Nice looking flame, Dean. it’s interesting how some burners (like yours above) allow the flame to persist under reasonable pressure, but with others, like the Gloria 33 I just posted, the flame lifts away from the burner cap(s) at quite low pressure. Cheers Tony @Dean D
Thanks Tony, Sometimes just a few pumps and the the flame will separate and put a set of mantles and all is good.
Looks great Tony. Put the cutout on the bottom of the cage above the filler cap and all will be correct, it's to give room for the funnel.
Another Coleman being brought back to life… An unfettled lantern running on kerosene as I had no Shellite to hand. This lantern should be excellent with a little bit of work. Cheers Tony
Testing a Coleman 220J straight out of the post. It was mailed with the tank half full of Coleman fuel… ! This lantern should be a good workhorse once I’ve cleaned it up a bit and treated the rust. Cheers Tony
Here I am testing one Tilley and two Kayen 169 generators on "David", my Tilley test bed. I know the burner and mantle work very well, so underperformance would indicate a problem with the vapouriser. Tilley First Kayen Second Kayen All vapourisers are rated excellent! The three vapourisers after testing. After testing the vapourisers were polished with 0000 steel wool, wiped with "Evaporust", lightly greased on the outside with beeswax, then wrapped in "Rustop" paper. They are now stored in old 169 boxes in a sealed plastic box sandwich box. Cheers Tony
Hi Tony, Very informative post, thanks for sharing. What method do you use on peening Tilley or Vapalux vaporisers. Scott
Scott I don’t usually peen Tilley and Vapalux vapourisers, sorry. So I’m not the right person to ask. I’ve peened brass lantern and stove jets, but that’s a different process to steel Tilley and Bialaddin jets that stick up. I’ve got a big stack of used Tilley vapourisers and if they produce flame outside the mantle I put them in the box marked “enlarged jet” and keep them for some time in the future when I might need to peen them. I’ve also got a small number of used Bialaddin vapourisers that seem to work well. Hopefully someone here who’s done more of this kind of peening will respond to you. Cheers Tony
I think those Tilley/Bialaddin vaporizers had been ingeniously designed so that they can only produced in a factory with the right machineries/toolings. They were made to be as difficult to restore as possible once clogged/carbonized or jet orifice worn . The jet tip end sticks up or protude...and made of thin sheet steel...either coincidentally or deliberately to prevent people from peening them to extend service life . But that won't stop guys like us from finding ways around the problem other than getting a new vaporizer.
@Tony Press @Henry Plews @MYN Sincere thanks for your responses. Tony, I have the same box (enlarged jet) that's got too many in it so i just thought id try to do something about it. Henry, will try your method and see what happens. Best, Scott.
Interesting mantle shape and size (too small), but otherwise it looks like a good flame. Looks like a mid to late 1940s variant.
@Nils Stephenson Yes. The mantle is a supposedly 300 cp mantle from a large number of very cheap mantles I bought a long time ago. I use them for testing burners, and I’m never quite sure what shape or size they will end up being — purely expendable. The lantern does look like it’s from the mid-1940s. It has the single screw for the top of the hood and red pricker wheel. I’ll get it in the Reference Gallery soon. Cheers Tony
@Nils Stephenson Here with a proper mantle, a Shields — probably among the best mantles available in Australia, but alas, no more. Cheers Tony
Thanks Tony, for sharing! The flame profile clearly shows that the mantle should rather be wider than longer! And that was the shape of your mantle!
@Jacob van Pareen The final fitted mantle is working very well with no problems at all. I’ll leave this one on until it needs replacing. Optimus branded mantles that I’ve seen are round and not long, so when I replace the one that’s on there now, I’ll use a “golf ball” type 200-300cp mantle. Cheers Tony
@Jacob van Pareen If you look through the "Petromax" section of the Reference Gallery, you will see that the "sock" mantle is used quite often on lanterns wit the Preston loop (like my Optimus). Cheers Tony
Yes! My view is that the Preston loop is more efficient, (going around the mantle), but more difficult to maintain/clean! There is much to gain from the optimum fuel, (fuel blends), in terms of heat generation needed for gassification, and then to minimise carbon deposits! (Aliphatic vs aromatic fuels). Coleman fuel even has rust inhibitors!
@Jacob van Pareen A very good friend of mine who has been in the kerosene and gasoline lighting business for a very long time says that Shellite, which is pure naphtha, is much a better fuel than Coleman fuel. Tony
