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MAY
11TH,
2012 UPDATE
INVENTORY UPDATE:
May 11th, 2012
Our inventory of Dietz lanterns is almost
back to normal, for now. We are still expecting our
shipment
of #1 Little Champ, #2 Champion,
and #350 Little Giant lanterns to arrive in June, along with
more #10 Monarch lanterns and #30 Little Wizard lanterns.
We are accepting backorders via phone, and will be reactivating
the order pages online as soon as the lanterns are en-route.
The Feuerhand #276 lanterns are
selling briskly, so we have more on order to arrive before the
end of the year. We will also be adding the #276 lanterns
in Yellow on the next shipment from Germany.
NEW
ITEMS: February 13th, 2012
We have just placed the order for tooling for reproducing the #39
Vulcan and #39 Standard railroad lantern models under our
trademark. We will be producing both models in steel and
solid brass versions, which should be available this summer.
NEW W.T. KIRKMAN SHOWROOM NOW OPEN:
April 4th, 2011
We are pleased to
announce the opening of our new full-line showroom and electric
lamp and fixture fabrication, restoration, and repair service
facility. Showroom hours are from 10:30am to 5:00pm,
Monday through Friday, or by appointment. Will-call orders
can be placed by calling our toll free number 877-985-5267.
Walk-in orders are also accepted. We will also maintain
our dealer spaces in the Original Old Town Ramona Antique Fair,
which is open 7 days per week. Click on the photo of our
new showroom location for a map.
To help find a dealer in your area, we have just added a
DEALER LOCATOR PAGE for North America to our website.
Prospective dealers will also more easily find our
Dealer Terms and Application
SHIPPING RATES:
UPS and FedEx have both raised their shipping rates 4.9% as of
January First. The U.S. Post Office has also raised rates
for most all parcels. While these increases are in line with the
increases we've seen over each of the past few years, it makes
shipping a single item more expensive than ever. Shipping a second item will
reduce the shipping cost per item substantially, so we encourage
combining orders, or ordering spare parts in advance.
PREMIUM GRADE LANTERNS:
Our premium grade
#1 Little Champ,
#2
Champion, and newest model
#350 Little Giant, galvanized
lanterns are continuing to sell at unprecedented rates, mostly
due to emergency preparedness orders. (The #350
model is a nod to the Embury
Little Supreme and Little Air Pilot lanterns, cousins of the Dietz
Little Giant, first introduced in 1926.) Our premium grade models are without a doubt the best tubular lanterns made.
The #350 Little Giant, shown above, will burn for over 40
hours on one filling, and is virtually tip-proof. Our #2
Champion is the largest and brightest of our premium grade
models, and is also our most popular lantern model.
Here is an outside review of the No. 2 Champion worth reading.
UPDATE:
December 12th, 2009
LW Books, one of the largest publishers of specialty books for
collectors, has closed their doors. As a result, we have
sold out of "Collectable Lanterns" and "Collectable Dietz
Lanterns, 1917 Catalog Reprint," and are unable to restock these
titles. Additionally, Golden Hill Press, publishers of
Tony Hobson's "Lanterns that Lit Our World" has discontinued
Volume II, and most likely will not continue printing Volume I.
Earlier this year they discontinued the "1926 Dressel Catalog
Reprint."
Fall 2009:
Current State of Affairs:
It has been obvious to us for some time, (at least since
November 2008,) we are experiencing a movement not unlike that of
1999 when everyone was preparing for the power to go off in Y2K.
We have also been adding a record number of new lantern dealers
around the country. With the increased number of orders we
are processing, we have added extra help to maintain timely
shipments. We are also now automatically sending tracking
numbers via e-mail for all orders placed on-line and shipped via
UPS or FedEx. If you need expedited shipping, give us a
call toll free at 1-877-985-5267
In response to numerous e-mails requesting a list of
items that we produce in the U.S.A., we have added
an
American Made Items section
to
our E-store that lists the items that we offer that are made
or assembled in the U.S.A., or that feature
accessories that we make here in California.
This Just In:
Scientists are predicting that it is only a matter of time
before Earth is hit with a solar storm similar to the one
that hit in 1859 that shorted out telegraph systems and started
fires in North America and Europe. A major solar storm has
the potential to interrupt power grids and communication systems
world wide that could take months to restore. The next
peak in solar activity is expected in or by 2012. Here is
a link to a
January 8th, 2009 Fox News story on the topic. Here is
a link to a Space.com article from October 27th, 2003 on the
1859 Solar Storm.
UPDATE: June 10, 2010
"The sun is waking up from a deep
slumber, and in the next few years we expect to see much higher
levels of solar activity," said Richard Fisher, head of NASA's
Heliophysics Division:
Electronic Armageddon? Congress
Worries That Solar Flares Could Spell Disaster
UPDATE: June 14, 2010
NASA warns solar flares from 'huge
space storm' will cause devastation
Something to
Consider:
There is a substantial savings on shipping by combining multiple
lantern orders with your neighbors or congregation members.
Call us toll free at 1-877-985-5267 for assistance with placing
combined orders.
In Other News. . . .
Lehman's Hardware in Kidron, Ohio, famous for their Non-Electric
"Amish" Catalog, has added our Galvanized No. 1 Little
Champ and No. 2 Champion Lanterns, and our Polished Brass No. 1
and No. 2
Climax Lamps to their Lamp & Lantern Department, paper catalog,
and website.
(Plan on spending at least a few hours if you visit Lehman's
newly remodeled retail store.) We have also started
shipping our No. 2 Champion lanterns to McMaster-Carr again.
Best Regards,
Woody and Dawn Kirkman
NOW IN STOCK!!
Dietz #330 "No. 3 Tubular - Pioneer" Globe
Produced using the old mold pattern, our new full weight
#330 globes
are the perfect replacement for the Dietz No. 3 Tubular and
Pioneer Street Lamps, and have the raised lettering just like
the original globes of 100 years ago.
W.T. Kirkman No. 2 Warming Plate
To answer
the requests for a food or beverage warmer for use with the
larger lanterns, we have developed the
No. 2 Warming Plate for dependable camping or emergency use.
It simply snaps onto the lantern crown when needed, and does not
inhibit the normal operation of the lantern. In addition to
fitting our #2 Champion, it will also
fit the Dietz #80 Blizzard, #90 D-Lite, #2500 Jupiter, as well
as most all Dietz #2 size lanterns made since 1898.
New Style Adlake Candle Lamp Brackets
When we recently sold out of the
new style candle lamp brackets, we discovered that Adlake
destroyed the tooling for making them along with the tooling for
the candle lamps, both of which were made up to just a few years
ago. Just like the Old Style Brackets, our only option was
to start producing the New Style Brackets ourselves. Our
New Style Brackets are stamped from solid brass, not plated, and
match the original bracket dimensions perfectly. They are
now in stock, and ready to ship.
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.
 
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 blue, and amber.
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:
April 8, 2007
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.
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Special Projects Portfolio |
San
Diego Railroad Museum
(Pacific
Southwest Railway Museum Association)
UPDATED
May 2nd, 2010
We have completed the construction and
installation of three reproduction Adams & Westlake #207 oil burning Center
Lights for the
San Diego Railroad Museum's restoration of the 1886 ROCKDALE, SANDOW,
& SOUTHERN RAILROAD #3 Baggage/Coach
Combination "Jim Crow" Car.
The founts and burners we used are originals made by Adams and
Westlake in Chicago, but everything else, including the ceiling
jacks, we reproduced based on original catalog drawings and the
mounting holes of the original fixtures. The lamps are
fully functional for use with oil, however, for the museum's use
they are now illuminated with 12 volt quart halogen lamps
concealed in the ceiling jacks. The lamps are finished in
bright nickel plate, the same as the originals, as specified in
historic papers that documented the details of how the car was
outfitted. Originally the car had 5 of these lamps, but
when it was converted to a segregated combination car, the two
partitions that were added eliminated two of the lamps, leaving
only the ceiling jacks. Here is the
history of the car, and
pictures of the restoration in progress.
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.
Take a look below, (click image to enlarge.)
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.
Purdue University Boilermaker Special
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
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