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JULY
13TH. 2008 UPDATE
To say things are keeping busy here
would be an understatement. In addition to the larger
custom electric lantern projects we are currently working on,
(Including lanterns for the Boise Idaho Zoo, Walt Disney World,
Dry Gulch, U.S.A., and the Cleveland Ohio Zoo,) kerosene lantern
sales have been very brisk. There seems to be an emergency
preparedness movement that is going un-reported in the
mainstream media. Is it Y2K all over again??
In Other News. . . .
Lehman's Hardware in Kidron, Ohio, famous for their Non-Electric
"Amish" Catalog, is adding our Galvanized No. 1 Little
Champ and No. 2 Champion Lanterns, and our Polished Brass No. 2
Climax Lamp to their product line. We have just sent the
initial shipment to their warehouse, and these items will soon
be available in their catalog and retail stores in Ohio.
(Plan on spending at least a few hours if you visit Lehman's
newly remodeled retail store.)
Dawn is continuing to compile a new e-mail mailing list for the
monthly bulletins she is working on. To be sure that you
are included on the list, send a request to:
Xinfo@lanternnet.com
*** This E-Mail Address is Intentionally Invalid as an Anti-Spam
Measure ***
(IMPORTANT: To make the above e-mail address valid, remove
the "X")
We have several more projects underway, stay tuned. . . . . . .
.
Best Regards,
Woody and Dawn Kirkman
NOW IN STOCK!!
W.T. Kirkman Champion and Little
Champ Lanterns
The
long awaited
W.T. Kirkman #1 Little
Champ and #2 Champion lanterns have arrived and are now in
our warehouse and ready to ship. Both of the globes sizes from the
new molds
bear our trademark in raised lettering, and the #852 size globes
for the Champion have LOC-NOB ears, a feature not offered
on new globes in over 40 years.
UPDATE: We now have both
Little Champ and Champion size Red globes in stock!! More
colors scheduled to arrive soon.
 
Indiana Jones and
the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
What a surprise
to see where the above lantern turned
up when we went to see the latest Indiana Jones movie.
Actually, there were five of these that we hand
made to a very specific order
about a year ago for Genre Productions,
a prop company that was
working on a "secret" movie project. The name of the
movie they were to be used in was never revealed to us, not even
a working title. "The lantern" is used and seen for about 5
minutes in the first half of the movie when Dr. Jones is
"visiting" an ancient cemetery. The lanterns were built with
specially cut "vent" holes to cast light back onto whoever was
holding the lantern. The prop company used an ultra
high powered, and very hot lamp as a light source, so the
lanterns were made with welded and riveted construction so that
they would hold up to the heat. Although these were not based
on any specific lantern model of the past, they
certainly "looked" the part.
Cirque Du Soleil
Below are pictures of two types of
the nearly 200 custom lanterns we produced for the upcoming Cirque Du Soleil
show at the Luxor in Las Vegas. We also customized several
standard Dietz and W.T. Kirkman lantern models for the show. The lanterns will be a
prominent part of the yet un-named show, and will utilize the
newly developed 12 Volt version of our
Fauxflame
modules. The "Police" type lantern was made
for the ushers to use while collecting tickets and seating
guests. It features an ultra-high powered LED with a
rechargeable battery pack. The much larger (Photo not to
scale,) "Inspector" lantern with the crinkled
top was made for use
by the performers, and uses the brightest High Intensity
Discharge (HID) lamp available in its size. Because of the
time required for the HID lamp to "warm-up" these lanterns were
built with a rotating blinder, just like their counterparts of
100+ years ago, so that "instant" light could be called upon.
Walt Disney World
We have just completed four custom solid
copper and brass post lamps for Walt Disney World to match lamps
that were originally built by T. A. Greene when the park first
opened in the early 1970's. One of the four is shown
below.
Other Projects
Martin Scorsese is making a new
film with Leonardo DiCaprio in Massachusetts that required oil
burning lamps and lanterns. Among the assortment we
shipped to them was our
W.T. Kirkman #1 Climax Lamp. The working title of the
file is "Ashecliffe" but the story is also known as "Shutter
Island."
Just being finished are some custom
Bow and Beach lamps that are facsimiles of the original lamps of
the same name produced by Dietz 100 years ago. I'll post
some pictures here to show them off soon.
July 13, 2008
After
several years, and several attempts, we finally have our #525
replacement globes for Dark and Deck Lanterns in production.
We are very happy with the way they've turned out, and are sure
you will be too. The clear #525 Globes are in
stock, and red, green, cobalt, and amber will be in stock
shortly.
August 10, 2007
Our new
solid brass #250 threaded oil pots for Dietz #39 and #999
lanterns are now in stock. They are a great alternative to
the plain steel oil pots susceptible to rusting out heretofore
available. They will are usable with either vintage
#1 threaded Convex burners, or our new #391 Solid Brass Convex
burners.
June 16, 2007
Our new
solid brass #275 Dark/Deck Lantern Oil Pots are now in
production, and fit most all makes of Deck or Dark lanterns:
Our spectacular #203
Pullman size globes are in stock in Red, Green and Clear and
ready for shipment:
We are continuing to work
on tooling for more tubular lantern models in our Heritage
Series. One of the next models we are working on is a #2
Cold Blast, stay tuned. . . . . . .
April 8, 2007
Our first
production run of Vesta globes should be arriving at any time
now, and I have placed the order for our first run of Macbeth
#203 size "Pullman" lantern size globes. The #203 size is
4 3/4" tall, and will fit the C.T. Ham #3 1/2 size railroad
lanterns, as well as the Adams and Westlake "Pullman" marked
conductor's lanterns. I have ordered them in both annealed
red and green in addition to clear.
We are proud to now offer our exclusive authentic replacement
decals for the Embury Luck-E-Lite lanterns. Click on the
decal image below to be directed to the appropriate E-Store
page.
We have also started producing the early style candle lamp wall
brackets. These cast brass reproductions are made on a
mold that we made using an original bracket. They will
work with the slotted type candle lamps made by Adams &
Westlake, Dayton Mfg. Co., Safety Car Lamp Co., and the Hicks
and Smith Mfg. Co.
We are now making authentic
replacement globe plates for the Dietz #60 Beacon in addition to
replacements for the C.T. Ham #40 Mammoth Wall Lamps.
Also in the works this month is new
tooling for making replacement oil pots for Dark and Deck
Lanterns to go along with our replacement #1 threaded Convex
burners. The tooling should be ready to go into production
next month.
February 1, 2007
We have
sent our original 1940's Corning Dietz Vesta Globe mold to West
Virginia to begin producing this size globe again. It has
been almost 50 years since Dietz stopped making the popular
Vesta lantern, but with the increase in lantern collectors in
recent years, there is a new demand for replacement globes.
As these globes are being made on an original mold, they will
have all of the familiar raised Dietz and CNX markings, with an
additional WTK marking to be able to distinguish them from
originals. If you would like to be placed on our list to
be notified when the Vesta globes are available, send your
request to:
Xinfo@lanternnet.com
*** This E-Mail Address is Intentionally Invalid as an Anti-Spam
Measure ***
(IMPORTANT: To make the above e-mail address valid, remove
the "X")
Last month
I located the 1890 patent for the tooling to produce square air
tubes. I have forwarded the patent and a dissected piece
of original square air tube to our tool maker in hopes of making
new tooling to replace the tooling that was destroyed 50 years
ago. Our current method of making square air tubes is not
conducive to the level of authenticity that we would like to
offer in our new Heritage Series lanterns.
We have started making our third generation of one piece #500
9/16" Dia. Solid Brass Fuel Caps which are now available in the
late style coarse thread, commonly used on the later Dietz King
Fire Dep't lanterns, in addition to the earlier style fine
thread.
In response to several requests, we
are working towards re-introducing replacement filler spouts for
the Dietz Crystal sometime this month. These spouts are
often missing on glass fount lanterns, making an otherwise good
example incomplete. (These spouts will also fit the C.T.
Ham and Winfield glass fount lanterns.)
If you have been collecting our
lantern company catalogs on CD-ROM, we have added a combo disc
from the International Guild of Lamp Researchers that includes
over 200 pages (PDF Format,) of Full
Color and Grayscale scans of the complete 1914 Ontario Lamp &
Lantern Co. Catalog, 1916 Warren Stamping Co. Catalog, and 1916
Winfield Mfg. Co. Illustrated Price List.
A great resource!!
December 1, 2006
As anticipated,
we have exhausted the remaining inventory of
solid brass #10 and #30 lanterns. The #76 Original lantern
is the remaining model available in Solid Brass, and once they
are sold out, we most likely will not be offering them again for
an undetermined period. As a result of selling out of the
#10 Monarch in solid brass, we have also removed the #10-FD Fire
Dept Lantern from the E-store. The #10-FD will be replaced
by our new Heritage Series #0-Fire Department lantern.
October 17, 2006
Our
shipment of #2500 Jupiter Lanterns has arrived, along with a new
addition to our line, the Dietz #2000 Millennium Cooker Lantern.
We are anticipating selling out of the remaining inventory of
solid brass #10 and #30 lanterns well before Christmas. If
either of these models are on your shopping list, order early to
avoid disappointment, as they will most likely not be offered
again. The factory has not been able to resume production
of solid brass #20 Junior lanterns yet, so they will not be
available until sometime next year.
September
24, 2006
We are very proud
to announce the addition of "Rinaudo's
Reproductions"
historic styled lighting fixtures to the W. T. Kirkman Catalog.
For more than a quarter century, Rinaudo's Reproductions has produced
the finest Victorian and Edwardian type lighting fixtures used worldwide
in theme parks, hotels, casinos, fine restaurants, as well as posh
residences. Each fixture is built to order, which allows for any
custom requirement.
August 26, 2006
We have re-engineered the air injectors on
our No. 300 Frontier Lamps for an even stronger assembly, and anticipate
discontinuing the #2 burner version of the No. 300 Frontier by the end
of the year in conjunction with our re-introduction of #3 size burners.
It is also planned to have tooling made for use on our new press for
making the old style flip-type fuel caps that were used on the Dietz #30
and #60 Beacon Wall Reflector Lanterns, and #3 and Pioneer Street Lamps.
We are working on new molds to make both styles
of solid brass mounting brackets for the Adams and Westlake, and Dayton
type railroad candle lamps. The older "reverse" style brackets
have not been available for many years, so they will be a welcomed
addition to our line.
Our foundry is working on finishing the
pattern for our new No. 1888 Street Lamp Wall Bracket. We used an
original Dietz "XXXX" style bracket from 1888 to make an impression and
starting point for the new pattern. The new brackets should be in
production by January.
I have ordered additional embossing
tooling for our Climax series of lamps, and expect it to be ready by
October. We will be adding a #1 size Climax Lamp to our line to
join the popular #2 Size, (shown below:)
The W.T. Kirkman No. 2 Climax
Station Lamp
June 29, 2006
Our new Kingsland 50 ton hydraulic press is
set up and currently punching holes and parts for electric conversions.
This press will be used with our new embossing tool and dies, and for
punching holes and forming parts.
Our custom built tank embossing
tooling with interchangeable dies has been completed and undergoing
testing on our new Kingsland 50 ton press. It is performing exactly as
anticipated. Photos will be posted here soon.
We have just
installed a Pexto #298 Circle Shear in the shop, as well as a new slip
roll, brake, and straight shear machine.
Our new American made
Mittler Brothers power bead roller has had a workout while we have been
building solid brass marker lamps for the Purdue University "Boilermaker
Special" locomotive, (shown below.) The bead roller will also
allow us to make wire edges and hems on irregular shapes.
One of Four Solid Brass Marker
Lamps Built by W.T. Kirkman for the
Purdue University "Boilermaker
Special" Replica Steam Locomotive
We have ordered tooling to produce
replacement burners and cones for Dietz #3 and Pioneer Street Lamps, and
#60 Beacon Lanterns, as well as C.T. Ham #9 and #10 Street Lamps and #40
Mammoth Lanterns. We have also ordered tooling for reproducing
authentic replacement globe plates for the #60 Beacon and #40 Mammoth
lanterns.
We have received a stunning sample from a new
glass mold that we commissioned last month to produce authentic
replacement globes for WW1 Deck and Dark Lanterns. We hope to have
inventory by October.
April 6, 2006
Our
new tooling for producing brass threaded #1 Convex Burners is almost
ready. Our new Convex burners will be used in the dead-flame
lanterns in our new "Heritage Series," and will be an authentic
replacement for vintage Railroad Lanterns, Dark and Deck Lanterns, &c.,
Our 7 1/2 ton Di-Acro 18E Turret Punch has been outfitted with
custom made punches for square air tube production and punching special
hole patterns for chimney sections, air chambers, &c.. We are now
making patterns for each part to be punched.
Our custom built tank embossing tool with
interchangeable dies is on track to be ready by the end of April.
It will be used for stamping model names and numbers into the lantern
tanks and reflectors.
We are now expecting delivery of our new
Kingsland 50 ton hydraulic press around April 15th. This press
will be used with our new embossing tool and dies, and for punching
holes and forming parts.
OTHER NEWS:
April 6, 2006
We have just purchased a third globe mold
from West Enterprises which will allow us to reproduce the Macbeth #203
size globe which will fit Pullman type and C.T. Ham #3 1/2 railroad
lanterns. We previously purchased from West Enterprises an
original 1940 Corning mold for producing the Dietz Vesta Globe, and a
pre-1915 C. T. Ham mold used by Rodefer Glass to produce #39 railroad
globes.
We are in the process of creating new molds to reproduce
the black plastic fuel caps commonly found on pre-1947 Paull's Leader
lanterns. The will be added to the Replacement Parts section of
our E-Store as soon as they are available.
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