Hurricane Lanterns

[ajb1978]

So in real life I have used several lanterns.  Battery powered, kerosene, propane with the little mantle... but I've never seen a hurricane lantern quite like the one in TLD, with a mechanical striker.  All the ones I've seen require a match or lighter to get started.  But I mean a lantern with a built in striker...that is extra useful.

Except for the fact that it doesn't appear to exist in the real world.  I just spent the last hour Googling my brains out and I can find plenty of lanterns sure.  Kerosene, oil, propane.  Vintage replicas and modern dual-fuel lanterns...but they all require a separate source of ignition.  Is anyone aware of a real, actual hurricane lantern that has a built-in mechanical ignition source?

[UTC-10]

The Coleman Elite Propane Lantern says matchless starting (push button Instastart). I had to look specifically at the description because many have a dial but that is for gas flow and needed a match to start. There are a few more Coleman lanterns that include "instastart" in the product name. 

What seems to make the TLD storm lantern different from most lanterns is that it looks roughly like a Coleman lantern, but has a flame not a mantle as well as mechanical ignition.  It is probably a secret developmental lantern that Carter Hydro or Breyerhauser developed and were testing on Great Bear before things went to heck.

 

[shade_grey]

Seems a little odd. Come to think about it, I've never seen one myself. Shouldn't be so though, ferrocerium and piezoelectric ignition systems are both compact and cheap.

Maybe due to the underdeveloped mining industry in Great Bear, the islanders prefer self igniting lanterns. Would be important to never have an exposed flame in the mining tunnels if they have high levels of flammable gas in them. Maybe the islanders had even produced their own versions self igniting lanterns at one time.

[ThePancakeLady]

Coleman lanterns have had strikers available as an after-part installation for some time. Matter of fact, we always had them on our double mantle dual fuel Colemans for camping when out in the wilds. 

A few people had lanterns that had no mantles, just used a generator (like most older Coleman stoves used) that fed the gas into the chamber, pump pressurized like the single and double mantle lanterns, and they used a flint striker for starting as well. Not sure if they were Colemans or not, or from another maker, but Coleman Canada may have had different models that we didn't see often here in the States. But kerosene lamps/lanterns, and flint strikers have been around for a long time, would kind of shock me if there were not lanterns meant for use in mines and other more remote locations that used them, and did not require the mantles many of us hated trying to find, and put on, in the dark.

[UpUpAway95]

Coleman Model 220E - Here's a url of video of one being lit on Youtube.  They did, however, use 2 mantles:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exTeUfEyPKs

 

[ThePancakeLady]

I just realized we are all assuming that the lamp oil we are using is kerosene.

"Lamp oil", the kind used in glass lanterns with a wick, are usually a form of liquid paraffin oil.

Wondering now if there is a wick we just don't have to deal with? Though, it would make sense for Hinterland to create their own hybrid-type lantern, modeled after some real world one, but altered enough to prevent any legal issues with using an identifiable brand name model? Similar to how the rifle is modeled after a Lee-Enfield SMLE, but is not an exact copy, and the Revolver , which is a *mash-up* of 2 different models, that resembles both, but is not an exact copy of any known brand. That "repair" we are doing on out lanterns may involve replacing a wick... it isn't specified exactly what we are doing when we repair a storm lantern. Or we may be repairing a burner like this one...

A mash up of an older Coleman style lamp with a flint striker for lighting, a railway lantern and an old burner-type hurricane lantern. That burns traditional paraffin oil lamp fuel, not kerosene. We are playing a game, in a fictional world. Trying to find a real world "exact match" is kind of silly, now that I think about it. Though, if the lantern uses a wick, flat or round, maybe they should make us use cloth during repairs. Or make us craft wicks using cloth.

 

[UpUpAway95]

45 minutes ago, ThePancakeLady said:

I just realized we are all assuming that the lamp oil we are using is kerosene.

"Lamp oil", the kind used in glass lanterns with a wick, are usually a form of liquid paraffin oil.

Wondering now if there is a wick we just don't have to deal with? Though, it would make sense for Hinterland to create their own hybrid-type lantern, modeled after some real world one, but altered enough to prevent any legal issues with using an identifiable brand name model? Similar to how the rifle is modeled after a Lee-Enfield SMLE, but is not an exact copy, and the Revolver , which is a *mash-up* of 2 different models, that resembles both, but is not an exact copy of any known brand. That "repair" we are doing on out lanterns may involve replacing a wick... it isn't specified exactly what we are doing when we repair a storm lantern. Or we may be repairing a burner like this one...

A mash up of an older Coleman style lamp with a flint striker for lighting, a railway lantern and an old burner-type hurricane lantern. That burns traditional paraffin oil lamp fuel, not kerosene. We are playing a game, in a fictional world. Trying to find a real world "exact match" is kind of silly, now that I think about it. Though, if the lantern uses a wick, flat or round, maybe they should make us use cloth during repairs. Or make us craft wicks using cloth.

 

I like the idea of the repair option using some cloth to represent putting in a fresh mantle on a Coleman-style lantern.  Since mantles need replacing essentially with every use, they could make room for two levels of repairs - one to replace the mantle and one to repair the lanterns workings. 

I think, in a way, the repair is representing a mantle change.  I have noticed in game that if one never allows the lantern to completely run out of fuel but turns it off beforehand, it won't degrade condition at all; whereas, it will degrade a bit each time you allow the lantern to die on its own.

ETA:  Thinking about it though, it's not just cloth that makes the mantle what it is.  The chemicals they treat it with are what glows to cause the bright light that it emits... so perhaps the game just assumes the storms lantern comes with a fictional "reusable" mantle (one that doesn't burn away with each use.  ETA on my ETA:  Did some reading on lantern mantles... as long as they aren't knocked about, apparently they can be used multiple times.

Edited June 28, 2019 by UpUpAway95
added information

[UpUpAway95]

34 minutes ago, FrozenCorpse said:

https://thelongdark.fandom.com/wiki/Storm_lantern

https://thelongdark.fandom.com/wiki/Lantern_fuel

Unless something has changed, it's a kerosene lantern...

I think Coleman lanterns burn something a little cleaner than kerosene.  As a kid, we called it "white gas," but it was a special fuel marketed by Coleman.

[ThePancakeLady]

2 hours ago, FrozenCorpse said:

https://thelongdark.fandom.com/wiki/Storm_lantern

https://thelongdark.fandom.com/wiki/Lantern_fuel

Unless something has changed, it's a kerosene lantern...

You are quoting a player-made Wiki.

Nothing there is qualified as "official" by Hinterland. Just "facts" posted by players, who may or may not be correct.

I would never count on any Wiki as being completely accurate, or official, unless the studio and/or devs have backed it up as such.

We have all assumed it was kerosene, even though we can also use fish oil. Which is really not something I would want to put in my Coleman Dual Fuel lanterns. Ever.

[ajb1978]

Well glad to know I'm not crazy.  The lantern in the game appears to be a mashup of a wick kerosene lantern, and a pressurized mantle lantern.  It clearly has an open flame that you can see flickering on the bottom, as opposed to the steady glow of a mantle lantern at the top.  Yet it has the built-in ignition, which we don't see with wick lanterns.

Which is kind of a shame really.  A wick lantern with a built in striker, it doesn't get any easier than that.  No need to fiddle with the mantle in the dark, pressurize the tank, wait for it to get warm, etc.  And quiet...those pressure lanterns are noisy.

[UpUpAway95]

16 minutes ago, ajb1978 said:

Well glad to know I'm not crazy.  The lantern in the game appears to be a mashup of a wick kerosene lantern, and a pressurized mantle lantern.  It clearly has an open flame that you can see flickering on the bottom, as opposed to the steady glow of a mantle lantern at the top.  Yet it has the built-in ignition, which we don't see with wick lanterns.

Which is kind of a shame really.  A wick lantern with a built in striker, it doesn't get any easier than that.  No need to fiddle with the mantle in the dark, pressurize the tank, wait for it to get warm, etc.  And quiet...those pressure lanterns are noisy.

Merchandising idea for TLD?

[ajb1978]

1 hour ago, UpUpAway95 said:

Merchandising idea for TLD?

Heck I'd buy one.
Edit: Holy monkey I just had a thought...can you imagine if Hinterland had some kind of agreement with Coleman or something...to put Coleman products in their game.  Besides being a cash infusion for the team, what a great way to advertise Coleman products to a market that might otherwise not consider them.  (Gamers aren't normally known for purchasing outdoorsy products.)

Edited June 29, 2019 by ajb1978

[Martin Prchal]

I happen to own one of those small camping stoves that runs on propane tanks. It has a mechanical striker that eliminates the need for another source of a spark. However, it broke fairly quickly and I generally have to use a lighter to get it going. I have never really used lanterns though, so I cannot speak for the presence of strikers there like in TLD.

[FlorianR]

On 6/27/2019 at 5:02 PM, ajb1978 said:

So in real life I have used several lanterns.  Battery powered, kerosene, propane with the little mantle... but I've never seen a hurricane lantern quite like the one in TLD, with a mechanical striker.  All the ones I've seen require a match or lighter to get started.  But I mean a lantern with a built in striker...that is extra useful.

Except for the fact that it doesn't appear to exist in the real world.  I just spent the last hour Googling my brains out and I can find plenty of lanterns sure.  Kerosene, oil, propane.  Vintage replicas and modern dual-fuel lanterns...but they all require a separate source of ignition.  Is anyone aware of a real, actual hurricane lantern that has a built-in mechanical ignition source?

I would check out French Market Lanterns for potential hurricane self ignition lanterns. They have a really large selection of various gas types and designs.