In my opinion, in general, the lanterns of North America and Europe had been developed and evolved differently to best suit or to meet the operational requirements that were largely dictated by different fuels if choice. Namely: between white gas/gasoline and kerosene/paraffin.
Spot on MYN. Coleman made/makes kerosene/paraffin fueled lanterns. They are not as common and I am not sure as to why. Where I am from kerosene is a very common fuel and cheaper compared to the white gas (naphtha). I guess this is just one of those odd choices someone made long ago. There is a company in Florida that makes dead on identical versions of Petromax lanterns called BrightLyt. The build quality is on par with a true Petromax and parts are 100% interchangeable. This was a deciding factor in buying my Hipolito/Aida Express/Frankenlantern. I have now decided to go back tomorrow and get the true Petromax I saw today and give it life again. I don't know what it is but when I see an old lantern I always see a chance to build and bring back the light. Hmm that kinda had a Zen feel to it, peaceful, if you know what I mean.
I guess most us here would have that common interest, in some ways, at some point of time. In the place where I live, kerosene used to be substantially cheaper than gasoline/petrol and just as common. Now, its quite rare and at least twice the cost of gasoline per liter.
Quite a lot has been written here over the years about Britelyt. There is some controversy about their claims for their lanterns, especially regarding fuel safety. They are assembled in the USA from Chinese-made parts and the manufacturing/materials quality control is not always up to the standard of the original German made lanterns.
What makes it a true petromax ? Beware of the name tag on the collar ! A true petromax would be made in the Altena factory in Germany. In that case all parts are marked with either petromax or px (jet). The other one is an AIDA 500cp base with a Hipolito globe cage and a unknown inner burner.
A true Petromax? Depends on how anyone would regard them. What about those Made in Argentina some decades ago? Petromax 833? Not the hanging donut type in this case.
