Contents > Aladdin model 12 table lamps
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Aladdin Model 12 Table Lamps Sold from 1928 through 1935 (USA), 1939 (UK), 1945 or 1946 (Australia)
Andy Graham-Cumming's monograph on the model 12 table lamp, with focus on the UK versions. This is the most complete study made of the model 12 burner and its evolution through its production life. This excellent monograph is copyrighted 2006 by Andy Graham-Cumming and provided here for you to read with his kind permission.
I'm one of the people bucking Aladdin collector dogma about transition model 12 lamps. I have seen way too many lamps that have model 11 table fonts and model 12 burners to believe they are all owner upgrades. The model 7 through 11 design is a good reliable burner that provides as much light as the model 12 burner. The price of a new model 12 burner was over over half of the price of a new model 12 lamp. There was a prolonged world wide depression going on and for most yet to be electrified rural areas, cash was scarce. I just have a hard time believing lots of families would spend the money just to get the model 12 burner. It seems more likely to me that a family would invest in an additional lamp rather than replace a perfectly good burner on an almost new lamp with a newer burner. Instead I believe that either the burner was available before the table font and the factory was out of # 11 burners or that there was a stock of model 11 table fonts that needed to be used up. Remember the factory had profit in mind and not future collector sensibilities. The first model 12 table fonts were the straight sided version. The slant side version replaced the straight side lamps. I do not have a replacement date, but is is probably early into model 12 production as the slant side version is a lot more common. Early straight side lamps came with a different shaped wick adjuster and an outer wick tube that locked by turning clockwise. I do not know it these changed before the introduction of the slant side or at the same time. The slant side model 12 lamp stayed in production alongside the model B lamps until 1935. In 1949, the tooling for the American model 12 table lamp foot was resurrected and used to produce the model B "Nashville Treasure". An often overlooked and under appreciated lamp is the UK model 12 table lamp. This lamp was made from different tooling than the North American version. When Aladdin UK replaced the model 12 with the model 14 side draft lamp they simply modified the existing table font manufacturing process to eliminate the centre draft tube and not drill the holes around the base.
The UK model 12 table font, converted to side draft went on to become the model 23 table lamp font used worldwide. It ended up being a very important design in evolution of the Aladdin lamp. The UK model 12/14 table font design has been in production for over 70 years. Occasionally side drought versions of the American model 12 table lamp font can be found. The earliest of the model 14 lamps used American model 12 table fonts that had the centre drought tube removed and the to threads reworked to fit the coarse thread model 14 burner.
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