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Old 03-25-2015, 09:44 PM
crystallographic crystallographic is offline
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Default Very early Coleman Arc Lantern

Just a note of general interest -

A major collector of gas lighting (SanFran's Flood Mansion chandelier, for instance) explained to me a year ago that threaded plumbing fittings, brass tubing, metal spinning, and die castings all became primary industries in the USA during the 1800's due to the widespread growth of indoor gas lighting. Prior to this time they were only cottage industries.

In 1914, Coleman significantly lengthened the farmers' workdays by inventing bright portable lighting - the Coleman Arc Lantern. This 300 candlepower lantern used two major brass metal spinnings and two smaller brass pressings that were all bright nickel plated, along with brass tubing and cast brass burner parts. It burns pressurized unleaded auto gas as its fuel, as did the succeeding Coleman designs known by "Sunshine of the Night."

I finished dismantling, cleaning, and reassembling a very complete original one last night, and also got it burning very well:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Superb-Colem...:L:LCA:US:1123


I thought this would be an appropriately good bit of information on metal working history, with a good example of original metal working included. The photos are pretty detailed.
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Old 03-26-2015, 05:42 AM
RockHillWill RockHillWill is offline
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Cool information, Kent! That restoration makes it look like new. I like it!
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Old 03-26-2015, 06:26 AM
hot rivet hot rivet is offline
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Thanks Kent, always enjoyed looking/analysing your brass lamp work with the railroad spikes.
How did you clean the bare brass without it looking over polished, in the past i have used acids on copper and brass which worked quite well but a few months later it was always clear that i had not neutralised it properly!
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Old 03-26-2015, 10:11 AM
crystallographic crystallographic is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hot rivet View Post
Thanks Kent, always enjoyed looking/analysing your brass lamp work with the railroad spikes.
How did you clean the bare brass without it looking over polished, in the past i have used acids on copper and brass which worked quite well but a few months later it was always clear that i had not neutralised it properly!
Glad you enjoyed this, guys.

For me, it is a heartbeat moment when I go beyond the "easy clean" methods, like TriZol penetrant, or MetAll, or NevRDull. After using these with limited cleaning results, I took a deep breath and used must for rust, 25% phosphoric and it cleaned perfectly. Then I used Mother's with a good loose cotton buff at low speed. I did not want to buff any at all, just a polish to brighten the surface. Then I used a metal-cleaning wax, like a wood-cleaning wax, to keep tarnish abated for a month or longer. I got nearly all the rust off of the steel parts, too - like the handle bail and the burner tray. The tank bottom really surprised me, the way it came so clean. I got lucky, which we all need sometimes.
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