Any leak is unacceptable and must be located before you light it. Place your finger over the hole in the air intake tube where the generator just came out of. Use an air compressor to blow-out the burner assembly by holding the air nozzle under the burner cap(s) and blowing air up into the lantern. This will clear dirt and insect nests out of the tubes. This Coleman 200A lantern has been modified with an elaborate globe cage and 3 cylindrical globes, the innermost being a Fresnel lens.
This lantern comes with a sturdy protective case with handle. This past fall my buddy Phil got me interested in Coleman’s classic lanterns. We were hanging around drinking coffee on a chilly November day at Old Mill Stream Campground in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania when he asked a fateful question. Would I want to go with him to the Coleman outlet store nearby? He needed a new globe for one of his gas powered lanterns.
This early 220D has all the same features as the 228D above but is date stamped B 47. The two piece stamped burner (lower image) was used on a number of lamps and lantern models for a short time after WWII before Coleman returned to cast burners. Coleman still sells a variety of lanterns that are powered by propane, kerosene, or camp fuel (aka white gas).
Coleman made the “D” version of Model 228 from the mid 1940’s until 1951. This one, in Patrick Fay’s collection, is dated April, 1948, and has the original globe on which Coleman appears in large faint green letters. This was the last version to have a nickel plated brass fount and the pump is held in by two small screws, not a spring clip. The brass sided, green painted fount is also characteristic of that time. We believe this lantern is a Model 221, a kerosene fueled version of their Model 220 above (McRae).
Model E20, the Quick-Lite Jumbo Gas Lantern, with a built-on pump (left), and the Quick-Lite Poultry House Lantern, without a pump (right),both featured a 1 gallon fuel tank. Steel wool and a coil of asbestos “rope” inside the globe rest kept dust from clogging the air intake and fuel from dripping on the floor. These lanterns are in Jerry Engbring’s collection.
The globe is stabilized in the frame by an upper plate (middle image) and lower spring clips (upper right image). Takao Kimura, whose collection this is in, and I believe this is Model 216, one of three lanterns noted in the Coleman Shipping Records a couple of months after the 7 9 date. Coleman also made these LZ327 (left) and LZ427 (right) lanterns, known coleman canopy here by their Coleman numbers, for several retailers including Sears and Montgomery Ward. These lanterns have a separate post to support the burner; the air tube, which is curved in these models, opens below the mantles. The lantern on the left is in Doug Dwyer’s collection. The lantern on the right lacks its generator and is in Don Colston’s collection.
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. The clamp (right) allows attachment to a boat or other object; the accessory was presumably marketed to fishermen. This lantern and accessory came in a well-made box that is in Mike Wells’ collection. The Charles Beseler Co., New York, made this 237 projector lantern.
An outer infrared filter keeps visible light from shining out the sides. This lantern was made for the military to help direct planes to airfields in or near enemy territory. These coleman lantern lanterns, dated June ’59, are in Mike Rainey’s (left) & Dean DeGroff’s (right) collections. Morgan, Corpus Christi, Texas and includes Sheldon Coleman’s name engraved in script.
Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to RV Family Travel Atlas and rvfamilytravelatlas.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Compared to these classic lanterns, your modern LED lantern is a toy–and toys are for kids. So it’s time to get a real lantern–and become the master of your campsite–and a master of the night.
They are still built in Wichita Kansas (though some parts, such as the globes, are made in China) and are widely available for sale online and in some big box stores. Because millions of them have been sold over the years, they are also widely available, sometimes for as little as 5 or 10 bucks, at garage sales, on Craigslist, and on Facebook Marketplace. Model L227 is a Quick-Lite model with a wide ventilator.