3 Mantle Lamps.

I have a few wick lamps in my collection, the 3 which are shown in this photo, are from left to right, a German made Famos 120cp., an Aladdin model 7 which is fitted with a model 12 burner, and a WW2., Bakelite Aladdin which is fitted with the Super Aladdin burner, (model 14). Jeff.

 

Hi Jeff , i have no wick lamps but i must say these look fantastic,,

kenny.

 

Great looking lamps. I half collect UK and Australian made Alladins myself. The shades on the Famos and No.7 look fantastic.

 

Hello Kenny and Nils, yes, they are a bonny group, and for wick lamps the light output is good, but they use a lot of paraffin, especially the Famos!

The shade on the Famos is shown in the 1933 Veritas catalogue as is the Famos lamp, the shade on the Aladdin model 7, is the genuine shade for the Aladdin model 8 which was sold in the UK., and it may also have been for the model 7? Jeff.

 

Those are a bunch of very good looking wickies Jeff!

I have a handful, or more, of Aladdins myself, but they are mostly of the later No.23 type. I also have an older Super Aladdin.
Lovely lamps the lot, despite the fact that they are wickie crap !

I have been bidding on those bakelite Aladdins often, but never managed to stretch up to the final price.
They have a certain appeal to me. Especially a very tall floor lamp I have seen.
Perhaps I got things wrong, but weren't they particularily 'popular' in Australia back then, the bakelite ones?
Atleast most of them seems to pop up at eBay.au ...

 

Hello Christer, yes, they are not bad for wicky crap!

My Bakelite lamp is an English made one, a short Bakelite model was also made in England and they are usually the same colour as my example.

They were also made for the services and olive green ones do turn up, but not often.

Aladdin Australia, made a wider range of Bakelite lamps and they made them for a much longer period.

For those who are interested in Aladdin lamps, there are 2 books available, Aladdin The Magic Name in Lamps, by J W Courter and Aladdin Kerosene Lamps in Australia, by Allin Hodson, Jeff.

 

Here are another 4 of my wick lamps.

The first one is a duplex (2 wicks) hanging lamp, it dates from the 1920s/1930s, the burner is a modern replacement as is the glass chimney.

The second one is an old barn/milking shed lantern.

The third one is a cold blast hurricane lantern, it's quick to light when there is power cut and it gives enough light for me to see to fire up a Tilley.

The fourth one is the type of lamp that I used as a bedroom lamp when I was a bairn.

 

Here are two duplex (2 wicks) table lamps.

The first one has a cast iron base and a copper tank.

The second one is all brass.

They are both Victorian lamps which I have had repaired, the burners and glass globes and glass chimneys are modern replacements.

 

Jeff,

Very nice looking mantle lamps, excellent condition! My wick mantle lamp collection consist of mostly European mantle burners and a few complete lamps. As partly still a wickie I also have a house full of other “wickie crap” . Here is a small sample of my collection, some of my figural ones. Just coincidentally the different burners on these eight lamps are all from the same maker, Wild & Wessel from Berlin and the lamps are late 19th centaury.

/Conny

 

A rather nice bronze and cranberry oil lamp with Messengers burner....

 

Hello Conny and Pual, those are very smart and posh lamps! Jeff.

 

Here is another duplex lamp, but this is a cobbled one.

 

Here is the last of the wick lamps which I currently have in my collection.

It's a Dietz Monarch hot blast lantern, Jeff.

 

That can't possibly be yours, Jeff - it's the wrong colour..!

 

Looks a damn sight better than the rusty old lamp I sent. I had a feeling there was a decent looking beast under the rust layer. Nice restoration job and a fine looking piece of wicky crap. ::Neil::

 

Hello David, very good!

It would have been painted with my usual colour but I did not have enough of it left.

Hello Neil, it's structure was still sound and it cleaned up well enough to paint, Jeff.

 

I did wonder if you'd rescued a large batch of paint from a shipwreck or something...

Around here was a very big shipbuilding area in years gone by. It was a standing joke that the shipyard workers' racing-pigeon crees (Geordie for 'lofts') would somehow all get re-painted in exactly the same colour paint as the ships currently being fitted-out in the river. Odd, that...

 

Hello David, tins of paint do wash up on our shores, but unfortunately I had to buy that lot, Jeff.

 

I am seriously pleased to hear we have seen the last of that terrible colour paint. Down the years I have played the paint game and have concluded that often black is best. I now use Hammerite smooth black and stove it on by shoving the touch dry lamps or parts in the oven at between 160 and 200c for 20 minutes. 160c if there is any solder involved and 200c for solid brass or steel stuff. Works a treat and you get a rock hard gloss finish very quickly. Tends to look OK on lamps that were originally nickel plate. ::Neil::

 

Hello Neil, I may buy some more! Jeff.

 

I've even got some of it (*,) Must bump it up the queue and return it to somewhere near the way Falks originally produced it.

When it comes to paint colour, I prefer to return things to factory colour - as near as I can get, anyway. The local motor factor can mix up aerosol spray cans to match the original, although these days, he charges slightly over a tenner for the privilege. Last week he made me Tilley Blue i.e. as seen on IF54 and IF542 pig heaters, so we'll see how close that gets to the original...

 

Is it possible to fit a european wick-lamp to a aladdin-burner ex. model 23, to force more light out of the thing?

Claus C

 

That's some seriously beautiful lamp - and the others seen beside and in the mirror! I have a tin of carbide pellets exactly the same too.

Thanks for showing.

 

I don't quite follow the question. Do you mean if you can put an Aladdin burner on an existing wick lamp font? If this is the case then the answer would probably be no. The thread and diameter is quite different from the 'normal' wick lamp burners. There are some German made mantle lamp burners that will fit. One example is a Kronos. They work well but are not as common as the Aladdin. The easiest solution is to buy a complete Aladdin lamp.

 

Thanks Nils
You answered the question as I ment it to be. I thought it might be possible to unscrew the whole brass-unit carrying the wick and then mount a Aladdin-burner in some way. Dont the Aladdin use the normal capillary way to transport fluid to the flame in a sort of advanced wick/mantle?

Claus C

 

Basically an Aladdin (and any wick mantle lamp) burner is a standard round wick burner that is tuned to give a hot blue flame rather than a yellow/white flame. The blue flame is hot enough to incandess a mantle placed over it. The Aladdin burners have a different size diameter and thread fitting to the tank than most other wick lamps. Aladdin lamps are relatively easy to get hold of.

 

This photo shows my latest mantle lamp, it's for an Aladdin vase lamp and I shall restore it when it's weather to be in my shed.

A vase may turn up sometime, Jeff.

 

Nice lamp Jeff, have you got a picture of what the vase would look like?

 

Hello Matt, the link below shows the American vase lamps.

The English vases were made by Crown Devon and they are all the same style of vase, but they were offered in 3 colours, orange, green and I think a fawn colour but I'm not certain about that, I have seen the orange and green vases.

All of the English made vases have 3 feet on the bottom and a hole in the middle of the bottom, because Aladdin first fitted centre draught tanks and burners to the vase lamps.

They kept using the same vases when they started fitting side draught burners, Jeff.

aladdin vase lamps

 

Ahh i wondered who bought that, well spotted Jeff, i thought that went cheap, i recognised it because i've the orange vase lamp...