Am I correct in thinking that this 1937 Petromax 827 hood should not look like this, and that it has been squashed? Also the case with the hood on this Petromax 900: Petromax 900 Little Baby Lantern (incomplete) Cheers Tony
I wonder whether it makes a difference to the way it burns? I should try to straighten it, I suppose. Tony
The hood can be straightened by inserting a suitable glass bottle and carefully rolling it back and forth on a hard surface until the posts have straightened. First, you can also use the bottle upside down with the hood over it to stretch it carefully by hand by simply holding the hood by the curved part and pressing it down. I have done this several times with good results, even with hoods where some of the posts were broken. Perhaps it would be necessary to heat the posts first to soften the metal. But from my experience this should already be sufficiently the case due to the previous use.
You can also first put a round object in a vice, then put the outer hood over it and press down. This will straiten the first part. Then roll it or use some matching pliers to straiten, not stretching, the rest.
There were 3 different hood caps for this Petromax 827 with Drehrapid. First nickel plated with the Petromax mark, then completely red-enamelled and finally red-enamelled with a chrome-plated cover plate.
@Reinhard The cap on mine is the all red enamel (with a few more missing patches). I need to do a repair to the top piece of the hood to which the cap fits directly. I will do that before straightening the hood. Cheers Tony
I decided that the least intrusive and straightforward way to overcome the corroded holes in the hood was to make a brass plate that would sit on top, under the cap and sandwich the hood when the cap screws were used to affix the cap. I used brass from a wrecked Tilley X246B tank: I hand cut and sanded the brass using the reinforcing plate (Verstärkungsplatte, part 116) as the template and drilled two 3mm holes for the screws. This will work well, and it has the “T” of the Tilley to denote its origin. Cheers Tony
@Tony Press Well done Could you show a picture of all your Petromax that are equipped with "Drehrapid" ? From the front and from above and if still visible the tank scratches ?
@Reinhard I will put photos of this lantern in the Reference Gallery later this week (I will do the photographs tomorrow). I’ve already posted one in the Reference Gallery (Petromax "Rapid" 828 (1938)) and I think the only other “Drehrapid” I have is a “5 8” 882 (Petromax 882 “Rapid”), but I’ll check. Tony
@Tony Press Ok,thank you. Was there previously an exclusive Petromax dealer in Australia ? Maybe with their own nameplates ?
@Reinhard I’ve never come across an Australian nameplate on a Petromax. Unlike the UK, Aladdin Industries (Australia) did not have a relationship with Petromax in the pre-WWII period. Rather, they had a relationship with Radius for the supply of Aladdin-branded pressure lamps. Prior to WWII a company called “Danks” in Sydney marketed Petromax quite heavily so they may have been the Australian agent. I’ve not looked in detail at the post WWII period, but again, Aladdin Australia did not market Petromax, and Petromax were being sold retail by Nettlefold in Melbourne (who were the “N” in KN—> Kayen). Tony
@Reinhard I found tis link about Danks: https://www.danks.com.au/public/company/timeline/timeline.htm Cheers Tony
