Ian Keates, who bought this lantern in Switzerland for his collection, does not believe that it had been disassembled before. This 200A has a factory finished, white painted fount. These may have been made in a limited number to give to dealers that Coleman wanted to recognize for their service to the company. There is nothing engraved on the lantern as on a plated fount presentation lantern. This lantern, dated December ’53, is in Jamie Oren’s collection.
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 coleman sleeping bag 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.
A similar lantern was made by The Mantle Lamp Co. of America. The decal on this lantern (lower image) identifies it as T 53-5, which may be the date of manufacture. The lantern is in Richard coleman canopy & Lorna Long’s collection. Coleman 237 lanterns with an American Optical film strip and slide projector (left) and a Society for Visual Education Inc. slide and film strip projector (right).
The direction disk on this Coleman 237 is stamped Made in United States of America but hidden by the collar the word CANADA is stamped (upper right image, above the red letter A). As on other nickel plated brass founts made by the Coleman – Toronto factory, the month and year numbers are in small numerals in the lower corners of the side fount stamp (lower image). So far we have only seen coleman lantern the CANADA stamping under the collar on Coleman – Wichita made 237s from the first half of 1954. Coleman only manufactured Model 228C after WWII, from late 1945 until early 1947, with some production overlap with Model 228D (below). Model 228C has the same features as Model 220C above including a green painted brass fount, screw-on pump cap, and yellow lighting instruction decal.
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.
This lantern, dated B (July – Dec) 1946, is in John Stendahl’s collection. Coleman’s first production of Models 220B and 228B was May, 1930. Until early 1934 all of the founts of these two models were stamped 220B on the bottom. These models could be purchased with either a Pyrex (left) or mica globe (right). Details of the early construction of these models is shown below.
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 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.