#27 - 1950 220D - The dangers of playing with fire

Vital Stats
Model: 220D
Date: 1950
Technology: Instant-light
Mantles: 2
Fuel: Gasoline
Date Acquired: December 23, 2017

Most of us collectors get reminded at some point or another that our hobby involves pressurized, gasoline appliances that burn at temperatures over 500 degrees, are typically decades old, and built from metals that have a tendency to rust.  For some collectors this reminder can end badly.  For others, like my story below, we live to light another lantern.

I have purchased many lanterns like this one, in fact this was even my 3rd or 4th 220D.  In fact this was probably the nicest one I had purchased up to that point . The biggest issue with it was a thick layer of very old evaporated gasoline inside the fount, which was on its way to becoming a varnish but was still "gunky".  I cleaned it out as best I could, but the evaporation had pulled and trapped in some moisture and left the bottom of the inside of the fount with some rust.  Given the condition of the rest of the lantern, I dismissed it from being "serious".  

One fine summer day I decided to build a fire in my firepit.  It was getting dark outside so I thought some lantern light would make the job more easy.  For whatever reason I chose this 220D to light my way.  I set the lantern on the rim of the firepit and lit my fire. No problem.  As the fire rose I relocated the lantern to the ground, safely behind the firepit wall.  I turned it off and let it cool.  Once it was cool it was time to move it back to the garage and safely back on the shelf. But as I picked up the lantern I saw a tell-tale "wet spot" beneath the lantern.  Swiping it with my finger and smelling fuel, I quickly diagnosed the problem.  I understood what had happened, but was still in disbelief.  The bottom of my lantern was in good shape, save for some very light surface rust.  

The bottom of almost every Coleman lantern fount is steel.  Even if the upper portion is brass, the bottom is a separate steel plate that has been crimped and soldered into place.  This is also where condensation settles, and the most common place to encounter rust that can affect the structural integrity of the piece. Enough rust will eventually cause a pinhole.  The majority of these plates are plated with tin or galvanized with some other rust resistant coating, like zinc.  The plating on mine looked fine.  In my case, this coating it hid the problem on the inside.  I immediately emptied the fuel in the fount back into the fuel can and began inspection of the fount bottom.  It didn't take long before I was scratching away some of that "benign" surface rust and had exposed a small hole.  Further poking with a knife made the hole bigger, but it didn't matter, the damage was done and this lantern's fate was sealed.  It's a miracle it decided to wait until I set it down behind the firepit, instead of on the rim, before it started to leak.  

(See the hole where the "A" is in "Trademark".  The "A" was legibly plated before I started scratching around at it. Note that I was unable to penetrate the more obviously rusty spot in Coleman).  

Again, my story ended well. There have been others who have not been so lucky, so I have heard.  Even better, I have a collector friend who had a couple of spare 220D founts and we arranged a parts swap, and I had this lantern back in service in less than a month.  I even gave it a chance to redeem itself.

But the lesson was learned, and every wise collector will understand the inherent dangers.  We only run our appliances outside, we keep some form of extinguisher nearby, and we check out founts religiously for integrity.  Be safe out there.