Hi all, I was gifted 2 lanterns recently. I was half excited by the Handi as it had good glass and had the Blue collar tag for shellite/petrol instead of the red kerosene tag ( I have about 12 kerosene handis and this was first shellite one). Unfortunately someone had spray painted the whole lantern, hood included. But to my main question, does anyone recognise what the larger lantern below is. It seems to be in good condition, but the glass apertures are fairly small compared to railway/roads lamps I have seen. I took a pic of the hinge which has markings on it, but they are very difficult to make out (possibly a "DEP" on the right and maybe "400"? stamped on extreme left. It is a large lantern and no bail, so is it possible it was a stationary lamp for railway or main roads dept? Ps - I am located in Queensland, Australia if it helps identify lamp.
Are the apertures opposite each other? Is one red and the other green or white? At first guess I would have said a railway signal lamp. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Railway_Signal_lamp_-_Israel_Railway_Museum2.jpg
That bigun looks like it would survive a storm, so inclined towards a signalling marine application. Can't think what though. Smugglers? A bit big. Gneiss might be on track with railway. The stamped markings look like SQ DEP. South Queensland Department or Depot? The little square one is similar to a semaphore signal lamp I have used on the railways. The hinged lid with chain was (I am told) to accommodate a heat sensor to show 'lamp out' in the signal box.
Found a better example... I'm no expert but I've seen similar looking lamps that stood on a little platform that could be rotated remotely.
yep, gneiss that picture makes me think it must be a railway lantern. It has the same shape of upper hood/lid. But your pic looks like it has a larger glass opening on opposite side and mine has two small openings. Both clear glass. And sorry Derek, I could've been clearer. The smaller square lamp fits inside the larger lamp. It has brackets it slides into to stop it turning around the circle. I guess it is possible that different internal lamps could be swapped out with different coloured glasses. Anyway, I'm convinced by gneiss' photo it is rail related. Oneday someone maybe able to share more details, like date, maker etc I guess some people collect rail lamps, but a personal observation is that Pressure lanterns always sell on the evil bay and rail/main roads kero lamps often end with no bids. I find it a curiosity, but not like a good pressure lantern. thanks for the help
That's because they're wickie-crap, naturally! I didn't know the Handi Kero-Pet came in a Shellite version - I'd always assumed the clue to the fuel was in the name. Perhaps you might consider taking more photographs and post them in the Lamp Reference Gallery...
Hi David, I'm not sure of details exactly, but I think the Kero-pet refers to being able to run on either KERO or PETrol, requiring only a change of generator. The difference between the blue label (petrol/shellite) lanterns and the red label (which say something like "we recommend the use of Pennant kerosene" of the top of my head) is only the generator. I could be completely wrong about this. The blue label is the only part of outside of the lantern not painted unfortunately and it would not be a fair reference of lantern overall. feel free to reply and tell me to stop before I do something stupid in next couple of days and try using paint stripper to return it to its more 'natural state'. (surely it is wrong to put it in gallery the way it is. I am happy to add closeup pics of the collar labels for comparison) cheers Antony
Ah, pet = petrol - I hadn't thought of that, never having heard of the petrol variety. Every day's a school day on CPL. I'd be stripping and respraying it in the correct colour, too. If you're going to do that soon, maybe you could delay adding the photographs to the LRG until then and post a couple of 'before' pictures, too. But even as it is, I'd have thought images of the petrol-specific bits would be of general interest...
That would probably be a bit of a waste of time. The only difference was the jet and the label. The label on KeroNut's Handi is the last type that was used and I believe it covered either type of fuel. The 'usual' (or earlier) label on the petrol (shellite) models is like the one here.
How is a Handi Kero-Pet "All British"? I've obviously missed something with these lanterns. Are you suggesting there's no point in posting images of more than one lantern of each type in the LRG, Nils? I would have thought it was a case of the more, the merrier. Looking at the LRG, that seems to be the way it works currently...
No, there should definitely be many examples of different models in the gallery. I was just trying to say that showing the petrol bits wouldn't reveal anything new. Considering that there are a lot of variations of the Handi Kero-Pet we could do with a lot more in the gallery. On a related note. I have noticed that some of the brands in the gallery could use sub galleries (or whatever they should be called) for different models. From what I have heard, back in the 50s and before most Australians considered themselves to be British. I remember finding an old passport of my fathers from the 50s which even stated on the front that it was a British passport, even though it was Australian.
Indeed! I've seen that on some too, and have actually created a new sub forum quite recently. It's an ongoing task as more and more lamps are posted. If many lamps of the same model turn up, a new sub-forum should be created. It's hard to put an exact amount, but surely a model with several posts deserve a section of their own? I can't remember, but I have a vague recollection that we said around five lamps at the start, but that sound a bit to many. Perhaps three or thereabout? It might have to be a judgement from case to case. I'll have a browse the next days, but if you know any specific model, just let me know.
Certainly as far as marrying British citizens is concerned, Australians have far fewer rights than those people who come from our European partner countries. But I still fail to see how a lantern made in Australia, by Australians from Australian parts is "All British". Maybe I've got that wrong somewhere. In the LRG, should we move Handi from the Australia sub-forum into the Britain one?
Well we are in the Commonwealth. But British Empire might be pushing it. I believe my fathers passport in the 60s also stated British Empire on it and I vaguely remember him referring to his stint in Vietnam as "queen's paid holiday". Handi must have been staunch monarchists Maybe it was a marketing thing.
David, That assumes you Poms (apologies to the non-pommie Brits) made things better than we Aussies! Cheers Tony
Must have - it closed in 1890. Not that the term 'pom' is anything to do with prisoners, apparently. It's thought it came about because Brits in Australia were generally immigrants and within a few days of arriving their formerly pale skin resembled that of a pomegranate - yellow with extensive red patches. Now since, in Australia, pomegranate apparently rhymes with immigrant (and you wonder why there are no known Aussie poets... ), Brits became known as 'pomegrants'. This soon became abbreviated to 'poms' since Australians are incapable of pronouncing words of more than two syllables - hence 'metho' and the like. Thus there is not, nor ever was, such thing as a "non-Pommie Brit" 8)
Mmmmm Best we all stay away from that one aye Don't want the equivalent to the CCS American elephant thread to get going here do we
The Prisoners Of Millbank prison wore jackets with P.O.M. on the back in big letters. They were in the main destined for the transports that took them to Australia where they were instantly called 'Poms' or Pommies. Well that's a second version I was told after saying it was because they began to look like Pomegranates shortly after arriving. So take your pick. Clive James is an Auzzie, and apart from TV shows and authored books, has written some fine songs.
Except. I also note some dumb-ass T-shirt printer couldn't manage to spell 'whingeing' correctly... Apparently the first recorded use of 'pom' was some decades after Millbank closed so I don't see that as a likely explanation.
I've found that the words "British Passport" weren't removed from the cover of the Australian passport until 1967. Info can be found here.
... All meant in jest... And David's pomegranate explanation is better than many. But my reference to the non-Brit poms was that Aussies often distinguish between the English and the Scots (not so much the Welsh) and would not include people from the non-British part of the United Kingdom as poms... Now back to British Australian lamps. When I was a kid, the British Empire was a real, but fading, memory. We celebrated Empire Day, but it graded into "Cracker Night" (fireworks) and eventually disappeared. So, indeed, the Handi lamp makers were probably marketing their lamps as made in the British Empire as a symbol of quality. Cheers Tony
Yowzah! - this was a bit of an eye-opener:- 1983: Permission of husbands no longer required for the issue of passports to wives. I presume that was also once the case in the UK but I've no idea when it was rescinded... Anyway, the difference between Great Britain, the United Kingdom and such escapes me at present but I'll leave you with this. Warning - meant as a joke but very much of its time (1960s) and likely to offend those with a PC nature, sensitive souls and bloody foreigners...
David: Great Britain is that largish island on which you live. The State in which you live is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island. There was a State in the 1700s called Great Britain which went on to become the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland, which went on to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island. Cheers Tony
Northern Ireland. Anyhow, it goes further than that. What about, for example, the Isle of Wight, the Isle of Man, Lundy Island and all the rest? I think even the Irish Republic figures in some of the classifications. And Rockall, IIRC. Ross did provide definitions of the various demarcations at one point and it made sense then. However, the memory fades...
Whoops... Automatic spell-check fail on my part! I apologise to my ancestors. If Scotland cedes, will it become the United Kingdom of England, Wales and Northern Ireland? Enough! Enough!
