This Petromax followed as a Sidekick to my Primus 1381 and there was this brassplate on the tragestell that I was curious to find out what said so I spot-cleaned it a Little. The tag says: Who is F.Racek and what is he doing on my lamp? The bottom of the tank says: so it must be august 1939. The lamp is of course a Petromax 826: The lamp is disassembled now but have the Black/Brown controlhandle in 2 pieces. It has a tankcap with airreleasescrew inbuild. Claus C
If you do a google search for PRESSURE LAMPS INTERNATIONAL there is a good article on F. RACEK & Co. They started in 1925 and i think are still running under a new name. Not just a "badge job", but a bit like SEARS are with Coleman.
The good old Googletrick of course - thanks Gavin. Pressure lamps international says among other things: "The build quality of this lantern is very high, and everything points to a well engineered German product. The Petromax lanterns sold by Racek were also of a very high quality." This lamp was ment for spareparts but I changed my mind unfortunatly before cleaning too hard - But one thing I notticed while disassembling was the protectionplate and the needle-stick. I actually thought there was 2 protection-plates - look at the thicknes - I have never seen that thickness of this plate before: The needle-stick was a bit out of shape so I would straightend it out. Normally this is easy while it is made of brass and this looks also like brass but it was like bending stainless-steele The lamp looks unfettled to me and the lamp is stamped 826 on the fount and marked 8 9 in the bottom (august 1939). The fount carries a hole for a pressuregauge - blinded by a screw - but prepared. It has the "new" tanklid with airrelease inbuild and the more moderne 2 coloured controlhandle in 2 parts. Nothing of this is to be seen on any of my other pure Petromax-made 826-lamps from the 1930's. So I guess mr. Racek did make some special-accessory for Petromax and Petromax maybe later adopted it. Strange how a lamp made probably for the asian market ends up in small fishingvillage by Limfjorden in Danmark. Claus C
Claus, this lantern is not so unusual at all, maybe except from the "F. Racek" label. It is quite like many other Petromax 826 lanterns from that time. The control handle is oftenly found on pre-war lanterns as an alternative to the fiber wheel. Also the center plate is common to 826, 824N and 823-6 lanterns, note the "banana-shape" hole next to the vaporizer. Even some of the older Optimus 300 lanterns have this center plate. F. Racek was a reseller for Graetz and obviously Hasag, mainly active in India before WW2. There are many lanterns to be found with his label, mainly hanging "donut" lanterns like Petromax types 834 and 836 etc.. Maybe you heard of the "EFAR" brand, which is also related to him. In my opinion the lantern you have found is well worth saving it, possibly bringing it to life again. Good luck, Martin
Thanks Martin. We really need to get some order in the Petromax-gallery and yes I did find the controlhandle there on the pre-warlamps. I thought it was a bit of a frankenlamp when I found it because of the pressure-gauge-tank-lid and I still dont get why they put a exstra hole in tank: on a 826 tank? The bottomplate is first time I ever did see and I would like some more of them - gooood quality. Claus C
Just got lucky finding this Hasag 242, made as a Racek 408 RAX. Under this thread on Pelam-forum I learned a lot more about this man, Racek: http://www.pelam-forum.de/board18-fachbereich-deutsch/board4-hilfe-und-tipps-zum-thema-petromax/25104-hasag-242-racek-408/ The lamp came with a Petromax tophat and a Petromax vapourizer. The lamp has a tank made by Hasag, but stamped RAX 408 Special and the cage is made by Hasag as a 242-cage. The lot is considered as all original for the lamp. Its a funny lamp with a turbulent interesting history. More information about Racek is to be found here: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/munwai/racek.htm Claus C
