Lantern Project – Part 1

Lantern Project:

My grandfather was a trainman and like many people started collecting items from the history of his profession. Large train locks, and the keys associated with them, were one item he sought out (they were used to lock the switches that control which segment of track a train would travel on when the track branched.) Another item he collected were lanterns that trainmen used to signal trains.

Before electrically controlled train signals, kerosene lanterns had to be used to communicate to the train’s right-of-way information. Lanterns with red glass globes, for example, would indicate “stop”. By the mid-20^th century, these kerosene lanterns were replaced with electrical lights and radios for communication on the rails.

After my grandfather passed away, we began going through his collection of lanterns trying to figure out what to do with them. We divided the lanterns up between the family. I took a few lanterns still configured for kerosene lamps, and also found one that someone had converted to run off of an AC connected light bulb. My grandfather preferred the lanterns that were still in their original kerosene form, so this lantern must have been rare, one for him to buy it in its converted condition.

The person who had modified the lantern had drilled a small hole at the bottom and installed a two-wire “appliance” power cable. Inside the lantern, where the kerosene canister would normally sit, a piece of wood was glued in, (with what I cannot not be totally sure, but it wasn’t pretty) and a standard lightbulb socket nailed into the wood board and wired to the power cable. The whole thing was then spray painted silver, again, not a good idea if you want to keep the value of the lantern.

Since, its value as a collector’s item was shot, I decided, why not make it into something useful. I wanted to turn the whole thing into a functional, battery powered, lantern. I could use it was a night light in the hallway, or use it if the power goes out.

Like any good design, I’m starting with the requirements that my lantern needs to meet.

1. Battery powered
   1. Needs to last at least a day of constant operation
2. Enough light to be useful as a night light
3. Fit into the bottom of the lantern without too many modifications to the lantern itself
4. Have a button to turn it on/off

Stretch Goals

1. Adjustable brightness
2. Multiple different colors of light

So, the next few weeks, I’ll work through designing and then fabricating the parts for this lantern project. Stick around, you might just learn something!