This is a 1937 200 cp kerosene lantern with a rapid preheater. It is identical to Aladddin Petromax lanterns sold in the UK from 1937 to 1939, they are just badged differently. Petromax lamps with an E suffix turn up in the UK from this period and up to about 1960. We have no idea what the E means. I have spoken with serious Petromax collectors in Germany and Holland and they don't know either. The E suffix does not appear in any of the vast archive or Petromax paper we have so it remains a mystery.
Doesn't the 'E' just simply mean that they are to be exported to England? I've read about Petromax lantern in e.g. Thailand with the suffix 'A' after the model number, which in analogy to the 'E' for England, could mean Asia.
Well yes it could and we have considered that. Petromax lanterns turn up in the UK without the suffix but that may just mean a different supply route. However we don't know because there is no evidence. We can only guess. I suspect you are right but I am not about to make a categoric statement without good evidence. ::Neil::
That is perfectly correct. As long as no certain evidence exist, you just can't state anything as a fact. But you can always put out plausible theories, as long as you clearly states that it is just that; a theory. It might help out in the long run since perhaps more people start to think about different solutions of a problem when trigged into certain directions.
I have learnt the hard way that making suggestions or theories tends to be mis read. All to often one of my guesses got read as a fact by some collector or other. Now I won't do it for fear of being mis understood. I have been writing about lamps for a long time now and for a lot of people if I say it then it must be true. Therefore when I do make a statement it is based on evidence not supposition. So we can discuss by all means but I want evidence before giving a firm opinion. ::Neil::
Fair enough. It leads me to the question about the dating of Petromax lamps with the scrawl some of them have at the bottom? I think it was Piotr who took this up at BBL, and from what it seems by the response there, even if never said straight out, it is fully accepted as being a confident way to date those with the scratches. Is that correctly understood?
I have seen a couple where the date numbers appear as a faint but regular number. The sort of thing you might get if you have a sharp die but did not want to hit it too hard for fear of damaging the base of a lamp, or even if the numbes were scratched on using a template. There is no evidence that the company did this but then most companies never did bother to explain their dating system. Coleman never did and look at the bother we had sorting out Primus dates. Also I have yet to see anything from Tilley to state they are dating product. So what look like dates under some Petromax product very probably are dates. No evidence from the company but several bits of evidence on lamps and we have to assume the numbers have some meaning. A date is a strong probability so for now I will accept it as a valid date stamp system. That may change of course if new evidence comes to light. ::Neil::
This is a very strange lantern . An 827 with an old-style carburettor screwed into the middle of the tank. But it already has the rapid preheater,which was brand new at the time.How is this supposed to work without a carburettor valve ? This is what it looks like on my lamps with "Drehrapid ".See picture. Maybe the E stand for Experiment or "series of experiments"
Hi Reinhard, I've just placed some information for you an all other members concerning the 827 E type in the library Jörg
@Jörg Wekenmann Do you have a drawning on which the numbers of the parts lists are transferred ? These are the parts for a single lamp,am I seeing that correctly ? @all Maybe other collectors can tell us whether there was also a Petromax Rapid Aladdin with a modified new tank and carburetor lower part with carburetor valve and whether the "E" was still on the nameplate ??
My thoughts : If there is an E on the nameplate of all Petromax Aladdin Rapid on both types of carburetors, then this refers perhaps to England. But if the E on the nameplate only appears on Petromax Aladdin Rapid with kink carburetors, then the E probably does not refer to England but to Experimental construction.
I see what you mean. I understand now your description. I am used to calling these parts (on other lanterns/lamps differently). But I understand the Petromax terminology is to say “upper” and “lower” vapouriser etc. and the practice is to call the complete unit “carburettor”. Cheers Tony (learning Petromax-language)
This special lower part of the vaporizer has a needle valve for the fuel which is operated with the handwheel, similar (but not identical) to the Ditmar petrol lanterns. This valve is needed for pressurizing the tank for preheating with the Rapid torch preheater while the fuel to the vaporizer is still shut off. The question is why they called it 828E sometimes, but the E does not appear on the Aladdin Petromax which was labelled so, see this thread. And it is definitely a different construction to the standard 828 with "straight vaporizer" that was built at the same time. In my opinion the "kink vaporizer" (with the fuel pickup central to the tank) offered the better way to implement the fuel needle valve. @Tony Press : The terms "vaporizer" and "carburettor" are often used synonymously. In German the word "Vergaser" is usually used for both when it comes to our lanterns / lamps, but it would be more correct to speak of "Verdampfer" in case of liquid fueled pressure appliances, which in fact means vaporizer.
Carburettor is the part where fuel is mixed with air. Vaporiser is the part where fuel vaporises into gas.
