Kero Lanterns

[willedoo]

I got a fright tonight when I dropped one of my favourite lanterns (in the top four) onto the verandah floor from well above waist height. One of those times when you're not game to look down and see the damage. Luckily it's a strong, well built lantern and survived without a scratch. An el cheapo Chinese one I have would have been busted up badly in a fall like that due to it's paper thin constrction. The dropped lantern is a Sunlight brand cold blast lantern made in Indonesia. It's a large size, basically styled on a Dietz No.80, so a bit of weight to fall from that height with a full tank of kero. I think there's a couple of reasons it's such good quality, one is that the company's main business is making 44 gallon drums and the same gauge steel is used in the lanterns. They are also very well built and a factor in that is that I think they're mainly produced for the domestic market in Indonesia which requires a sturdy, useable product. A lot of contempory Chinese lanterns on the other hand, are made especially for the junk export market and are of low quality.

 

The older lanterns made in China and Hong Kong were fairly good quality. I have a very old Hong Kong made Globe brand (aka The World Light Factory) hot blast lantern and it's of good quality. Of all the lanterns I have, a mix of hot blast and cold blast lanterns including brands from the USA, Germany, India and the UK, in my opinion the best of them all is the old humble Australian made Lanora hot blast lantern. They're not flash, but solid as a rock, burn beautifully and function mechanically way better than any of the others. I have two of them, the attached photo shows the yellow one burning away on the verandah. The Lanoras were circa 1940's/1950's, very common lantern and widely used by the military, railways and government as well as household use.

 

[willedoo]

I forgot to add, I prefer the hot blast lanterns. Not as efficient as a cold blast lantern, but they give off a much softer, more yellowish, glow which is a bit more old world style, more character and ambience. The others are better if you just want more light.

Edited 9 hours ago by willedoo

[nomadpete]

30 minutes ago, willedoo said:

I forgot to add, I prefer the hot blast lanterns. Not as efficient as a cold blast lantern, but they give off a much softer, more yellowish, glow which is a bit more old world style, more character and ambience. The others are better if you just want more light.

Ok Will, uou got me in.

What is the difference between hot blast, and cold blast lanterns?

[willedoo]

7 minutes ago, nomadpete said:

Ok Will, uou got me in.

What is the difference between hot blast, and cold blast lanterns?

The hot blast lantern like the Lanora in that photo has an air gap between the top of the globe and the chimney. In this photo the one on the left is a cold blast lantern and the two on the right are hot blast lanterns. With a hot blast, fresh air enters in the grate down near the burner. Some burnt gases exit the gap at the top of the globe while other burnt gases go into the hood, down the side tubes then into the plenium before mixing with the fresh air.

 

With a cold blast lantern, the burnt gases go straight out the top chimney. Fresh air is taken into the side tubes from openings that are covered by the shroud below the chimney. This then goes down the tubes to the plenium. It's a more efficient design as a cold blast has only fresh air supplied to be burnt, fed from the plenium and the grate around the burner. Less smoke and a brighter light. The hot blast intake is a mix of hot, burnt gases from the plenium and fresh air from the burner grate.

 

[onetrack]

Well, Willie's got a new nickname now - the Lantern King! I have zero knowledge of these style of lanterns, I thought they were all junk and pretty useless for light output.

But I do have some knowledge of the pressurised petrol/kero lanterns such as the Aladdin - we had no mains power on the farm when I was a child, and all we had for light was Aladdin lanterns - and they were very good lanterns. But they don't stand much of a knock, or the mantle falls to pieces!

[pmccarthy]

My childhood involved Tilly lanterns for camping, which I think must have been like that Aladdin.

[willedoo]

I used to think the tubes running down each side were just part of the framework until I found out they are critical to the way the lanterns work. A bit like intake manifolds, but act as structural integrity as well. I usually burn one or two at night on the verandah. It provides a nice soft light and keeps the geckos happy hoovering up the moths attracted to the light. Another benifit is the nostalgic smell of burning kero; it reminds me of growing up with the kero heater. The kero heater was a stinky old thing and didn't throw out a lot of heat. I can't remember what year we got mains power on and would have changed to an electric heater. Before the mains power we had a 32 volt generator run by a single cylinder Southern Cross diesel. The battery bank was stuffed so as soon as you cut the motor to go to bed, all the lights went off. I've still got that generator but unfortunately not the engine.