Hi! Just got myself my first pressure lamp and looking forward to trying to get it up and running again! Probably get back to you professionals for tips and ideas! Best regards, Peter
Well if you have to start somewhere then a late 1930s 250cp Petromax Rapid is a great place to do it. Looks to be all there and just wants a clean and maybe a new pricker to make it live again. Very nice old desirable piece. ::Neil::
Oh! It’s that old is it?! I’ve tried to establish the age but there’s no inscription underneath it or anything that I could go on. One question straight away if I may...the pre heater seems to be blinded or missing something? Am I right about that? /Peter
The preheater is missing the flame tube. What you can see there is the surface of the outer spray nozzle. There should be a very tiny orifice in the middle, which is most likely covered by some dust or debris. Unscrew it and clean it very carefully, at best give it an ultrasonic bath with some thinned citric acid. And then use an acupuncture needle to free the orifice from the underside. Beware of damaging the seal rim. Then there are still more things required to get it working: at best remove/dismantle it completely, and clean everything very thoroughly the same way I described above. There's still another nozzle with fuel/air supplies beneath the part with the red handle. The inner orifice is connected to a fuel pickup tube (which is most likely blocked), and there are two or four outer orifices which supply the pressurized air from the tank. Good luck at restoring that beauty!
Thank you so much for your input Martin! Really appreciate it. I’ll try to find someone here who got an ultrasonic cleaner to help me get it thoroughly cleaned! I’ll defineatly do my very best to get it to spread its light once again! It’s a beautiful lamp! You’ll probably hear from me again asking for help though Once again, thanks for your help this far! /Peter
Maybe Torsten Scherning's website (sorry, in German only) may provide you some help. There you will find some advice, in particular for cleaning: der Wiederaufbau einer Petromax Laterne/ Petromax in Teilen However, there's a more recent model shown, but the principle at yours is very similar.
This lantern dates from 1937 to 1940. That rapid preheater type was introduced in 1937 and sold as Petromax and Aladdin Petromax in the UK to 1939 but may have been sold in Europe as Petromax and Aladdin into 1940. It was replaced in 1940 with an alloy spring loaded lever valve. ::Neil::
Welcome, Peter! An excellent first project. You may find this guide useful: http://www.eschaefer.de/hobbys/starkl/px-rest.pdf You could consider adding a Petromax alcohol cup for more gentle pre-heating, especially when fitting a new mantle. The standard Petromax flame tube will fit on your 827.
