Here are some notes on getting this Australian-made Gloria Table Lamp up and running. Given that it has some unusual features, I thought it worthwhile posting this thread. As it came: The burner cowl. This burner cowl has no stampings, just a "Gloria" badge that is screwed to the cowl. The screw fittings and screws that hold the glass are different from the Chicago-made Gloria hollow wire burner that I have; most notably, shorter screws with different knurling, and the screw fitting is longer than the US model. The burner cowl was badly bent and needed a fair bit of straightening. One screw was so fused it needed to be shaved off with a Dremel cutting wheel. I found a paint tin that was exactly the correct diameter to act as a form to re-shape the cowl. The re-shaping was mainly worked by rotating the cowl over the tin, but I also did a little bit of gentle panel beating where needed. The burner tube and burner cap. The burner tube had many generations of mud wasp nests. In all the mud was solid from the generator end to about 2cm form the burner cap. It was difficult to remove, being curved, so eventually I resorted to soaking the whole thing in soapy water and blowing the remaining mud out with compressed air from the burner cap end. I then brushed the inside of the burner tube as clean as I could. The generator. I took the generator apart and re-packed it. I unscrewed both ends of the generator. The old packing (asbestos, I assume; bagged up tightly). New packing wrapped in fine brass mesh. I made mesh 'caps' for each end of the packing in case any packing worked loose. The fuel stem and handle. The fuel stem unscrewed from the riser above the handle allowing the handle to be carefully removed. Both ends of the fuel stem have hexagonal fitting soldered to the pipe. The external valve. Note: This lamp has a built-in pump. The pump has a tapered end like a Coleman, and works, for pressuring the tank, the same way a Coleman does but it does not have a check valve at the bottom of the pump tube like a Coleman. Bob (@Lamp_Doctor), who has looked at the similar arrangement on a Gloria 33, informs me that there is a small diameter pipe from the bottom of the pump tube to the bottom of the external valve. (I don't have the facilities to take a photo inside my tank). Within this external valve housing is a shaped brass 'cone'. A hexagonal nut seals the top of the external valve, with the brass 'cone' sitting unrestricted inside. This is the brass cone. It sits in here. The lamp is also fitted with a filler cap that takes an external pump and has a check valve (see below). Servicing the check valve in the filler cap. The ball bearing in the check valve needed to be de-rusted and the fitting cleaned. I replaced the retaining wire with a dress-makers pin. Painting the handle. The handle was originally finished in green with crackled green and gold. The paint layers were (from wood to outside): blue (not seen externally); gold; and green. I left the bottom of the handle with the original paint. I do not have the equipment to try to remake the 'crackled' gold, so I decided to paint a layer of gold and, (by spinning the handle slowly on a drill) do an incomplete layer of green over the gold so the gold would show through. Getting it running. The first attempt to get it running resulted in 'yellow flame' on one side of the burner cap, resulting in 'yellow flame outside the mantle'. I did some very gentle panel beating of the bottom of the brass burner cap so that it fitted the ceramic screen more snugly. Then on the advice of @Anthony, I relit the lantern and let it burn for an hour. I then cleaned to jet and tested it again, this time with excellent results. Fitted a test mantle and away it went. I think it would probably perform even better with a 'ball' mantle rather than a 'sock' mantle, but this lamp is working well now. Other notes. 1. The tank, being brass, was reasonably easy to clean, but required many flushes to get rid of residual sludge (wasp mud, I think). 2. The tank and other plated parts were first cleaned with "GSR" ("George's Stove Restorer", a mixture of wallpaper paste and citric acid; see down in the thread here), then polished gently with Autosol. Cheers Tony
@Tony Press Excellent work at every stage Tony. So there is no spring in the external valve and it relies on gravity and the weight of the brass cone to make a seal. Have I got it right?
Martin On this lamp and Bob’s and my Gloria 33 lanterns (which both have ball bearings), there is no spring. I’ve tried to think through how this all works, but I’m still somewhat mystified and I don’t want to dissect a Gloria with a Dremel to find out for sure. That’s why I put the description in detail. Cheers Tony
Tony, Well done. Wonderful presentation very informative. Just a note: Hydrogen Peroxide works great for removing mud wasp nests or here in the US we call them a mud dauber nest. Cheers, Norman
Got to agree with @phaedrus42. Excellent work as usual Tony, I must remember to make more use of a camera when undertaking a fettling project, the detailed images you add make your posts a "step-by-step guide" for anyone restoring a similar lamp or lantern. Henry.
