1890s-1900 Stones Short Tubular ( W.W. Chown & Co.)

Made by W.W. Chown & Co. this lantern is quite similar to my other Stone’s Short Tubular but falls into a neat category. It’s the first model of the square ‘double tube’ design they switched to using in the later 1890s. If you look at my earlier Stone’s Short Tubular, you cans see the obvious differences. The lantern however, is earlier than my other one, because it lacks the ‘fluted globe plate’ designed and introduced in 1900. All of the double tube models were made by W.W. Chown & Co.

You can read more about Stone’s Short Tubular line and see other examples here.

This lantern is all original. One of the neat parts of these lanterns is the special burner cone and locking mechanism. The burner cone has slots cut into them that turn onto pegs attached to the lantern. This prevents the burner and cone from falling out, if the lantern was ever tipped over. This was patented by Charles F. Smith, who owned the company these lanterns were made at before W.W. Chown took over. This design was used on all Hot blast lanterns Chown made after the buyout, but not the cold blasts. A C.F. Smith/Chown burner cone is easily recognizable by the curled over lip at the bottom, and the slots cut into it.

One of my favourite aspects of the lantern is the globe. I did find this globe in a different lantern, but it is a correct W.W. Chown globe, marked “W.W.C & Co.” I have not seen any other globes like it, and this lantern was just perfect for it.

Restoring the Lantern

As I’m attending college, and have moved from my rural property to an apartment in a suburb, restoring lanterns has become more of a challenge lately. I was really excited about this lantern, so I decided to get a little creative. I purchased a rust remover product from Canadian Tire, it is fully biodegradable, odourless and non toxic. I’m usually extremely skeptical of claims like that, but the results do speak for themselves.

All I did was soak the lantern in the product, the wipe it down with WD40 afterwards. The main problem is there are noticeable lines where the lantern sat only partially submerged. Overall though, the product did work and has given the lantern a great look. While on the more expensive side, at least I can say there are options for people who do not have the ability to have larger, messier rust removal solutions.