The lantern on the left is in Jim Fulmer’s collection. Monte Dodge’s 202, running (right), is dated Mar. ’57 and has a metal burner cap. In 1900, William Coffin Coleman was selling high pressure gasoline fueled lamps. These lamps, notably ‘The Efficient’ Pendant Arc lamp No. 6, were manufactured by Irby & Gilliland in Memphis, Tennessee.
As mentioned by Eagle732, I’ll bet it’s the generator…if the lantern is 20 years old and has the original generator, it’s due for replacement. Use fresh Coleman or and other brand of camp fuel. This continuity clearly appeals to Wilmot and his personal Coleman collection is a show of respect for this timelessness. Wilmot says he’s also cleaned and shined up a number of lanterns, and gotten them working correctly, in order to give them to friends.
This lantern was made for the military to help direct planes to airfields in or near enemy territory. These lanterns, dated June ’59, are in Mike Rainey’s (left) & Dean DeGroff’s (right) collections. By November, 1951, Coleman’s Model 200A had been introduced, replacing Model 200 above. These earliest 200A lanterns had green painted steel founts and, by November, also had the Coleman decal. Coleman stamped Model 220C on the lanterns they made from 1944 until 1947.
A yellow, weaker light might indicate bad, wrong type, or old fuel. We lit campfires, cooked, played board games, had parties, and even chopped wood on moonless nights with this lantern. During one of our parties, coleman camping we put the Northstar near Grandma when she was chilly. This lantern does make a bit of a hissing sound when it is lit, and when the fuel is about to run out it makes a rather loud whistling noise.
There was no other Civil Defense material with the lanterns or the mil-spec boxes they came in. This 220D (dated B 50) is mounted in a Clamp-A-Hood marketed by the Ernie Brow Sales Co., Anderson, Indiana. The purpose of the hood (left) is to reflect light out.
It will smoke a lot at first, but then it burns off and shines very brightly. After the initial installation of the mantle, it doesn’t smoke anymore when you relight it. During this testing period, we only had to change the mantle once. Being new campers themselves at the time, Dad and Stepmom went out and bought some gear.