I appear to be losing pressure via a slow leak at the round turn knob that controls the prick. I have pull the generator control mechanism and was wondering if there is meant to be a seal somewhere on the shaft? Apologies for poor description, that’s what the pic is for
@Mustlust The packing nut that surrounds the pricker mechanism shaft has graphite in it as a seal. Turn the nut 1/4 to the right. If that does not fix the leak, do it again. If that does not fix it, you might need to replace the graphite packing. Cheers Tony
Thanks Tony, I guess the graphite packing was the black grit that fell onto the bench. Where would I source a replacement?
A quick fix is to unscrew the packing nut, get some teflon tape and twist it into a string and wind around the shaft, then screw in the packing nut. That will hold in most cases and should definitely work until you can find some graphite.
@Mustlust That is the graphite on the bench. I can send you enough to fix your lantern, or you can get a fettler’s supply from @Trojandog. Cheers Tony
Hi @Mustlust I can't talk with authority about the Aladdins, but I've used gas tape as @Nils Stephenson has said for flange nut seals on Tilley and Austramax. Make sure you pick out all remaining graphite. Twist the tape tightly into a string and coil that string up around the shaft, then tighten the nut down on it. It has proven good on numerous lanterns and held up to repeated use. And, right or wrong, I have the correct seals for the Tilley but have left them in the drawer and chosen gas tape because I like the feel of the action better than with, in case of tilley, the o ring seal. I don't know for sure if it will work longer term but I have been running some lanterns regularly with this approach, have had no problems with it, and have no reason right now to believe it won't hold up as a long term replacement. I am using yellow thread seal from bunnings - it costs next to nothing for a roll that you will use a very small part of.
So the graphite simply compacts into a rigid form to seal around the shaft???? I’ll give the tape a try as I have some in the shed and see how that works. Thanks everyone for the input
That's pretty much how it works. If you buy the genuine article from the manufacturer, they are usually preformed into a cylinder. I have some of the graphite sheets from Trojandog and it works well. Here you just cut off a thin strip which you then wind around the shaft before tightening the nut. It then compacts into the right shape.
This is what I use and highly recommend. It is modern graphite rope. The rope is 3mm or 4mm, to be truthful, I can't remember exactly what thickness it is. Whatever the actual thickness is, it is too large to be used in packing nuts. However, the thing about this rope is, it is in 3 strands. It easily unwinds and you can use either a single strand or two strands and that takes care of any gland nut I have encountered. I have a very diverse collection of very early Arc and hollow wire lamps up to the Aladdin model you show. Never once has it been a problem re-packing gland nuts that are on prickers or shut off valves. In fact, it has done a very good job on certain things aside form packing gland nuts.
I've just realised it was you that started the Tilley EX4 topic. I'll send you some of this graphic rope for you to try out along with the Tilley parts.
The following excludes Europe of which I know nothing about. It pertains to American pressure lamp lighting. Gasoline 'Arc' lamps and hollow wire lamps are the forerunners to today's modern pressure lamps. Some hollow wire lamps were described as arc lamps. Once a commercially viable and stable mantle was able to be produced, that enabled burners to be mounted on pressure vessels and used successfully. In the case of hollow wire lamps, the vessel (tank) was usually but not always, separate from the lamp. 1896/97 is the era when 'Arc' lamps and hollow wire lamps were first commercially produced in sufficient numbers to supply the general public. Gasoline 'Arc' lamps are not arc lamps at all. Electric lights had well and truly been established in the major cities by the time a mantle could be manufactured to withstand the rigours of pressure lighting for any length of time. These mantles were upright and not of the inverted kind we know so well today. Once the invention of mounting mantles on their own base came about, that then, allowed the more practical mounting of mantles onto pressure burners. Electric arc lamps were well known for how bright they were. They were true arc lamps. I suspect by the time pressure lighting, as we know it, became a reality, the term 'arc" had become generic for a bright light. Manufacturers of the new pressure lighting applied that generic term to their own products. Here are some photo's of some hollow wire and a 'Arc' lamp that I own. Sorry, the photos are rough but you will get the general gist.
Hollow wire refers to the small bore pipes that fed fuel to various lamp and stove or heater fittings from a remote fuel tank. Hollow wire means pipe or tube. These pipes are about the same size as a domestic electric lighting cable hence Hollow wire. ::Neil::
@Mackburner Thanks for mentioning the hollow wire. In attempting to not be a bore on the subject and keep things as short as possible I forgot to mention the reasoning as to why hollow wire lamps got their generic name. In the spirit of crappy photos I have already uploaded in this topic, here is another one. This is a Knight Light badged fuel tank, or reservoir, as they were known back in the day Typically, the tank would be stored within a basement or outside the building the lamps were in. The fuel is pumped, under pressure, through the brass hollow wire tubing to the lamps. The hollow wire lamp above the Knight Light tank is a Acorn Brass Works lamp. In the early days, the storage of the fuel tanks was problematic for many owners. Sometimes the tanks were stored outside the front of retail shops such as barbers and general merchants. This caused citizens to be nervous of walking by what they considered a bomb waiting to go off. It didn't help matters when some shop keepers were storing not only the fuel supplies needed for their lamps, they started storing and selling fuel to customers, without any thought as to how to control a fire situation. In the US, some counties banned the use of gasoline lamps and in fact some states banned the use and manufacture of gasoline lamps. Ohio, springs to mind. Other counties began to draft and implement regulations as to where reservoirs were permitted to be stored. Dedicated fuel depots were enacted to stop anyone and everyone storing and selling fuel.
So, at risk of appearing ignorant, I guess these lights came into being between gaslight and the electric bulb, and utilized where brighter lighting was wanted??????
Well sort of. In fact pressure mantle lamps successfuly competed with electricity for quite some time. Domestic style light bulbs were poor things right up to around the mid to late 1920s and a pressure lamp was a lot brighter. There had been electic arc lamps around since before 1900 but they were industrial only. Gas lighting was pretty good after the invention of the incandescent mantle in the 1880s but the domestic variety was only ever about as good as a gasoline lamp and they could not be supplied as a portable device. Another significant factor particularly in rural areas was a lack of gas or electric supply. Some areas of the UK for instance did not have an electric supply until the 1980s or so. Jeff in Shetland can tell you more about that. ::Neil::
Aside from a durable mantle there were a number of engineering difficulties that had to be overcome when manufacturing the early pressure lighting. There was also the quality of gasoline and what glass to use for globes. Early gasoline was problematic for the solids it contained. Those solids limited the size of the jet that could be reliably used. Once better refining improved the quality of gasoline that meant the size of the jet orifice could be reduced. Reducing the size of the jets orifice was problematic in itself. Drill bits that were small enough don't appear to have been available and it wasn't until piano wire of a small enough diameter came along that the problem was solved. The piano wire was adapted to be used as a drill bit. The following is by Robert Doran. Doran was a giant of early pressure lamp lighting. If he had these problems - everyone had these problems to overcome. In the article - not shown - Doran mentions it was electric light globes that were originally used on the lamps. He also mentions until it was worked out how to produce the hollow wire of 1/16th of an inch in sufficient quantities, that was problematic too.
That small section about drilling is most interesting. I have been experimenting on soft brass with a .008" guitar string in a PCB drill. I have not so far taken much effort to create any sort of drill tip on it but there has been some success. The spring in the wire is much more forgiving than the usual tungsten carbide drills. Those snap with the slightest sideways force. Seems I should continue.
Jon, If they could adapt piano wire and drill through 3/8" of brass @ .009", I suspect you - 120 years later, will be able to drill your PCB's. I'd think that once the need arose for such small drill bits, it wouldn't have taken long for a manufacturer to take on the task of supplying said drill bits. Especially due to the quantities needed with more and more lamps that were being rolled off production lines as they gained popularity.
The thing about drilling brass with piano wire is the lack of flutes to remove the swarf. Have to withdraw the wire and dive back in to clear it. I found little problem to do that once the hole was started. How they can make drill flutes at .008" diameter or so completely beats me. Anyway too off topic - better start a new one! Apologies to OP - I hope it was of some interest.
