An early christmas present to myself,,didn't seem to attract much attention on ebay so had a punt and won it,,super seller excelled himself on the packaging so very happy,,Its a 1979 canadian coleman 635 , water tested with just a few bubbles from the operating knob shaft which didn't reappear after a good clean and retighten. I like the curved glass colemans more than the more modern straight glass ones. Any tips or hints from the forum sages? just waitng for base camp to deliver some mantles then I'll fire it up...
Hi Norf, Thats a good early Christmas present! almost nothing to go wrong with this lantern, look to see that the generator is clean flush the tank out from any dust or debris along with the air tubes & then lastly check to see the check valve is seating properly and you should be good to go for another couple decades. Let us know how she goes.
There's no heat sheild fitted above the generator nut , its listed in the 635 parts list but not fitted to my lamp ,would the 1979 year lamp have had the heat sheild fitted or was it a later addition?,It looks just like the part on my modern dual fuel twin mantle lamp. None of the 635's in the reference section have a heat sheild fitted
After a bit more research it looks like the heat shield is a safety feature supplied with later year lamps after possible issues earlier,,,as its a coleman fuel lamp i'm a bit more safety aware so will upgrade with one from old coleman parts ,only a few dollars so worth it...
Norf, the heat shield was used on newer generation Coleman lanterns that used a schrader valve in the fuel pickup tube. The older design used a solid brass valve seat to shut off fuel, and did not require the heat shield. I don't know which your model of lanterns uses, but if it doesn't have a schrader in the valve assembly, it shouldn't need a heat shield. The heat shield protected the schrader valve gaskets from excess heat. In the earlier models without the schrader, there are only solid brass parts in the valve, and they cannot melt as could happen with the rubber gaskets on the schrader. Dean
Thanks Dean, The coleman manual i found does show my lamp and it is the non schrader type of valve; http://www.oldtowncoleman.com/manuals/635B721.pdf but does have the heatsheild in the exploded view ,like you I had a feeling that the heatsheild is used for the valve that has the plastic parts like the modern dual fuel lamp I also have in my collection.. Still waiting for the 1111 mantles so no chance of firing it up.
A little cardboard box arrived with the postie, my 1111 mantles from Base camp,so back outside to the 635 and give it a trial run,not over happy with the vapouriser so stripped it down ,,sticky black carbon ,not hard like a tilley's carbon and acetone soon cleaned it up , I washed the cardboard in panel wipe. Assembled together and a nice if slightly spluttery jet from the tip, didn't have a vap for the 635 but did have a new one from a dual fuel ,that spluttered as well so back on went the 635 one ,tied a mantle on and away it went,a bit of flame then a good light ,I let it get warm then assembled the globe ,lid and handle, a few more pumps and it was happy for over an hour,,good light as its rated at 500cp,,,Noisiest lamp I've ever seen (or heard) what a racket! I have got the collar but left it off to double check for any leaks,,,,
That is a mighty fine lamp you got there. And a job well done too. I always like lamps with curvy glassglobes, curvy both ways of course. It gives a old time cottage-like look I think. I want one (more).
That sounds more like partly degraded petrol additives than carbon - perhaps the previous owner used petrol in it, which is really a last resort rather than fuel of choice. Looks OK now, though...
Yes David ,I'm sure a lot of UK colemans get filled with petrol rather than coleman fuel or panel wipe,much easier for me to clean though,,,, I've found out why the jet of fuel from the vapouriser splutters and isn't straight and uninterupted,,in a coleman lamp some air gets pressured into the fuel feed along with the coleman fuel,its to aid combustion of the fuel, never knew that.................
How does that work David ? I cant see how the air under pressure that gets added to the fuel to aid vapourisation can change ...or does it occur when the fuel valve is moved from 1/4 open to fully open?
Well I'm no Coleman expert so there'll be at least a hundred people here better qualified to answer this. Notwithstanding that, here goes... As I understand it, the fuel and air tube (there's the clue) from the tank to the burner has two orifices - one at the bottom for fuel and another at the top for air from the space above the fuel. When you open the valve a quarter-turn, both orifices are open (the fuel one only slightly) so a mixture of fuel and air travels up to the burner where it's ignited for priming. Because what's burning is liquid fuel and air, the lantern flares and pulses as you've noted. Once the lantern is burning properly with an even flame, opening the valve completely closes off the air orifice and fully opens the fuel orifice. Now that's the bare bones of it so I'm hoping someone who really knows will supply the details (or tells me I'm talking complete bo&&ocks... )
David that is a pretty good description of how it works. In fact it is how most post 1930 ish gasoline lamnps work. Different makes do it with different valve arrangements but essentially they all shut off the air once the lamp is warmed up. ::Neil::
Agreed. If you want a more detailed technical description, read the Coleman patent #2050372 here. The valve in the patent is for a Handy Gas Plant, but it is essentially the typical Coleman F/A tube used in lamps and lanterns. Dan
Thanks a lot chaps,,,its all clear now,,,i'd seen a post about converting a 635 to paraffin and as well as a different vapouriser the conversion included fitting a different pick up pipe into the valve block and it puzzled me , now i understand why.
