’t hold it the same, but it still traps the moisture and that ends up dripping back into the carbide chamber.
The idea with the felt under the water container is to prevent condensation of the moist atmosphere in the carbide container to form on the colder surface. And also to trap the water that has been condensed. If too much is condensed there, it can start to drop down on the carbide and increase the gas formation "outside" the intended control from the drip spindle. It may make the light race or flicker.
I am happy to report that the new felt was in fact quite dry after a 1/2 tank of carbide. I could not resist taking it apart this morning.. However it did not go out on a bike - just all round the house and onto a shelf
That’s good to hear it’s working well and interesting that even with eveready batteries the older tech was just as good? And way more fun :-)
