Now that my 829 super rapid is working as Herr Graetz intended, I am preparing to do an "overhaul" on another lantern, a Hipolito 500, this one has an interesting story, apparently was bought in Canada in the sixties, and used extensively in the Peruvian Andes, then stored with fuel for an unspecified amount of time, the fuel went sour and turned into turpentine,the pump leather is dry as a piece of wood, I know the pump check valve is leaking, but otherwise the lantern is a very good looking specimen. The lantern fount has been filled and left soaking with denatured alcohol for more than a month, shaken at least once a week, and I just dropped the leather into light oil for an overnight soak, I will have to decide it the leather is viable by tomorrow.
Hi WN Gratulation with curing your petromax 829 for its disease Its no secret I love Hipolitos while it was my first lamp as a kid. As you probably know, your Hipolito 502 is the same construction as the Petromax 829, and I think they are even better build . You can use the same spares. The leather in the pump is a good idea soaking in oil. When softenend up I can recommend you to give it a good layer of vaseline or consistency-grease, it will fill the pores in the leather and keep it soft. Good luck fettling this fine lamp - it has come a long way to where it is now. Claus C
So, this afternoon the wife, daughter and dog went for an afternoon "date".... first I made sure they were gone, waving as they turned the corner, and ran to unpack the goodies: then shook the fount with a handful of small bearings several times and drained until there was no more "garbage" Dis assembled the whole thing, the parts were caked with tar, and not pretty looking, they were soaked in warm vinegar, washed with soap and water, and the Preston loop got a good wash with carb cleaner, then dried properly.
Then I began reassembly, I made sure to put a new foot valve, and new lead washers once assembled, I had to test it, I had a problem with not tightening the generator jamb nut properly and the preheater nozzle being clogged,which made the start "interesting" ( don't worry, I still have my eyebrows intact...sort of...) and now it is having a "test burn" for almost an hour next to her cousin from Germany PS: it is a Hipolito model 500, not a 502, at least it is what it says on the fount...
Excellent! Whenever I fit that type of vapouriser/generator, I coat the thread which the jam nut screws onto with some soap from a bar of hand soap, that helps to make a tight seal. Coleman recomended that procedure, I recall reading it in some old Coleman paperwork, Jeff.
It is always easier to fettle the second one. NIce job. This is actually model 500R. The markings are the same but the 500 is alcohol pre heat only and this one with Rapid pre heater has an R suffix. Nice early one too. The pre heater torch type makes it 1954 to 1964. These Hipolito types with the two tone control wheel pre date the period when Petromax were made in the factory. Nice one. ::Neil::
I am still hunting for lanterns, do not like to shop online, for me, it detracts from the excitement of finding items in the "wild", I may start to restore a 1954 Coleman 220 I have laying around, next weekend.
know what you mean WN, just had a weekend of two car boots sales and a bygone fair,,, kept to a tenner a lamp max and came back with two and a wikkie,,,left behind a lovely TL146 with a huge cream shade as i'd spent out...must have walked a couple of miles,still scraping the mud off my boots,
In my list I will be looking for items from Primus, Optimus, Aida, Tilley ( pre ww2) and whatever on that style I can find, I am leaning towards all brass, kero breathing machines, they shine really nice and look clasy, I have seen some pictures of some french lanterns that are really good looking, unfortunately I am on the other side of the pond, and hunting those ladies is very difficult.
