Hi all, I got this nifty 506 recently. After cleaning and disassembly, what to my wondering eyes did appear but an all-complete (down to needle and if not original certainly old glass) example. Odd thing is that the valve knob is Bakelite but the rest of the lantern reads earlier than the Bakelite era of Ditmar (those more expert than I, please comment!). I’m wondering whether to paint the fount feldgrau or leave it as is — previous owner obviously polished it at some point in the past. Ventilator is thickly coated in old enamel. Almost perfect with a bubble here and there. The glass is marked Ditmar No 814, and I’m not familiar enough to say whether that’s a lantern model number of the model number of the glass. Thoughts welcome. It’s bright, brighter than it appears after blinding the photoeye of my iPhone. At least 300 cp, maybe more, and very, very quiet. All in all, a pretty cool old lantern IMO. Enjoy and I’d love to hear what you might think of the age . . . Best Ulf.
Ooooh! I like that - to me the cage and globe have a light house sort of feel to it Leave the fount for the moment to see how you feel after a bit of time.
@Ulf Your Ditmar 506 is complete and original Ditmar pressure lamps are an extremely interesting collection area.I own 4 different versions of the Ditmar 506.Ditmar 506s usually do not have numbers on the bottom of the tank.But I have now seen a galvanized 506 with 12/41.I also have a 506 made of brass but without nickel plating.This lamp must also come from this time.The last versions of the 506 no longer had protective rings around the glass cylinder.The Ditmar 506 was probably manufactured from 1941/1942 until the 1950s. Unfotunately, there is no reliable Information about this.I consider the rare nickel-plated brass Ditmar 509 and 519 to the predecessors to the iron 505 and 506.
Thanks fellows! Reinhard, thank you for your expertise. I must say that I think Ditmar and HASAG are some of my very favorite lanterns. They are fun to work on, very bright—although here in the USA parts are very scarce and usually some improvisation is required. In this case it had the old left hand thread NRV (RH thread into the fount, LH to take the NRV apart), too. Those old NRVs are big, solid things and built to last. I was lucky that it unscrewed easily, however! Ulf.
I'd agree with Reinhard that this model is from the early wartime period. The glass cylinder is an old original, too. I too wonder why this lantern has the Bakelite handwheel, but after all it belongs to Ditmar lanterns and may have been replaced at some time by a previous owner. You never know... The tank is without plating as for the restrictions of use for non-ferrous metals during the war. I once saw a sheet from Ditmar which declares that this does not affect the quality. So I would definitely leave it unpainted. I have the same model here but without the additional glass protection rings. It also has the small filling tray outside the glass made from brass with the rounded bottom. Edit: found the sheet, it seems to be from 1941:
Martin, thank you — that is wonderful information. I will leave this old one unpainted, for sure! Since the glass is an old original I may have to have a mica chimney made so that I can use it without fear of breaking the glass. Ulf.
My older 506s are also equipped with this black bakelite handwheel.This bakelite handwheel may have been introduced earlier than we thought.
