Hi all, things have been quiet for me re lamps & lanterns, but recently I bought a few more 'toys'! The first one to arrive is a sad looking Coleman 243B lantern. It arrived with the globe in a thousand pieces (anyone any idea what N° of replacement globe fits?) which is sad as it carried the green stencil with the Coleman name and half-sun logo. Never seen this type of lantern before in Belgium. I'll start cleaning it up this afternoon and tickle it back to life! What size of mantle does it use? I have no idea what CP it runs, I guess 200-250? There is another Coleman on it's way to me, but to be honest, I've no idea what N° it is! There was only 1 photo in the ad, and barely any info. I am hoping it might be a 237A but all them Colemans look the same! Number 3 is a Tilley, but not one that gives a lot of light... It is one of the ironing kind 8) . Again, first time I find a liquid fired iron in Belgium! We have the heavy cast sad irons, also the (bigger) ones where charcoal or hot embers from the black coal stove are used to heat the iron, but never liquid fueled ones. Ah well, I'll see if I can get it to work . Here are a couple photo's of the 243B as it arrived at mia casa, I hope to post some of the finished article soon! Not clearly visible, but it is dated 2 61. Best regards, Wim
Wim: I believe that the 243 will take the same bulged globe as the 200A series of lanterns. I usually use the Coleman 21 mantles, but other member may get better results with other mantles. Paul
Hello Wim, that's a good find and it's a scarce lantern and it should restore well enough, any small bag mantle will do and it takes the small Coleman bulge globe, but a globe from an Optimus 930 lantern will also fit, Jeff.
Hi Paul & Jeff, a new globe and a new vaporiser are on their way from Stuga Cabana in Germany. After cleaning out the rust in the pumptube, and cleaning & oiling the cup all seemed fine (no leaks) so I decided to try out the lantern. First flushed with acetone followed by panel wipe. I fitted a #21 mantle as I have quite a few of these. Then I found out the vap. was blocked. Took it of, pulled out the pricker and cleaned the nipple after unscrewing it from the vap. As the tube gets very hot they seem to tend to bend , so refitting the pricker always ended in the thin wire to bend. No way to get it back in undamaged. Oh well, there will surely be a trick to it! Now it all depends on the post offices of Germany & Belgium wether I can put things back in working order this weekend! BTW, the "other" Coleman also arrived today, turns out to be a Sport-Lite N°242B, made in Canada in 3/'47. Looks pretty good, nothing a good clean can't correct , only the green top is rusted on the inside. Other than that it looks like an easy fettle. Photos to follow! 8) All the best, Wim
Gratz Wim. It is going to look neat and cute with that hood . Good you got the bulgy glass. As I remember Stuga also have the glass wihtout a print - even cheaper. Claus C
Hi Claus, the hood came out nicely, fairly easy to get the dirt of it, and get it back into shape (not really to be seen on the photo, but it was deformed). The fount and other nickeled parts are very pitted. Anyhow, it is going to be a working lantern, so that's ok(ish) for me . All the best, Wim
Wim: You'll like the 242. It's my favorite. I used two this past weekend in a 1943 reenactment at Ft. Hancock, a Coast Artillery fortress on Sandy Hook, NJ. We lead 70 visitors on an evening tour of a number of gun batteries. Fortunately, the weather was mild and clear. Paul
