Aladdin kerosene lanterns

[Rich Jordan]

A few years ago I bought 15 gallons of kerosene to use in a parts washer. The washer turned out to be a leaky piece of far-eastern made crap with a fire-hazard pump, so I still have 14 gallons, unused. Its the clear grade 1 stuff. It would be nice to have a use for it (my camping lanterns are propane and white gas, and the campstove is an old Coleman white gas).

Did some reading and it appears that the best light for the buck in a non-camping appearing lantern is an Aladdin mantle lamp. I picked up an incomplete one at a garage sale cheap to look at.

It has a model 12 burner and has a bit of trouble in the gearing (it skips). I could gently push the wick up and down, which turned the knob, but with the wick and riser out, the second gear is obviously not meshing properly with the one on the knob.

Are these repairable? Reasonably? If not I'll just keep an eye open for another cheapie/parts lamp or watch ebay for a replacement burner.

The lamp came with a couple of new mantles, an extra wick and flame spreader so it was a good deal regardless.

[Rumpshot]

Don't know what you might have paid for the lamp, but you stole it!!!

Now go over to Lehmans and seach for the Aladdin parts kits. You can rebuild it relatively inexpensively.

Good luck.

[Rich Jordan]

They don't seem to have parts for the model 12; perhaps not surprising since it is 70+ years old. I think its off to ebay to find parts unless I can find some info on tightening up the gear drive in this burner. Too bad because its in pretty good shape otherwise and it was made in the USA (albeit in chicago...).

I paid what is apparently retail price for one wick for this beastie; $15. Locally mantles go for $10 and the wick for $14.95 so even with a couple of missing parts and the damaged gear drive, I'm way ahead on parts value alone.

We've made do with a couple of Deitz-style wick lights using lamp oil before. Its enough light to get around but not much fun to read with. I'm very curious to see how well one of these mantle lights works.

[SeekHer]

Why not contact The Aladdin Mantle Lamp Co. directly...

They should be able to tell you if a new part will fit an old model or they might still have some old ones around...

[Malthorn]

A quick application of my google fu turned up these links.

LINK Site with a lot of info and good pictures.

LINK Site that may have a new burner.

LINK Ebay auction for a model 12 burner.

[Rich Jordan]

Malthorn
thanks. I already have the ebay burner tagged, but I'm waiting on a response to a question about its functionality; I'd hate to get another with the same problem. And the .info site helped Id the missing part.

I hadn't seen that store site before but I've sent a note to see if they have a model 12 burner, used or new; they list model 23s but 12s have been out of production for decades. We'll just have to see.

Thanks for taking the time.

[Rich Jordan]

No replied from the stores. I picked up a couple of the missing parts in the meantime.

Has anyone ever worked on the geartrain in these? It looks like the brackets that hold the gears and the knob in place have 'sprung' a bit and so the gears are not meshing cleanly. This is with the wick riser removed; it contacts the lower driven gear, and right now that gear doesn't always engage the gear on the knob, or else it binds a little; the teeth on both look OK though.

There's a small rivet on top, and at the bottom the tab for the bracket sticks through the burner base; it may have been slightly peened but its hard to tell. I could remove the top rivet and replace it; I doubt I could fix the bottom if it came out though; they must have used a fixture to support the base, and I'd bet solder would not hold given the high operating temp.

Thanks

[Termite]

Rich,

Just FYI,

The Alladdin lamps are about equal in lumens to a 60watt incadescent bulb when run on full bright, and produce about 350-500 watts equivilent of heat. The heat coming out of the glass chimney can easily set paper or wood on fire, so make sure they have at least 3 ft of clearance above the chimney when you use them. It goes without saying to keep a fire extinguisher handy.

[Rich Jordan]

Kerosene transfer and filling suggestions. I've got 5-gallon and 2.5 gallon plastic jugs of kerosene; the mouths are about 3.5 - 4" diameter. Way too large and unwieldy to use to actually fill lamp fonts or lantern/stove tanks.

I've got funnels, and I can free up a plastic quart bottle (lamp oil type) but my smallest pour-capable metal can is a 5-liter jerry can with military diesel spout; still too big for font filling. But it seals nicely and I'd have no qualms about storing that small amount in a hall closet in the event long term kerosene usage is needed. I want to avoid my wife having to handle the heavy jugs as much as possible, and also not have to run out to the garage every time a refill is needed.

So... whats a good pour-capable tank/can/bottle/implement that can be stored inside (short term during a no-power event) with a modest amount of kerosene for easily refilling lamps or other small appliances (no heaters; for that I'd use the small jerry can)?

Thanks.

[Fivetoes]

I use round gallon jugs at work to poor into smaller cleaning bottles, Square jugs are clumsy to use. I don't even like the little plastic gallon blitz cans, seems extra hard to fill the mower or chain saw from one.