Montgomery Wards mantle lamp made by B&H

Montgomery Ward and Sears were direct competitors for the same customers in every sales category, including kerosene lighting. In the mid 1930's and through World War II Sears sold the Lightmaster brand of incandescent mantle lamps manufactured by the Farmor Manufacturing Company. Montgomery Ward sold a lamp that used a burner manufactured by Ehrich & Graetz in Germany. When World War II started in Europe in 1939 The German burners could no longer be imported and Wards was left only with the stock on hand to sell against the mantle lamps offered by Sears. Montgomery Ward turned to Bradly and Hubbard to quickly design a mantle lamp to sell. Over the years German companies had manufactured incandescent mantle burners to fit the Rayo centre draft lamp. Bradly and Hubbard quickly designed and manufactured an incandescent mantle lamp based upon their popular Rayo lamp. The new lamp was ready to go for the Wards 1940 -1941 fall winter catalogue. On December 7, 1941, The Japanese brought the United States into the war. In early 1942 brass was declared to be a war essential metal and was restricted in civilian use to only essential civilian products. This meant that brass lamp fonts could no longer be produced. Wards turned to the glass Coleman Kero-Lite 160 as its only incandescent mantle lamp during world war II. The B&H Rayo based mantle lamp was only offered for about 1-1/2 years and was a Montgomery Ward exclusive product. Montgomery wards rated this lamp at 100 candle power in 1940 and at 85 candle power in the 1941 catalogue.  As a comparison they rated the Kero-Lite at 45 candle power.   This lamp uses the same unmounted mantle as the last E&G manufactured lamp sold by Montgomery Ward in 1939.  It likely used the same mantle as was used on 1939 Famos lamps. The chimney has a 2-5/8 inch diameter base and is 14-3/4 inches tall. The wick is 2-1/2 inches diameter. These lamps came in either chrome or bronze finish. A 17 inch bottom diameter ivory coloured paper parchment shade was optional with the chrome plated version. A shade was not offered for the bronze finish lamp. For 1940 only there was a ceramic vase lamp offered that used an oil pot. The oil pot and burner were finished in bronze.

Model stamped 14 - RA - 86 - 7368

In the pictures above and below you can see a brass cylinder that is tightly wedged inside the inner wick tube. The flame spreader is slightly larger in diameter on the top half starting just below the lowest row of holes. The brass cylinder at the top of the inner wick tube acts as a stop to correctly place the flame spreader within the inner wick tube.

This lamp uses a heavy cast iron base ring to lower the lamp's centre of gravity and make it more stable when filled with kerosene

The inner wick tube has a screen possibly to keep spiders and insects from through the base air slots and crawling up the tube to damage the fragile mantle.   Alternatively it might be intended to smooth out any air turbulences inside the air tube.

Filler cap

Burner basket from above showing the simple construction of the burner. The triangular points facing in from the wick carrier holds the wick tight between the inner and outer tubes.

Wick adjustment is a simple straight rack gear attached to the wick holder and a round gear at the end of the wick adjustment knob.
The top of the rack gear has a stop to limit downward wick movement.

It is the gallery that is the primary difference between the Rayo round wick lamp and the Rayo based  Wards incandescent mantle lamp.
Unlike the Rayo the top of this gallery is closed and directs the airflow inward to the wick.

The brass insert to the gallery base has an overall cylindrical shape. The bottom section connects to the burner outer wick tube. There are four flat pieces that connect to an inward facing"L" shaped top ring. The top ring is not in physical contact with the chromed gallery top part creating a small air gap.  There are 4 arms that connect to the gallery top part as shown.  The upper "L" ring and the inward facing lip on the gallery top deflect the airflow to the outside of the wick from the burner basket.

Here you can see the air gap between the outer wick tube and the brass "L" shaped ring at the top of the gallery base piece. There is a second outer air gap between the Gallery top part and the brass "L" shaped ring.

The flame spreader has a slightly smaller diameter below the bottom row of holes. The shoulder sits on the top of the inner wick tube.

The part number on the box is 86.7326.
In the catalogue it is listed as  86 B 7326

Left: Mantle holder for 1940 - early 1942 B&H manufactured Wards incandescent mantle lamp
Right: mantle holder for 1935 - 1939 E&G manufactured burner for Wards mantle lamp

The unmounted mantles are interchangeable but one mantle frame will not seat properly on the other lamp.

Copied from the Fall Winter 1940 - 1941 Montgomery Wards winter catalogue

The pottery vase lamp was only offered this one year.

Listing from the Montgomery Wards Fall Winter 1941 - 1942 catalogue (pdf)
Includes first listing of the Kero-Lite lamp

If you would like to discuss any of the contents please feel free to . 

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