This lantern is marked Focus Patentado Badelona España. I have seen another with a similar oval plate but marked with just Focus 08. I assume it wa actually made in Badelona which is a small Mediteranean coastal town just north of Barcelona. I know nothing about the company other than what is marked on the few lamps that have surfaced. This example appears to be a kero lanten of about 250 cp and is equiped with a blow torch pre heater. I have no idea if this torch works because I have not tried it. I have had to make a complete new pricker rod and cam follower as the original was missing. I did try to run it on kero but got a very poor burn so switched to Wasbenzine and it works very well on that so maybe they are gasoline lamps. I don't know what the original globe looked like but I found the old Vapalux globe with a hole fits well. The globe has to have a hole as there is no other way to get a flame inside to either light the blow torch or add meth and light that. ::Neil::
Hello Neil, it's a bit different, but the heat would soon set fire to that wooden handle, if the lantern was hung up inside. What period is this lantern from? It looks early to me, Jeff.
Hi Neil, This is a very unique piece! The vaporizer looks very similar to the ones that were used on the Petromax miltary models and my Optimus 1200B that were outfitted to burn gasoline or "benzine". I wonder how the rapid heater gets its fuel/atomizing air for the burner? Perhaps it's done at the valve body inside the fount much like a Petromax rapid heater and it mixes inside the tube to the what looks like a burner head at the tube end. Interesting for sure. The variety of manufacturers and their methods to make things work is what amazes me. Nice to see it burning. WELL DONE! Bob
Not so. Trust me on this. I have done a lot of camping and hung many a lamp inside a tent from the ridge pole. At 12" the canvas just gets a little warm. The handle on this is quite long and is 6" above the top plate. Also the heat is directed away from the wood by the same top plate so the handle does not get much more than warm. In fact a wooden handle is a sensible thing if you want to hang a lantern because with wood being such a poor heat conductor you can hold the handle straight away unlike a metal one which will get too hot to hold. I have no idea how old this one is. The design of pre heater goes back to around the early 1930s and so I have the feeling it might be pre 1940 but then I am not familiar with Spanish design and it could be much later. I dare say there is info available on line somewhere which might give a company name and perhaps there are directories available where for instance dated telephone directories might give a clue but as I don't understand Spanish there is no way I can do this research. There is however another feeling I have. I suspect this is in fact a gasoline lantern. The alcohol cup is small and does not pre heat well enough for kero. I know every time I tried to light it that way I had to add a blow torch to the generator to get it hot enough. Also that type of low volume blow torch is similar to those used on Primus gasoline lanterns and a further clue is the lack of a Preston coil. The generator is an empty brass tube which is actually quite wide and I therefore think it is designed for the more volatile fuel. It certainly works well on naphtha and blackens the mantle with kero. So on balance I suspect a mid 1930s lamp but that is no more than a gut feeling. ::Neil::
Hello Neil, that's good news about the wooden handle, and I thought that this lamp would date to about the early 1930s. It works well with petrol; then that must be the fuel that it was designed for. There is another one of these lanterns shown on Terry's website, the link for it is shown below, Jeff. http://tgmarsh.faculty.noctrl.edu/lantern/intllantag.html
Wood handles are not common perhaps although Petromax also made them like that in the 1930s. I think there are probably quite a few survivors. I know of maybe 5. I suspect the truth is they were not exported and not much escapes from Spain because there are very few or no Lamp collectors there to do any trading. As Juan showed there are two on sale there now. They are all brass so will have survived fairly well and there may well be more out there yet. ::Neil::
I know 3 FOCUS here in Germany. One is Martin Muellers one http://www.petroman.de/steckbrief/showad.php?adid=373
Hi: The Focus is a gas-(oline) "Benzin" lantern. Please take a look on this picture: Focus 08 vaporizer fragmented view Left from the riser pipe is a little hole. The gasoline vapors inside the container feed the pre-heater with "fuel". Focus 08 pre-heating With a friendly "let it light!" from Germany Martin
Very good. I did not dismantle my lantern so far so I did not see the fuel feed for the pre heater. Nice to see how it works. Thanks. ::Neil::
I had the luck to be able to take some Photos of my friends focus-lamp, earlier around the time of this post: Optimus 550 - 500 cp 1970's I just noticed there is 2 different tank-lids. The one with air-release seems most practical. Claus C
Hello, Neil. I found they were made by "Padrós y Soler". See this: Rasgando la Oscuridad. Lamparas de Presión: FOCUS
Focus were probably never sold outside Spain although some may have gone to parts of South America. Focus used the brand name Volcan and Volcan is a brand found in Argentina. So far we can't make the connection but just maybe there was some cooperation there. And yes I knew who made them. The company is named as manufacturer in the PLC. ::Neil::
Besides that, how do we know how IT looks ? Or if it is even a Focus lantern. In NOS condition with original box i guess like all other lamps : more $.
Hi! FOCUS and VOLCAN are two trade marks of the same enterprise, called "Padrós y Soler, Ltda". This factory was in Badalona, a suburb in the north of Barcelona. Padrós y Soler, Ltda. made pressure lamps, pressure stoves, non-pressure stoves, wick stoves, blowtorchs, heaters, manual gun dust, etc... even some butane kitchen! Nowadays, the factory is a warehouse. An ad in a local magazine Some catalogues A stove catalogues. Notice both trademarks (Focus and Volcan) are cited. FOCUS is represente with different logotypes. This is art-noveau: And FOCUS 08 breakdown:
@Pau-i-amor Thank you for the pictures of the old factor and books... Its so good to see where these lamps were made and the history of the company.
