Listening to Celtic music from WGBH in Boston via Internet radio, checking the weather using my Roku, and enjoying the warmth and light from my M320, K80, and sanctuary candle. Life is good
Hi Al, Nice cozy retreat with a great couple of lamps. I like the looks of what appears to be an old radio on the shelf, too. WGBH is a great station. I'm lucky enough to get it over the air as I'm in the Boston area. Been listening to it for decades. Dan
The radio is a Philco "tombstone" tuned-radio-frequency (TRF) receiver from the late 20s. Regrettably, there is no signal in the basement for it to hear! I need to build a small AM transmitter to connect to the sound board. I used to collect pre-WWII radios when I was an electronics tech. I had my own tube tester, calibrated signal generator, and oscilloscope to test and repair the pre-heterodyne radios. I had to pass on all but two radios as my life went through uncomfortable changes. Public Radio is wonderful!
Tonight it's the Albert Lea, with music by Shooglenifty, and novel by Phil Rickman. I think I need a cider to finish this one
Oh, most of us do "old meets new" often as you might see if you browse back the few years CPL has existed. It's just a natural thing since lamps/lanterns is our thing, just as computers since we obviously is able to use them... It would be hard to post here without some computure knowledge. Here's the two first found from the old ones from me: ( original topic seen here.) ( Full original topic is here.) The observant might notice that not only the beer has changed, but also one of the monitors. Nowadays I use a proper monitor for both computers.
It all looks friendly! I've grown fond of lighting my Standard when I'm working in the shop, even though I have ample fluorescent lighting. I plan to put in a metal ceiling so that I can hang a few lanterns now and then when hosting a "beer and kippers" gathering of neighbors.
I notice that you use a combination of candles and lamps too. In our house the candles are my wife's thing, she used to own a business selling them, the lamps are mine... Every weekend we turn back the clock several decades and light the house almost exclusively with lamps and candles, although no pressure lamps - the only two I own are outdoor lamps. I have had them lit indoors but as a rule I don't. The Aladdins are pretty bright and as a rule I rarely run them at anywhere near full brightness, they do give off a wonderful soft warm light with the shades on.
I have three Aladdins that don't get lit very often. Aladdins were my first real lamps, and I used one frequently when I was in college because of frequent power failures. (Friends would come over, and we ran the computer on golf cart batteries!) I don't run mine bright also since I've never liked their tendency to "run away" and over-burn. I do like the color and the warmth.
I think it's a bit of a black art getting the Aladdins to run perfectly, they really are quite fussy about how you trim the wick.. It took me quite a while to get it right and get a feel for allowing them to warm up and where to set them etc. They tend to run away in both directions too, I've often just tweaked mine down a touch only to find them slowly fade to virtually nothing over the next half hour... It really is quite an annoying tendency they have.
The performance of Aladdin mantle lamps does vary and I have found that the model 14 (Super Aladdin) burner is the most reliable. The temperature of the oil also affects the performance of the lamp, which is why the wick has to be turned back down after the lamp has been lit for a while. It is important to use the proper Aladdin wick cleaner and I use it each time before I light the lamp and Aladdin lamps have to be kept very clean. When I light an Aladdin lamp I leave the wick turned well down for about 15 minutes, that allows the lamp to warm up. Wick fed mantle lamps are fussy and it takes a while to get to know their ways, Jeff.
I learned the trick of letting the lamp warm up early on. The draft of the chimney changes significantly as it heats up. I may be mistaken, but it also appears that the performance changes with the weather (high or low barometer). I do use the Aladdin wick trimmer each and every time as Jeff does. My secondary issue is cats mucking about, and the heat blast from the top of the chimney (I do have deflectors installed). Has anyone noticed the green tint to the light if a slow warm up is not provided?
We had one when I was much, much younger (after the part-line closed). I can still remember many of our district neighbours telephone numbers...
I can't say I have... I do have one (Model 12) though that is particularly flickery and inclined to soot up even when set low, for that reason it's not used at the moment. I'm pretty sure it's a wick issue and that the wick has been contaminated in some way. I'll find out when I get round to replacing the wick in the next week or so. All said and done I love the light from an Aladdin...
