I have fettled my ditmar 541. I left it as much as posible as found. I have a heap of pictures to display.
One of the weirdest things in the World of Lanterns! Great to see it works again, I almost feel jealous... And btw, if you need some rain, we've had plenty! Just shout and I'll send you some Best regards, Wim
That's one very interesting lantern. It is good to see it up and running. Well done, Darryl and thank you for sharing. Cheers, Norman
I hope everyone enjoys my lantern, it is a truly rare beauty, from another lantern page a fella says that there may be as less ten of these lanterns and only one of two that he has seen in working order and in such great condition. I would like to thank the fellas from the CPL for their helpful advice and encouragement. thank you and enjoy basically as I found it, bit of dust, who ever owned it braised a collar ring to the bottom. the bottom of the tank is well soldered some sort of repair. slight rust two parts, pressure vessel and a hurricane lantern old style, two screw down type toggles on opposite sides is hat joins them together cock valve is soldered to tank, cock valve looks very similar to Tilley operation but rotates 360o, it only moves the needle rod up and down. replaced pip in NRV from one from the fettle shop, works a treat, the pump cup was is in perfect condition, so I soaked it in neat's-foot oil and played with it to get it back into condition. the screw on cap is quite thin and there is some damage where the keeper toggle has continually hit and broke through the cap. it all still works and just need to be careful. not my best picture , the vaporiser has some sort of wire twisted around the top part of the vaporiser, it is broken but is hanging in there. there is no pricker needle or pricker rod it has some brass mesh at the bottom that only seems to be about a centimetre in length. it has a jet that I cleared , the jet says 300 on it, you can see the wire surrounding the top part, it lines up with the mantle area, I assume for either protection or aid in vaporisation. the hurricane lantern part is in good condition for its age, surface rust and paint ceramic burner cap, is in good condition, inside burner blacken with soot as expected, jet port tube is brass , other frame insert is brass, outer collar is steel. Steel tabs where it is bent to either join to top cap / lid and to stop it from going all the way down when raised to install the globe, mixing tube is brass. this is where the jet comes through as gas vapour, it hard to see by the picture but there is brass inserts close fitting the steel collar, a bit like brass lined for a description, I dare not try to dis assemble this part but was well made. the lid piece just like any other hurricane lantern. I made a seal to go in the fuel cap that has a pressure release screw, you can see the damage to the pump, the locking toggle has bashed its way through. burning in the mantle the pre-heater cup, has original fibre in it, I intend on replacing it with ceramic fibre wick and here it is , the first time I have lit the lamp and the first time in I don't know how many years. this is my finished project, I did not want to take anything away from its original as found condition,
Its a nice example. As for rare: not everybody shows off. I guess that I know at least five or more that are all working, not included the far east. So I guess there are more then ten out there which also function.
