Greetings all! Found this site and was hoping you could educate me on this old lantern that I have. I have been told it belonged to my grandfather and it looks old enough to fit his time period. I see a tag with model No. L46S on it but no manufacturer name. From what I found online looking around it could be a Sears brand or a Prentiss Wabers maybe?? Any idea on how old it may be, if parts can be had for it or if it is a sought after lantern?
Welcome aboard! That lantern is similar to some Sears lanterns and some Preway lanterns, the filler cap appears to have been modified, more detailed images would help us to assist you. Simpson Sears-Sears Roebuck Preway - Prentiss Wabers
It is a Sears-Type Preway (Prentiss Wabers, Wisconsin) Lantern. Have not had one in my hands so far. Erik
The filler cap has definitely been modified as that is a second pump, but in my opinion, that lantern should restore well enough.
Those lanterns were manufactured from 1936 to 1941 and the link below shows relevant information, just scroll down the page a bit. US lantern manufacturers P – R
You are welcome and it's good to have a family lantern and hopefully you will get it working. I have not fettled one of those lanterns but there are other members of this forum who have.
It is a Prentiss-Wabers (PW) model L46S. They made the same lantern for resale by Sears. The Sears version would have a model number starting with 742.XXXX Sears used a three-digit number to identify manufacturers on their rebadged products, 742 being PW. Early PW lanterns used a combined pump/fuel cap, later the fuel fill port and pump port were separate. Your fuel cap has been replaced with an earlier pump/cap combo. It should be possible to find an original fuel cap. Post a "Want to Buy" thread in the classified section of the Coleman Collector's Forum or search the various auction sites. Here's a thread I did a couple years ago on the workings of various lanterns. Aladdin PL-1,Preway L-13 and Coleman 220 comparison - The Coleman Collectors Forum Scroll down to the PW section. I illustrated a different model, but close enough. There are some soft brass parts inside the valve that you can mess up if you aren't familiar with how they're put together. PWs are great lanterns, well built. Weakest points are the steel valve stem which is probe to rust on its dual seating faces and blockage of the tiny orifice in the fuel pickup. the globe for a Coleman 220, while not perfect, will work as originals are hard to come by.
