Carbide Cap Lamps/Victor Non Justrite LSide

Carbide Cap Lamps

Victor Non Justrite LSide.JPG - VICTOR NON JUSTRITE - Rare brass non-Justrite Victor cap lamp, unmarked with slanted 2 3/8 in. reflector, 2 3/16 in. base dia., 4 in. to top of water control screw, threaded water fill cap, complete with felt retainer and screen (The Victor [non-Justrite] lamp is an interesting piece of history in the production of early carbide lamps. In an interesting Eureka article by Dave Des Marais, he makes an argument that the early Victor led to the Acme and then the Pathfinder through improvements in a single manufacturing sequence and that the manufacturer was Hughes Bros. of Scranton, PA. Comparisons of lamp characteristics including the water tanks, water feeds, water doors, reflectors and bases for all three lamps were used to support this argument. Since the Victor and Acme are unmarked, the evidence is circumstantial. Other aspects of the competition between Hughes Bros. and the Scranton Acetylene Lamp Company, makers of the Scranton and Scranto lamps, also add to the mystery of who made what and when. The Victor lamp was identified by markings on the sides of one box showing the lamp with the name Victor marked on the lamp base. The manufacturing date is thought to be in the very early 1910s. The Hughes Bros. of Scranton had already become a major supplier of safety lamps by 1912, claiming 40 years of experience in their ads at the time. That year the first of the ads for the Pathfinder lamp appeared in Mines and Minerals Magazine. The Victor likely predates this lamp but the maker is unknown. A detailed comparison of lamp features of the early Pathfinder and later Acme does not support the position that Hughes made both lamps. The Hughes Bros., Ralph W. and William H., were in business at 420 South Main Avenue at this time. By 1920 a third brother Sidney R. Hughes had joined the company and the business was now located at 510-12 North 9th Avenue. Sidney went on to become president of the company by 1931 when its name was changed to Hughes Brass Works. By 1937, the company was out of business. See Des Marais, Eureka #12, pp 29-35 and Clemmer, American Miners’ Carbide Lamps, p 75)

Victor Non Justrite LSide | VICTOR NON JUSTRITE - Rare brass non-Justrite Victor cap lamp, unmarked with slanted 2 3/8 in. reflector, 2 3/16 in. base dia., 4 in. to top of water control screw, threaded water fill cap, complete with felt retainer and screen (The Victor [non-Justrite] lamp is an interesting piece of history in the production of early carbide lamps. In an interesting Eureka article by Dave Des Marais, he makes an argument that the early Victor led to the Acme and then the Pathfinder through improvements in a single manufacturing sequence and that the manufacturer was Hughes Bros. of Scranton, PA. Comparisons of lamp characteristics including the water tanks, water feeds, water doors, reflectors and bases for all three lamps were used to support this argument. Since the Victor and Acme are unmarked, the evidence is circumstantial. Other aspects of the competition between Hughes Bros. and the Scranton Acetylene Lamp Company, makers of the Scranton and Scranto lamps, also add to the mystery of who made what and when. The Victor lamp was identified by markings on the sides of one box showing the lamp with the name Victor marked on the lamp base. The manufacturing date is thought to be in the very early 1910s. The Hughes Bros. of Scranton had already become a major supplier of safety lamps by 1912, claiming 40 years of experience in their ads at the time. That year the first of the ads for the Pathfinder lamp appeared in Mines and Minerals Magazine. The Victor likely predates this lamp but the maker is unknown. A detailed comparison of lamp features of the early Pathfinder and later Acme does not support the position that Hughes made both lamps. The Hughes Bros., Ralph W. and William H., were in business at 420 South Main Avenue at this time. By 1920 a third brother Sidney R. Hughes had joined the company and the business was now located at 510-12 North 9th Avenue. Sidney went on to become president of the company by 1931 when its name was changed to Hughes Brass Works. By 1937, the company was out of business. See Des Marais, Eureka #12, pp 29-35 and Clemmer, American Miners’ Carbide Lamps, p 75)

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