1915-1921 Banner Chief

The Banner Chief was specifically designed for fire departments. The extra handle on the lantern is common to fire lanterns, this one being less ornate than say a C.T. Ham Fire lantern. The purpose of the added handle was to attach the lantern to a special bracket on the side of a fire truck, or wagon in the earlier days. The hollow pipe version on this lantern was standard in Canada, with a nearly identical version made by E.T. Wright. The bracket on the fire truck or buggy slid though the hollow pipe and had a clamp to hold the fount at the bottom. The Americans like C.T. Ham or Dietz used a hanger at the top instead.  A rather interesting note on these lanterns, the brass wires for the extra handle passes through the crown of the lantern. A bit of an odd design, I’m not sure why OL&L chose to do that, instead of just making the handle slightly wider than the crown.

The globe in the lantern is a Tisdale Patented 1907 globe. Made by Avery Tisdale of Beaverton, Ontario. The globe is unique because it has a hole for a match molded into the globe. It was designed so the globe would need to be lifted in order to light the lantern. It was advertised to Firemen, construction workers etc as a time saver.

This lantern is the first cold blast lantern I purchased. I didn’t know it was a fire lantern, and I didn’t even know it was a brass fount. It was missing the whole lift assembly, which I was able to find parts for from a similar aged Trulite lantern. This one is still one of my favourites.