Woodsman's Gear of the 20th Century Part 4

Description

https://www.amazon.com/shop/influencer-36cfcb18

http://www.selfrelianceoutfitters.com

Check us out on Instagram at- https://www.instagram.com/pathfindersurvival/

We have a large Discussion Group for Learning on FB at-https://www.facebook.com/groups/178558438998777/

Check us out on FB at-

https://www.facebook.com/woodlandbushcraft/

https://www.facebook.com/pathfinderschoolllc/

https://www.facebook.com/vikingbushcraft/

For a full media kit or further questions contact me direct at

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tags: Bushcraft,Survival,David Canterbury,Dave Canterbury,Pathfinder,The Pathfinder School,Archery,Hunting,Fishing,Camping,Primitive Skills,Fire,Water,Shelter,Navigation,First Aid,Search and Rescue,Signaling,Prepper,Preparedness,Self Reliance,Survivability,The 10 C's,Knives,Axes,Saws,Bow Drill,Ferrocerium Rod,Ferro Rod,Tarp,Hammock,Canteen,Cooking,Longhunter,Trapping

Video Transcription

only folks I'm Dave Canterbury with self-reliance out there in the Pathfinder school welcome back to another in our series on gear of the 20th century woodsman and today we're going to talk about one of my favorite pieces of vintage kit the Stonebridge folding Lantern stay with me back in the woods

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

okay before we start taking a really close look at this Lantern let's talk a little bit about history this Lantern was patented in 1906 by Charles H Stonebridge it was adopted by the US Army Medical Corps during World War one and there are some of these available in the market that I've seen I don't know more personally that have a medical insignia on them that were actually used in the military and those are much more difficult to find Dennis galvanized steel version as they're very difficult to find to begin with that have all of the windows intact and these windows are made from a mineral called mica and it was flexible and it was a little better for use and abuse as far as folding it up packing it up banging around the backpack and things like that then the last would have been or some type of plate glass so they used that my cup material and that was kind of an innovative thing that Charles stonebridge did when he created this lamp they made this lamp in three versions they made it in a galvanized steel which this one is they made it in a brass and they also made it in aluminum and from what I've read most people kind of didn't like the aluminum because they thought it was a flimsier material didn't hold up as well over time however the actual original stone bridge lantern that's in the horse kept our collection that belonged to him personally was an aluminum version of this lantern again I've never seen an aluminum version for sale and I've never seen a brass one for that matter either other than the reproductions on the market by Garrett Wade and I'll show you one of those in a few minutes I have one of those as well but as far as originals go most of the ones I see are this galvanized steel it was a very popular lantern even though it was patented in 1906 all the way through the mid 20th century and it was still talked about by authors and books like the new way of the wild by rust him in 1957 I believe it was still mentioned this Lantern is in his book as a viable piece of wasn't a kid but it started being written about very early by authors like Buzz ikot and the cyclope of the outdoors in camping and trails from 1910 and other books like Horace Kephart camping and wood craft

so mentioned this landrum so it's got a very historic significance in the field of the woodsman and outdoor sportsmen throughout the first half at least of the 20th century so it's worth taking a look at this piece today okay so let's get a little bit of a close-up view of how this Lantern works there's a couple of things about this later that make it very unique the first one is obviously that folds up and so we'll talk about that first

you would unsnap it here and the lid would fold into itself here where you have baffles to keep wind out but also to let smoke out you would fold that backwards onto the lid and it would pull the lid flat you would fold the handle down at that point you had a bottom which we'll talk about in a minute that you could release inside by pulling up on this tab and pushing and it would fold down and then the whole lantern would fold over on itself and sometimes it wants to fold one way better than the other way you just have to figure out which way it folds the best on the lantern that you have and it would fold down on itself and then this clip would come over the top to hold a shot like this and whole thing weighed a little less than a pound without the candle so now let's talk about a little bit of the innovations that this folding lantern had going for it okay so let's speak to some of the features of this Lantern now that you have it fold it up will begin to unfold it we'll talk about some of those features on the backside this Lantern you can see at the top it has a grommet there and that was for hanging Lantern on a nail so once you opened it up that part that became the back had a grommet in it so you can hang the lantern by nail again the windows in this Lantern are made from a mica which is an actual mineral material it's just a sheet of mica that is pressed into

the galvanized steel to hold it in place now that makes it very difficult to replace and that is one of the main things that I hear bad about this Lantern as far as people who are trying to restore these things is that they're very difficult to restore if these windows are broken out of them so if you're looking for one of these look for one that's fully intact before you buy it because you're not going to be able to replace this mica on the inside it has a mirrored surface on the backside here to reflect you can kind of see that reflection in the camera think when you drop the bottom down it's snapped into place and it had an adjustable device inside of it that would adjust to different sized candles depending on the size candle you had available to you at your camp it also had vents on the side that were adjustable to allow more or less air into the lantern you can see this one's closed and this side is open and they basically just you'd reach inside and slide side to side just like that to close the vent it also had holes on the bottom to allow oxygen and so that the flame could draft and then in the top you had a housing that came down that blocked wind but also let's smoke escape and it was spring-loaded so that when you opened up the lantern lid it would spring open on itself to come down over the top so that you could shut the lantern and then you would just close by connecting that clip over the top and then you also have a handle to either carry the lantern or hang the lantern on a rope or toggle if you want to and again you also had that hole in the back to hang the lantern so it was a very unique design with lots and lots of small detail features that made it so viable and because of this flexible material that was used this mica for the windows it didn't break as easy when it was folded up and banging around inside your how a soccer inside your backpack it didn't even smashed up glass one because it was completely protected once it was folded by the lid and the back of the housing being galvanized steel now if you can't find one and you want one of these for a nostalgia sake to carry around camp and things like that you can buy a reproduction of this and this is a reproduction that I've had for several years from Garrett Wade and these are still available today for 50 to 70 dollars somewhere in that neighborhood it's a very close facsimile it's a little bit smaller but it has most of the features that the original had it has the same stampings on the top of the upper housing with the patent dates and things like that to say the stonebridge automatic folding lantern it has the same handle on the top the same clip the same hole in the back and all of that stuff when you pick it up it has a little bit different roof housing it has the michael windows in it just like the original did it has the fold down bottom in it it doesn't stay in as well as the original one did so you can pop it through there if you're not careful if you don't keep that thing latched well you can pop it through there this one may just have a little bit of gunk on it it does have an adjustable candle holder in the bottom of it it does not have the adjustable vents the top of it is not exactly the same it doesn't have the windscreen that's spring-loaded here like the original does here other than that it's very similar as far as that goes and it does have the clip told a shut so it's a little bit lighter weight version by you know good few ounces but it also has some things that are not like the original but as far as having something that is a Stonebridge folding lantern for vintage camp this is a good bet if you're looking for one to buy and you want to buy a reproduction because you either can't find or can't afford to buy an original and again this one folds up fairly easily just like the original did this one actually folds a little flatter than my original but it's also been stored for quite a bit of time too and I would imagine is a heavy weight on these original it would fold pretty flat to over time all right folks alum Dave Canterbury with self-reliance hoppers in the Pathfinder school I appreciate you joining me today for another in our series on woodsman's gear of the 20th century talking about the Stonebridge folding lantern

I appreciate your views and I appreciate your support and thank you for everything you do for our school for family or for business a lot of our sponsors instructors affiliates and Friends and I'll be back through the video in this series or another series as soon as I can thanks guys