Here is an outdoor catalog with a sampler of products I recall from my camping days with the Boy Scouts in the late 1950's. The Smilie Company was based in San Francisco.
My father had a lot of admirable qualities but was like a bull in a china shop with anything mechanical (he used to claim I passed his abilities at age 5) and I remember spending hours watching him pump our old Coleman white gas lanterns and try to start it. We went through mantles like crazy because he was so rough with the lanterns after getting frustrated they would break. We had more than a few scary moments lighting the stove! I never thought of it before but I guess his father (who could build anything) just didn't have the time or inclination to teach him.
The boxes in the background are great too. Dad dispatched the longshoreman crews so we had numerous box-joint wooden boxes like that with "Nitro-Glycerin" painted on the sides.
My first backpacking stove was that Model 500 Sportmaster. Carrying all that stuff was why we carefully planned our base camps fairly low on the mountains.
My older brother was a scout for a while and my folks out fitted him with a lot of gear. I remember his sleeping bag. I got to use it a few times, which was no big plus. I recall it being very thin cotton, and rather than a zipper down the side it had snaps. Every time you turned over it would suck in cold air. As kids we would camp on the beach during the summer. the bag would also allow sand to drift in. I might as well had just slept on the sand with a blanket over me.
When growing up, the gas lanterns were a household standby along with kerosene lamps. They were our source of light when the power would go out on South Whidbey. This was a regular occurrence after a big windstorm. The lanterns were also used to go out on a minus tide at night and pick up crabs. Along with the lantern was a wash tub and a pitchfork. The lantern to spot, the pitchfork to pick up and the tub to carry the crabs.
I also got to see my uncle use dynamite. He bought a "stump ranch" and needed to clear it for strawberries. I remember the stumps being huge. Big enough for springboard holes. Pretty exciting to a little kid to watch those babies blow!
Does it work? Looks like a clean mantle in there, so suspect it works.
Design wise it looks similar to the general old white gas pump stoves/lanterns. Perhaps an old Coleman? Just saw the pics of the older Coleman lanterns, above.
I don't know for sure but I suspect it works (FIL is one of those guys who can't stand to have anything not work).
I didn't find any marking but I believe it is Coleman.
It is similar to the old gas lanterns I am familiar with but it looks like an early model because of the multiple fill/pump access points, the plastic? like glazing, and the complicated tube arrangement inside.
I should pull off some of the access covers and look for markings. There are no markings on the bottom or anywhere in plain view.
Above is a link for colman parts. Pretty easy to fix these things.
Absolutely no markings on the bottom at all but on the front of the tank directly under the fill port I found an engraved graphic that looks like a rising run and the following text:
Coleman
Quick-Lite
TRADE MARK
THE SUNSHINE OF THE NIGHT
Then directly underneath that there are two digits that look stamped to me:
9 1
The only exception I can find (except for the fact that mine is not all polished up and has rust on the enameled areas) is the cylindrical glazing in mine is not glass. I think it is mica panels with a thin frame around it.
I did a bit more research and this looks to me like it matches a model #220 dated Jan 1929.
The shape and tubing mechanism matches the model #220 and the single digit dates were year month for the lanterns built in the 20s. Original globes for these were mica.
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