Hi, Found this IDF military surplus bialaddin 310 I would like to know the date of manufacture Thanks!
Hello Doran, according to the information which I received from Aladdin UK., this lantern's production run was from 1954 to 1959, both dates are inclusive. Jeff.
Thanks Jeff funny thing this lantern is NOS, just painted and marked by the army and lost its original globe along the way. although the globe is an original bialadding globe - it was a nice find for my bialaddin 320
Yes Doron, the Vapalux/Bialaddin lanterns are well built and reliable and the bowl fire is excellent too. The Bialaddin table lamps are let down by the fact that the burner was designed as a lantern burner. The burner is meant to fit into the hood which sits on the top of the cage, where it works well. In the table lamps the burner actually sits on the vapouriser and after a while this causes problems. This does not happen with the Tilley burner as it's designed differently internally.
I wonder if the design flaw of the table lamps could be resolved by stacking washers under the spirit cup to lift the globe up until the hood is supported by it.
Hello James, I have my doubts about that. I found that the only way to cure it, is to fit a new burner, Jeff.
Interesting, Jeff - first I've heard of this. Do you have any further details of how the Tilley burner is designed differently to overcome the problem? - cross-sections or whatever... I simply can't believe my beloved Willis & Bates' engineering has been called into question and I shall remain in denial until you deliver the proof!
Ah, not W&B's engineering at fault, then - more like they were working to Aladdin's poor design. I shall rest a little easier in my bed tonight!
Quite right. The Tilley burner was always designed to sit on the top of the vaporiser because from early days it always did. That only changed with some of the industrial lamps in the 1930s and the introduction of X246 in 1946. The Vapalux burner was never envisaged to function like that so was engineered without provision to sit on the top of the tube. Washers to lift the globe so it supports the gallery might work but mostly once a burner is damaged lifting it does not help. ::Neil::
