Hello everyone, A couple of recent purchases of mine. An Australian Coleman 249 - dated 1952 and an Austramax 3-300. A bit of shine up and both working fine. Just wondering about the Austramax - anyway to generally date the lantern? Tank stamping has "Patent Applied For" And I find the pump action on the Austramax a little loose - not always sealing, even though the pump leather is well oiled. Regards, Ken
@giri The Austramax is a relatively late model. Does it have a metal air release, or a red plastic one. “Patent Applied For” is on (as far as I know) all 3/300 Austramaxes, even the ones being made today. The patent application was in the 1940s. @Nils Stephenson has posted dating information on the Austramax series of lanterns. Check out the Reference Gallery and some of the material in the Reference Library. They are a great lantern. Cheers Tony
@Tony Press It has the metal air release. Leather pump cup, no writing on the frame ring and the valve knob with the "down" point. I'll have a look in the other sections of the site.
The Austramax is what I call an intermediate variation. The hood is a bit of a combination with the flat (ish) top plate but still with the many air holes. The handle is still the old one but the control wheel is the new one plus the pressure release and pump knob are still metal. My guess (emphasize guess) is that it is from around 1970 or a bit later.
@Nils Stephenson Thank you for the well educated guess. Do the new Austromax generators work on the older lanterns?
@giri The new generators work on the older models. Unless the jet is enlarged, the generators are easily refurbished (if you’ve got the pricker needle. Just take out the gauze, clean it, and clean the generator tube and nipple. Cheers Tony
