I have completed my restoration of this Wiktorin alcohol gravity lamp. The tank and burner housing are steel and it was a piece of rust when I bought it. I have tried to preserve the original parts where possible. The globe is from another make of lamp. Patent information here (subscribers only): [url=http://0flo.com/index.php?threads/4809
Hi What a fabulous resto job 8) , i have watched your progress with great interest & admiration 8) Its' great to see it finished finaly , please can we see some more pic's of the burner in action 8) . Well done again Stu
Great job James! This trigs me to restore the one of the same model I have here waiting for a second life. Alcohol and steel is not a very good combination, the tank is like a tea strainer, just like yours must have been. Do you know if the colour is the original? I can't find any fragments of painting on mine, all rust red Bo
Hi Bo. I am not sure about the original colour but there were some flecks of silver paint left on the handle. There also appeared to be what looked like black enamel on the inside of the chimney.
Great job there James . As Bo I have one rusty piece myself in need of a thorough restoration. I will maybe have a go at it this summer. /Conny
Well another one has sold on ebay and it has some leftover black enamel on the chimney parts. I thought it might have been electroplated but I guess not.
Greetings James. A lovely looking lamp and I understand what you mean by the rust etc. Have been restoring one I purchased a while back. It was mentioned here as the one with black enamel etc. The colour is the nearest I could get to the remaing pain on the tank etc. Now have endeavoured to light. It does light but the flame is rather poor. Can you shed any light on what may be the problem. I suspect a fuel/air problem but cannot find a solution as this time.
I don't get a very good flame from mine either. I haven't figured out why but I think it might be because I do not have the correct globe for it. The lamp is supposed to have a globe with an inner chimney that concentrates the heat around the mantle.
Hi I possibly have the inner glass you are talking about...perhaps !!?? please do a picture of the inside of the burner (where this glass is mounted) I suppose there is a 3 pins fixation. If this is this kind of mounting, your round big glass should not have a hole or one or 2 very ones. this was the system in use in city gas lamps for exemple in Paris in the beginning of the last century. The fresh air comes by the top of the lamp, and becomes warmer while falling down near the mantle. This allows the light to be brighter.
There are some pictures of the gallery on this thread for a similar lamp: http://www.siamtakeang.com/webboard/index.php?topic=1033.0 I also have some pictures of the glass that Conny sent me (Conny I hope you don't mind me reposting these): The outer glass is held in with a wire clip. The inner glass sits on the rim of the outer glass. I am also missing the ceramic nozzle although I made something to fit.
It could possibly be that. But I found that when I gently blew air into the intake tube with the compressor the mantle fairly glowed. My thought is the mixing compartment and tubes may have some obstruction preventing a good draw on air. Also it has a tendency to pulse. Just another of the fun challenges of having lamps.
A question you can possibly answer. What sort of mantle did you use. I made do with a 100CP soft mantle. Will a hard mantle similar to the aladdin type work?
As far as I know the wiktorin used a straight inner globe, like the graetzin, and a outer globe with top holes for indoor use and a closed globe for outdoor use.
James that might be the case. I bought an old vesta hard mantle which fitted nicely. Lit it and it glowed rather well then the arse got blown out of it. Suspect it was the brittle nature of the mantle that caused that to occur. Have also tried a coleman #21 mantle but doesn't seem to glow as much. Have uploaded the photo of the hard mantle lit.
