It's my belief that in 1952 Coleman introduced the quadrant glass panels and changed the product identity from 252 to 252A. However, its also possible to find 252As with the single globe after 1952. The early quad glass panels were all marked "US" with a part number. They are now quite hard to find in quantity. The later quad glass panels are unmarked. Often you'll see a used 252A lantern with a mix of marked and unmarked quad glass panels. I have a 1969 MILSPEC 252A that has one of the glass quad panels marked with US and the stock number and the other three have no markings. Others maybe able to help further. Cheers Pete
I believe that the parts well in the fount is the demarcation between 252 and 252A, not the globe type. The holder for the quad glass panels is an add-on to a regular frame so it is possible to find a late model milspec that should have had a quad-glass with a one-piece globe. If you can't find a replacement for a broken panel in your quad-globe you just pull the holders off the frame and put in a one-piece. The frames are essentially a 220 frame in terms of dimensions.
Quad glass was first used in the latter part of 1944. These are listed in MILSPECs as an optional glass. This is one of the most confusing lanterns. Coleman didn't help matters and after the war a number of different companies made this lantern for the military. It was a question of "who won the contract"! It was a government contract open to all bidders. Can be a real pain the butt trying to figure this one out.
Only Coleman gave these lamps a model number so the rest can only be identified by make and year. Here is the complete list of manufacturers and the years they made batches of lamps. ::Neil:: Akron Lamp Mfg. Co. 1944 American Gas Machine and successors. 1944, 1945, 1951, Armstrong Products Co. 1977, 1978, Auto-Fab Manufacturing Inc. (Mansfield, OH.) 1967, Coleman 1943, 1944, 1945. 1952 to 1961, 1963 to 1969, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1979. Form-Tech Div. Mansfield Ohio 1971, 1972. Mantle Lamp Co. of America (Aladdin). Made no lamps but developed the burner and made conversion kits. State Machine Products Co (Dry Ridge, KY). 1979 to 1991 Thermos division of King Seeley Thermos. 1963,
Early Quandrant globes should be marked. Of all the 52 Mil-Specs i've owned or fettled for fellow collectors, they've all had one piece globes with some of them sporting the hard to find gov't issued globe marked U.S. Pyrex. The marked quads show up on Ebay periodically.
