Lantern

Object Name:

Lantern

Object ID:

1983.093.02

Creator:

Peter Gray & Sons -- Manufacturer

Place of Origin:

Boston, MA

Description:

Lantern, nurse's. Sheet metal and glass oil burning lantern. Used by nurses on night duty at New Hampshire Hospital School of Nursing. Cylindrical body with thick hemispherical magnifying lens on front. Painted black. Rectangular brass plate on side near top with clipped corners, stamped "PETER GRAY & SONS / MANUFACTURERS / BOSTON, MASS."; raised edge on plate around its border. Nickel-plated brass hoop handle that pivots across top. Oval section sheet-metal and wire handle on back. Small sheet-metal cylinder attached across top of handle on back. Filet on inside back surface of handle on back to allow for easier holding. Handle soldered to back of cylinder. Cylindrical body has flared base with a roll edge at its bottom. A number of vent holes in flared base, ~0.25" diameter. False bottom inside body to support insert. Hole in center with turned-up edge around hole. Turned-up edge supports burner insert. Sheet-metal cylinder soldered to front of body, 4" diameter with crimped front edge that holds glass lens. Two horizontal reeded sections that provide some stiffness for cylinder on side of body. Top of cylinder's body has rolled edge. Two brackets riveted to side of body near top support ends of elliptical handle. Handle 0.37" diameter. Brass tube with nickel plating. Ends of tube are compressed to form a tab that is riveted to the brackets. Rivets also let handle rotate freely. Names scratched on side of body: "WRAY", above that under brass plate: "A..Teuscher", and below looks like same name but written poorly. On side of lens body: "K O" with vertical line through the "O". Insert cylindrical with cut-out on front surface. Smaller lip forms a cylinder on inside of bottom. Between interior and exterior, series of small holes around perimeter ~0.25" diameter for venting from bottom. Above straight cylindrical section is a lip, then curved shoulder leading to a rib around bottom of smaller cylindrical section. Slightly above it, another rib and then wider flat area with corrugated piece of metal wrapped around it. Riveted in two places. Another small rib, then sharp shoulder. From this shoulder, a cone-shaped top section. On outside of that, a cone-shaped piece of sheet metal with scallops around edge riveted to the sheet-metal piece below it at three points. Exhaust gases from burner come out through pleats. Corrugated section probably to provide cool surface so insert can be turned to adust the amount of light from burner. Paint missing from rounded shoulder. On back of insert on rounded shoulder, a point where some type of band ~0.6" wide has been broken off and missing. Burner unit is also missing.

Material:

Metal
Glass
Brass
Nickel

Dimensions:

H-14.1 W-5.6 D-8.8 inches

Provenance:

Used at New Hampshire Hospital School of Nursing, Concord, NH.

Credit Line:

Gift of New Hampshire Hospital School of Nursing Alumni Association

Subjects:

Nursing, Nurses, Lanterns