Alright Jon this is where I am curretly at with my "new to me" J.C. Higgins Big Hat Single Burner lantern. Started off by disassembling it completely. Gave it a white vinegar bath, steel wool, steel brush, etc. cleaning. Cleaned the fount/tank as best as I could (still doesn't look good) without scrubbing off the paint and decal and replaced the fuel cap gasket. Anyway, after everything was cleaned up, re-assembled everything back together again, tied mantles to it, poured in Coleman fuel, pumped it up plenty, turned the Cleaning Lever several times, turned the Valve 1/4 turn, put fire to it and well it lit up!!! Boy does it roar! It came to life! Very bright! But not everything is fine and dandy! You see there are two very important problems that are plauging it. The first problem is, when it is lit, I could hear hissing/pressure being released from the Pump. So with that being the case, I replaced the Pump as well as the Check Valve, that I had ordered from Old Colelman Parts, so that took care of that particular problem. The second problem is the original Generator. The internal picker/needle is broken off! The Generator itself is in pretty good condition but release's too much fuel and it flares up quickly but after controlling it I can get it to settle down to some normality but still a problem none the less. So, again, I ordered a Generator from Old Coleman Parts that is NOS and is really for a Thermos brand lantern but should still work on this J.C. Higgins? It should arrive tomorrow so my anticipation awaits! Hopefully if it arrives tomorrow all I have to do is install the new Generator and give another go at it and hopefully it will be back to fulL normal working condition? I also purchased a new glass globe for it as well. Here are a few pictures of my progress. Please don't laugh, I know it's nothing compared to yours but still the same I like it!
Hiya, He He, you managed to load lots of images, BTW, I don't know how you loaded that many ? Usually there's a limit if you're a non subscriber to the site and with this being a Linked mail, I don't now know if I'm responding back privately or within the public users platform. No matter, the main thing is you've got to load some photo's & now are letting me know how you're getting on with your improvements ! This new Thermos generator might be the one that I was advised with which to replace it with before, when I'd worried unnecessarily about the old original one being half shot. The one it arrived with was still functional though and it needed a good clean out to have it sorting the fuel out properly again. When it arrives & it's fitted, you'll be able to properly "clear" any muck or silt that's getting trapped in the generators tip, that's been lurking in the fuel tank. It's best to really give the tank a thorough clean out with Marine Clean (POR 15), it will remove all the gunk that's accumulated there over its years. It's very frothy stuff, so be sure to get all the soap out of it, by continually rinsing water out of it, after it's main soak. The Fuel/ Air Intake feed, situated below (in the tank)& affixed to the large main fuel valve above, may still be really badly clogged & the mantle doesn't look to be as bright as it should be burning at ! This will be improved by the tank rinsing chore, but if there's a rust build up in the F/A Intake feed, stopping it from opening up fully, adding water will make this more precarious, possibly worsening it. Turning the valve, when the tank is pressurised & full of fuel, repeatedly off & on (with the main burner, vent & generator removed), will help free up any persistent blockages there; but do this outside & using something cheaper (turpentine, white spirits, or kerosene, ect). As the tanks paint work's had it (sorry), the other way of releasing more crap from the F/A assy, is to drip into the the main valve to generator aperture, lots of drops of nail varnish remover over a few days. Then blasted out the same main valve area (down hill, so to speak) with those cans of compressed air from the craft/ hobbyist shops, computers, ect ! That will help things along nicely, as removing the main valve from the tank, to get to the F/A assy below, is a bit of job & there's risks involved, doing this. Sounds like you sorted out the leaky NRV valve, the bottom of the pump shaft, I'd remove the pump rod & cap, if you're going to try clearing the tank out. When the cleaning's been done, bang some neats foot oil on the leather, before replacing the rod again. Is there no sign of fuel leaks from either the main valves jam nut, or the smaller clearing levers smaller hex's ? Keep an eye on these areas, with a well used lantern such as this, ya never know when problems might arise there. I know they say "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", but should these fail (the graphite bush's there), it can get a bit naughty, believe me ! Best to check both, just "looking" will give you a better idea of how clean you think it all really is. With all fuel lines clear & voided, the lantern will perform much better. More light, better fuel consumption & mantles will last longer. Ok, keep me posted, glad to hear you've found a new globe for the lantern , I'd just call this Higgins a "practise lantern", you'll be able to find a 'belter' over there, just keep looking & learn what ya can from messing with this one for the time being (and have fun, also) ! Cheers, Jon.
No, this is not private. It is posted in the public forum. If it would have been a private topic, you shouldn't have been able to see any pictures at all. There isn't any difference between subscribers and non-subscribers in that matter. The amount of allowed files is the same for both, but the actual amount differs between which forum you are posting in. This topic was made under "Fettling", and there you can upload 20 files to each post, so Mr. lantern could post even more pictures if he wanted. (I actually reduced the amount in this topic since four of them were pretty much identical with others. Even more so than some of those you still can see.)
I think you could usefully delete another six more leaving just one that shows the lantern burning badly - I think we get the idea. Your choice...
Yes, I was thinking similar but felt I didn't want to interfere too much. Atleast there is a tiny change of the view point angle on those remaining pictures. Still, I think I will clean it up even more later.
Damn! Talk about being restricted! It appears that this forum is run and controlled by the Chinese Communist Government! Can't an individual post "anything valid without any type of interference"?...or is it because I am an American, not European? Or maybe I just don't fit in with your approval committe? But at this point it doesn't matter anymore, I done here. My apologies for "posting what appears to be too much or not perfection" according to some here or just one individual. I joined this forum because of my fondness and pleasure of gas pressurized lanterns and lamps as well as to learn and share any information that could be useful but this has turned out to be more of restricted use of this forum than anything. I have never been a part of a forum that was so restricting, ever! Can't do this! Can't do that! This is not correct! No not like that! You put to much info! You didn't do this right! No, you only have a very short time to edit your own post! Etc., etc., etc.....its a pity you all should relax and step back and take a hard look at yourselfs! Relax, chill out and don't wear your underware so damn tight! Don't you Chaps have a life "outside of this forum" instead of spending night and day monitoring and editing each post? With that being said this will definitely be my last post on this forum and the sad part of it all is that there are some pretty good members here that I enjoyed conversing with on different topics (no doubt though I am sure that those private topics are probably monitored as well). What will be definitley a sure thing though is that one of two things will happen with this particular post....1.) it will be deleted....or....2.) it will be strongly edited. But if you have any "balls" you would leave this posting as is, so other members can read it. You all have a good day and enjoy your forum, cause I'm out of here! Please delete/remove me from this forum's membership because I'm definitely not coming back, you don't need me as a member and I definitely don't need this forum.
I can't see any reason why that should happen. There's really nothing in this particular post of yours to edit. On the contrary; it's actually a very clear post without any errors, and not offensive in any way. Nothing to say about that. However, I'm sorry that you think it's bad that I removed a bunch of identical pictures in your post, but the thing is that a forum should be easy to read, and it's just good practice to moderate things so it won't interfere with the reading and understanding of the actual topic. This forum, just like the sister site CCS, is not just a regular "chit chat-forum", but actually a reference resource meant just as much for the future as for the present. I guess that's one reason why we probably moderate it a bit different than people are used to from forums where everything just is piled up in an evergrowing stack which not really are meant to be read after the discussions are over in each topic. Another more valid thing is that even if I think we have plenty of space on our servers, it's still an unnecessary waste of space to upload a lot of duplicates. It's OK if you want to leave, but I don't think you should be so rash. Perhaps you'll change your mind later on, and you're always welcome back.
Thanks Christer, I'll try to recall that when needed; I keep forgetting rules 'n past info, when I've not visited for a while. I hope Mr Lantern decides to return, he was a bit of a character; I'm sure he'll get the BH Higg's burning better now (hope so) ! Jon .
