Nostalgia & History > Old Batterie operated switch lantern ...

I bought this lantern about 20 years ago from an antique shop in Prescott AZ ,
the Patented date on it shows Feb 24 1914, it does not have any Railroad logo
embossed on it. Any further information on it would be appreciated . 

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Two more photos.

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That is a very nice, early electric trainman's lantern. Almost impossible to say what railroad it came from.

I don't think it came from any specific railroad. Looks like a generic electric switchman's lantern that could have been used anywhere.

I have the same lantern,but mine has a patent date on it of July 31,1913 and it has the number 06185 stamped in. Yours has " Patented 2/24/1914", and is numbered 23544. All US patents are issued on Tuesdays and 7/31/1913 was a Thursday so the patent date on my lantern may be incorrect. I was never able to look up the patent date to get any information. It is not unusal for an incorrect patent date to be found on antique items. Your date is a Tuesday so I may try again using the 2/24/1914 date. Check out Railroadiana Online at railroadiana.org, see Q2144 in the Q&A Archives for more informaation about battery operated trainman's lanterns that are this old. An advertisement that I have seen for these lanterns mentions that these lamps should be used by maintenance of way employees on motor cars.  Federal Sign System  is the same company that has made electric sirens, lights and other warning devices for emergency vehicles for a very long time. Take a look at a modern fire truck and you may see a Federal Q siren mounted on the front of it. My lantern also does not have any railroad indentification on it. I have not put a 6 volt battery in my lamp for about 20 years, but when i did I was able to turn the lantern on by moving the bail up and down. My lantern also has a paper label under the lid with the On/Off instructions and says that you can buy the battery for 60 cents and the bulb for 25 cents from Federal. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/18 10:40 by trainsfireengine.

It's interesting that the basic design of electric trainman's lanterns did not change much over the years. I used to have a Conger stainless steel lantern that I bought in the 1990s that looked very much like your lantern. That lantern, as I recall, had two bulbs and could be switched from a flood pattern to a spot, thanks to a small polished reflector. I have not checked out contemporary lanterns lately, but I think they look the same, even if made of different materials and now using LEDs.

colehour Wrote:
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> It's interesting that the basic design of electric
> trainman's lanterns did not change much over the
> years. I used to have a Conger stainless steel
> lantern that I bought in the 1990s that looked
> very much like your lantern. That lantern, as I
> recall, had two bulbs and could be switched from a
> flood pattern to a spot, thanks to a small
> polished reflector. I have not checked out
> contemporary lanterns lately, but I think they
> look the same, even if made of different materials
> and now using LEDs.

I remember my Dad's Conger Lantern quite well! It is still in my garage and used quite frequently for odd jobs and "what nots" I believe their company motto was: Your life is worth no more than the lantern you are carrying!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/18 12:52 by patd3985.

I think I have seen some similar lamps where the railroad ID was on the glass globe.