Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Iain P]

Another antique shop find yesterday. The box is battered but the lamp works fine! As usual I only know what's on the box and bulb, so any information on the age or history of this would be appreciated.



And some more information on the box:




The filament is a simple C-6 Transverse coil:



Connecting it to a 9V battery it quickly sprang to life. I produced the final image by stacking 20 images at different focal points using Zerene Stacker software. Further enhancements in Astra Image Plus. Photographed with Nikon D3100 using 1:1 Macro lens and 2X converter.

The filament is around 145 microns wide, which is the same as a thick human hair. You can see some actual detail in the extruded filament itself.

[Peter_L]

Ceag.

[Peter_L]

Ceag. Barnsley Yorkshire. I knew that factory very well. They made a wide range of bulbs and my wife worked there in the summer holidays from college.

The original factory on Queens Rd has gone but the business is still running. There is a 1972 video on YT. I recognise some of the faces.

[Cargy]

Ceag Miner’s Supply Company Limited, 3 Victoria Rd, Barnsley was founded in 1912-13 to make miner’s lamps and they are still in operation in Zenith Park, Barnsley, making auto bulbs and specialist safety lighting. Their website has some history but from newspaper reports...

They started by making a newly approved miner’s electric safety lamp; subsequently made gas detectors, hand lamps, charging stands and miner’s 2 to 5 volt alkaline cap lamps. In the 1930s they were supplying 90% of miner’s lamps in the UK. Their MD, Mr. R. J. Plummer, was Mayor of Barnsley in 1931 and died in 1954.

Ceag fitted “Lumax” internally prismed glass to mine lamps in 1927 to help diffuse the light but Lumax Automobile Lamps were advertised from early 1932. A fire in the bulb line of the factory in January 1936 burned the whole place down; it was largely rebuilt that year and extended in 1938. They sold car spotlights by the early 1950s, and other car lights and accessories after that.

Your lamp has packaging artwork as advertised in 1932 but it probably remained like that for some years.

[Iain P]

Thanks all! I received this further piece of information yesterday from a lamp specialist:

"Air Ministry Lamp for Aircraft Wing Tip Navigation Lights, this lamp is now NATO Stock No 6240-99-995-3217"

So it's an automotive bulb but used in aircraft too.
The A.M. in the ref number makes sense now, Air Ministry, of course. And there's a crown icon on the box and on the base of the lamp (just visible in the composite image above)

[Iain P]

And a little more:
I read that the "Queen's Crown" design has the upright, domed sides of St. Edward's Crown, whereas the pre-1953 George VI's "King's Crown" design is that of the Tudor Crown with sloping sides. The design on the box and lamp base seems to be the Tudor Crown design, dating this to pre 1953, though it took some time for the changeover to happen so it's not conclusive.
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[Peter_L]

Hi. The Air Ministry was formed in 1918.

Link below shows the factory and the "miners lamps"
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-19052489

The article says "Kendray Street" but that is the fourth name it has had since the early 1800's

In its day, the Ceag Building was a pioneer. It was light and airy inside, a far cry from the older factories in the town. Sited right next to the bus and rail stations made for easy access and Ceag was known to be rather "picky" when it came to choosing employees.

The factory had a high percentage of female labour, and back in the 1960-70's those I knew always spoke well of the company contrary to the reputation gained by many of the other factories. Some of the more senior ladies could remember a time when the factory was quite spacious inside, but as production was ramped up in the 1940's and then again when the automotive business began expanding towards the end of the 1950's.

One precision area of bulb making there was for marine navigation lights and in particular for marker buoys.

What wasn't well known were the companies origins.

Quote: "1906
1906 Company founded in Cologne. As early as the beginning of the century the Concordia Elektrizitäts-Aktiengesellschaft (CEAG) produced lamps for use in mines susceptible to firedamp that fulfilled the highest requirements posed on a safe source of light." endquote.

There was no "Google" back then.

[DM]

Anything interesting in this lot ?