Hi all, I bought this piece of junk off eBay hoping it was restorable. I was lucky finding a tight fuel feeding system with no leakages and a fully operational generator, jet and cleaning needle. Otherwise a lot to do with this lamp. It was missing the gas burner with mantle holder and brass clips for holding the chimney and shade as well as the smoke bell. The control knob for the cleaning needle rod was missing and the fuel valve knob was bent. I also had to do a thorough clean up with insects nesting in the frame tubes and I tried my best to recreate the japanned finish of the frame. The final result was rewarding, having a 110 year old pressure lamp in a nice working condition. This is the American Lighting Co./Chicago "arc" type indoor lamp from 1901-1905 (according to Neil McRae these are the years this company existed). This lamp is the same as James showed us earlier here in his post. It was contemporary with the similar "The Efficient" lamp by Irby & Gilliland and "The Coleman Arc" lamp by the Hydro-Carbon Light Company. It uses the same overhead generator concept as most "arc" style lamps did, and also contemporary hollow wire and gravity lamps. I tried to find a patent granted for this lamp and company, but couldn't find any. If I had found it, I doubt it would be very different than most of the "arc" lamp patents from for example Irby & Gilliland, Tures, Yale and Pitner, from the very first years of the 20th century. /Conny .......and before.....
Wow Conny! What a stellar refurb. That's a very elegant lamp. Your craftsmanship and attention to detail are astounding. The japanned finish came out very authentic looking. You'll have to share your methods for this process. Is that an old gas mantle? Did you find that it held up OK after lighting? What's the height and diameter of the mantle? I'm nominating this one for the Masterclass section. Dan Dan
Dan - After a good clean up of the frame tubes in a citric bath, I applied linseed-oil with a brush on the parts I wanted to be black and then had a blowtorch heating up the tubes. After that gently rubbing off some burnt particles with soft steel-wool. In the unlit shots there´s un old gas mantle present ( 100 mm x 32mm ), but for the money shot with a lit mantle I used a newer made Aladdin upright gas mantle. Not optimal as the old gas mantle had been, but these old gas mantles are hard to find nowadays to a reasonable price. /Conny
Exceptional restorative fettle @Conny C Always a pleasure to read of your craftsman like fettles. Cheers Pete
I have the same lamp, but I have some work to do. Most important is the burner assembly. What would fit? I will need some advise on this so I hope you can help me. Thanks so much Mike
