Side Light / Parking Light #2

[Douglas Gilmore Brown]

From a box of 'junk" from a barn in central Maine, I found this light.

The reservoir for the fuel is missing.

I suspect it is from a Model T Ford;

If so, what years?

 

Any help is much appreciated!

[Mark Wetherbee]

Model T Ford, around late 1916-20  —- they had one or two rivets on the opening handle and the one rivet is earlier I believe. It is missing the kerosene font and burner which were the same pretty much all the way through the early 26 style lights (they were used for non-starter cars to then)

Edited August 25, 2023 by Mark Wetherbee (see edit history)

[TOM H. S.]

Hi Mark, Yes this is one of two front Cowl Kerosene Lights used for being seen on foggy or night time driving. The Model T Club of America has local clubs all around the country that you could get in touch with if you want to try to sell or donate it. Also there is E...Bay too. Best Wishes. Tom

[wayne sheldon]

As said, the bottom part, the oil (kerosene) bowl and burner are missing. The important detail on this lamp is the chimney! What amounts to the top portion of the lamp. The bottom of the chimney has holes punched all around the base of the chimney. That detail was only used from the early 1915 brass trimmed lamps into the late 1915 steel trimmed lamps and continued through 1916 and at least much of 1917 when those holes were deleted from the design. All such lamps from 1917 till the end of model T production had chimneys without those holes.

Because the lens bezel (rim) and the top cap (actually a screw that holds the chimney on and can be removed for cleaning) are steel, the lamp would be considered a late 1915, 1916, or early 1917.

A detail you do not show is the shape of the reflector inside the lamp. Early versions (1915 through 1917ish, but maybe as late as 1919 on some lamps?) had "round" shaped reflectors inside, sometimes referred to as "diving bell helmets" because of their appearance when removed from the lamp. The much more common later sidelamps had cube-like shaped reflectors inside. The main body of the lamps were so much alike, that the reflectors and the chimneys as well as nearly all pieces from early to late can interchange, so it is not uncommon at all to find mixes of early and late details on lamps.

 

Part of the problem, and the history, of these lamps is that they were manufactured to Ford's exacting designs by several companies. Parts across the years and the manufacturers generally are interchangeable!  While they will fit and work, I can tell you from experience that they do not always fit well. Most of the pieces are not marked or identified as to manufacturer (the top/cap and the burners were about the only sidelamp pieces ever marked with a manufacturer's name, and most of those were not). Trying to make several good lamps from a pile of bad lamps and pieces can get interesting when trying to fit them together. One set of lamps I put together, I ended up not using the nicest main body I had because the fit of various pieces just wasn't right enough (it would have looked and worked just fine, but I would have never been happy with the way the chimney and bezel didn't set together just right). Another fairly nice main body, all those pieces fit perfectly.

 

The number of rivets used on the bezel's (lens rim) hinge and the thumb tab varies, with no apparent consistency. It does not appear to be about when the lamp was made (earlier versus later?) so much as who made it as well as when. Ford was building automobiles faster than anyone had ever done before! The many companies manufacturing parts for Ford were struggling to keep up with the demands. Sometimes they cut corners (one or no rivets instead of two?) in order to get parts finished and shipped out.