Hinks Pressure Lamp?

I'm sure a few of us must have been watching this - did anyone on here win it?

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151046881711

 

Um, don't know about this one.

The burner and parts just beneath it remind me of a Thomas Table Lamp - see Conny's lamp in the LRG...

 

It looks like a J.B Arch burner! /Conny

 

Looks cobbled together to me, probably about 50 years ago though, the tank is a typical Hinks oil lamp one with all the pressings, with the pressure required it would be very prone to stress cracks ....

 

Did Hinks ever produce a pressure lamp?

 

I wondered if it was a 'depression lamp' i.e. cobbled together from spare parts to get a working lamp in time of hardship.

I agree, the tank isn't designed to be a pressure vessel. It looks like the pump and filler cap have been fairly crudely soldered in and there are two pressure releases.

I wouldn't have paid £2.09 for it, never mind a hundred times that...

 

Hmmmm I could swear this is the exact same lamp...

http://lensantiquelamps.org.uk/500-00-hinks-brass-oilpressure-lamp-very-rare-lamp/

Indeed the link takes you to the earlier eBay listing.

 

Yes, but J. B. Arch bought their burners from Thomas!

 

Yes David....... and modified them into the J.B. Arch style burners . /Conny

 

...and that's why they look like Thomas burners which was what I said at the start...

 

Yeah I don't know about this one. A cobble? Yes maybe it is but sometimes you have to pay to see. What gave me pause was the fact that the name plate on the control seems way to wide to be from a wick lamp but designed to fit the larger wheel of a Pressure lamp. Then there is already a link between Hinks and Arch because my Arch wall lamp has a Hinks control wheel. We shall see and I will report in due course when it arrives and I have had time to ponder with it in hand. Either I have a bargain or just blown a small fortune. ::Neil::

 

Yep, I've taken that risk a couple of times. Hope it works out...

 

I was going to give him £80 to find out if it was real or not but he wasn't interested. That was the first time it was listed, then it was promptly re-listed for £500 BIN. Can't win them all now can I. 8)

 

The wick lamp ones I've seen were, shall I say more upmarket, and better made than that one too...

But to reword my earlier question is there any catalogue evidence that Hinks ever made a pressure lamp.

 

Not that I am aware of. I do know a Hinks specialist and I will be asking him that question. ::Neil::

 

It's possible that Hinks marketed rebranded Arch lamps, Jeff.

 

Well JB Arch were a hardware supplier and would have been selling Hinks lamps anyway so I guess we don't have to guess if they had contact with Hinks. Re branded is certainly possible although it is not normal to see what looks like a wick reservoir being used as a pressure tank. That aspect of this lamp does worry me some but we shall see. Not here yet and the bank holliday probably means some postal delay. ::Neil::

 

OK this arrived this morning and I am much relieved because I am sure it is the real deal. What looked like crude solder around the parts is in fact old polish residue and the actual fitting is factory finish quality. The second pressure release is almost certainly just an old replacement cap because under there is a blind well for meth. The same feature is also found on the Arch table lamp. The whole thing has a solid heavy feel to it and I am sure it is correct if not quite complete. One of the mantle caps is corroded away and the shade holder is missing. The finial is probably correct but the bolt is too clean for it to be original. The burner is almost certainly a Thomas but not modified because this lamp has a pricker so did not need the access for a hand held pricker. I have not yet dismantled anything so I have no details other than what I can see and was illustrated on the Bay. There is one curious thing though. Inside the meth well there seemed to be a small hole in the bottom and a visible inner rim. I inserted my little finger and pulled out this odd piece. Obviously missing an end filler cap but designed to hold a liquid because the small end cap has a rubber seal. An almost perfect fit inside the tube so I wonder is it original to the lamp? It does have a "tide mark" so perhaps this sat in the well and provided a measured fill for the preheater cup? ::Neil::

 

Who dares, wins...

 

Are all the parts or close substitutes still available to complete restoration or are some bits going to have to be made?

 

I am same as paul on this one no other pressure lamp has a crinkled font like this due to stresses in the metal forming must be a home made cobbled lamp just carnt see it being put out like that
If a few more turn up or paper can be found of course that would be different

pete

 

I found a listing for a Hinks wick lamp which has a very similar fount.

However the wick lamp has a filler cap in the top part which this pressure lamp doesn't have.

 

As Neil has mentioned, his Arch wall lamp has a Hinks control wheel, so that does connect those two companies and that table lamp may be an early Arch lamp, but that's all speculation just now, Jeff.

 

All I can say here is with over 40 years of playing with lamps I can tell the real thing when I hold it in my hands. The tank on this beast is heavier than you might expect for a wick lamp and ribbing does not mean stress. Coleman made ribbed table lamp bases and they don't crack. In fact if done correctly ribbing strengthens metal. There are no signs at all that this has been modified at any time since it left the factory. I have not dismantled anything yet but so far the only problems I can forsee are fettling the pump to function and seal. I will have to do something to the burner because one of the mantle caps has rusted away but that can be fixed by robbing parts from a Thomas table lamp. The main control rotates but I will have to free off the pricker control and see what the generator is like but these are pretty normal problems with any old lamp and I feel sure I will be able to make it run.

What I want to see now is evidence that Hinks did indeed market a range of pressure lighting. With two now turned up with the Hinks brand there has to be some paper out here to confirm this. ::Neil::

 

Stress cracking is more to do with the way the metal is treated or not treated after forming I think neil, but why make a new pressure lamp with all that decoration and risk it in the first place looks very much a oil lamp base rather than a pressure lamp tank. Coleman do make decorated lamps but I don't think the ribbing is quite the same either neil
You have seen another is it like this one? same burner?

pete

 

Are you bringing it to Newark, Neil?

 

Yes please do I'd like to see it too...

 

Neil, is it possible that this was an engineering or proof of concept lamp with a limited production run? I'm thinking something like the Aladdin (US) donut lamp. This might explain its rarity and the lack of paper.

To save development costs, the font could have been stamped using existing tooling and perhaps with a bit thicker material to withstand pressure.

In any case it really is a fabulous lamp and a terrific find on your part.

Dan

 

Unfortunately no. We cannot make Newark this year. Sylvia is not well enough to manage the trip and I will not go without her.

::Neil::

 

I have now removed the burner unit and the handle so I know a little more. I am a little puzzled but quite sure this tank was made as a pressure tank. The fuel feed is at most a 3/4" fitter into the tank. I have not removed it so I can't be sure but in any case the central hole is not near big enough for this to have ever been a wick lamp. The handle is a lump of cast iron and I am not convinced it is original because the fitter for the burner is shaped slightly too small to locate the handle centrally and the handle is maybe a quarter inch too long. I suspect the original handle may have been a similar shape but of wood and slightly shorter with an upper centering boss to match the fitter nut of the burner. That of course rather begs the question of the iron handle which looks so right on this lamp.

I have no experience of Hinks lamps so I can't comment on the style of tank. If we get the chance I will take it to a Hinks fanatic to get an opinion.

So it was always a pressure lamp. There is no way I can be sure the burner is corect for the lamp but I suspect it may be because the Hinks controls sort of match the style of tank and we know that Arch burners came sometimes with Hinks control wheels.

A one off prototype? Well maybe but you could say that about any lamp that we only know of as a single example. Without evidence to the contrary we have to assume any product is made for general sale. This one is about 90 years old and would for sure have been expensive so there would never have been large numbers made or sold. You have to think like a manufacturer here. Say they made a batch of 100 and then offered them for sale. Luxury goods and maybe you only sell 20 in a year. That pretty well ensures you don't make any more and maybe after another year you scrap the ones left on the shelf. So 20 to 30 sold in the 1920s? How many survivors are likely? One or two perhaps and this could easily be the only one.

Then we don't know what might have happened to it in the last 80 years or so. A brass tank and cast burner woud survive well enough but maybe the wooden handle split and some clever guy found a cast equivalent and made it fit? Who knows? I don't for sure. What we need here is an advert for the lamp. That would do two things by confirming the beast is correct and would also show the shape and style of handle and burner. ::Neil::