Carbide Cap Lamps/Zar Incused LSide

Carbide Cap Lamps

Zar Incused LSide.JPG - ZAR INCUSED MARKING - Very hard to find Zar brass cap lamp, marked on top in incused letters TRADE MARK ZAR (in large letters) and NEW YORK, marked on left side of font PAT JUNE 6 1911 JULY 1 1913 OCT 14 1913 OTHERS PENDING and on the right side of the font PAT JAN 6 1914 MAR 31 1914 APRIL 21 1914, 3 7/8 in. tall to top of water door, 1 15/16 in. base dia., with 2 in. dia. steel screw on reflector (The ZAR lamp is an attractive and desirable lamp sought by collectors. Advertisements in 1914 claimed the lamp to be "the best lamp built" with "18 other advantages" but the short history of the Zar lamp and slow market acceptance of the lamp by the mining community may question those claims. After leaving the John Simmons Co. in 1913, the founder of carbide mining lamps Frederic Baldwin formed the Zar Manufacturing Co. in New York City. From Mar. 6, 1913 to Mar. 18, 1914, Baldwin filed nine patents for the Zar lamp. By an agreement sometime in the 1914-15 timeframe, Baldwin patented and manufactured his new Zar lamp while Simmons continued to produce and market the familiar hour-glass shaped Baldwin lamp. By the end of 1917, the Zar Manufacturing Co. was already going out of business. Baldwin sold 17 of his lamp patents to Simmons which is interesting in that Simmons was already phasing out production of its carbide lamps while buying the patents. Production of the Zar lamp lasted but a couple years. Three marked varieties of the Zar lamp are known, each selling for one dollar as advertised. The earliest marking was stamped BALCO NEW YORK, presumably for the Baldwin Company, on top and are quite rare. The next earliest style (as shown elsewhere in my pics) is marked ZAR NEW YORK in a small plaque on top with three patent dates on the left side of the tank. The later style as shown here is marked TRADE MARK NEW YORK in small incused letters with ZAR in large incused letters on the lamp top and six patent dates on both sides of the tank. The first two patents, No. 994,365 issued June 6, 1911 and No. 1,066,241 issued July 1, 1913, applied to a solid burner tip and a cup-shaped reflector with air holes, respectively. Neither directly applied to the Zar lamp. The last four were Zar patents. Patent No. 1,075,960 issued Oct. 14, 1913 was for a non-clogging sheet metal burner tip. No. 1,083,427 issued Jan. 6, 1914 claimed an air bladder behind the reflector to preclude air blast effects on the flame, an idea that was apparently never included in the Zar lamp manufacturing. The last two patents, No. 45,514 issued Mar. 31, 1914 and No. 1,094,358 issued April 21, 1914, applied to the Zar lamp body design and an easily removed and replaced burner tip, respectively. Baldwin’s five other Zar lamp patent dates were never marked on the lamp. In 1917, Simmons produced and advertised the very rare Hold-A-Lite lamp (shown elsewhere in my pics) with a similar appearance to the Zar. However, the Hold-A-Lite appears to have had a very short production life. See Bohannan, Mining Artifact Collector #16, pp 20-25)

Zar Incused LSide | ZAR INCUSED MARKING - Very hard to find Zar brass cap lamp, marked on top in incused letters TRADE MARK ZAR (in large letters) and NEW YORK, marked on left side of font PAT JUNE 6 1911 JULY 1 1913 OCT 14 1913 OTHERS PENDING and on the right side of the font PAT JAN 6 1914 MAR 31 1914 APRIL 21 1914, 3 7/8 in. tall to top of water door, 1 15/16 in. base dia., with 2 in. dia. steel screw on reflector (The ZAR lamp is an attractive and desirable lamp sought by collectors. Advertisements in 1914 claimed the lamp to be "the best lamp built" with "18 other advantages" but the short history of the Zar lamp and slow market acceptance of the lamp by the mining community may question those claims. After leaving the John Simmons Co. in 1913, the founder of carbide mining lamps Frederic Baldwin formed the Zar Manufacturing Co. in New York City. From Mar. 6, 1913 to Mar. 18, 1914, Baldwin filed nine patents for the Zar lamp. By an agreement sometime in the 1914-15 timeframe, Baldwin patented and manufactured his new Zar lamp while Simmons continued to produce and market the familiar hour-glass shaped Baldwin lamp. By the end of 1917, the Zar Manufacturing Co. was already going out of business. Baldwin sold 17 of his lamp patents to Simmons which is interesting in that Simmons was already phasing out production of its carbide lamps while buying the patents. Production of the Zar lamp lasted but a couple years. Three marked varieties of the Zar lamp are known, each selling for one dollar as advertised. The earliest marking was stamped BALCO NEW YORK, presumably for the Baldwin Company, on top and are quite rare. The next earliest style (as shown elsewhere in my pics) is marked ZAR NEW YORK in a small plaque on top with three patent dates on the left side of the tank. The later style as shown here is marked TRADE MARK NEW YORK in small incused letters with ZAR in large incused letters on the lamp top and six patent dates on both sides of the tank. The first two patents, No. 994,365 issued June 6, 1911 and No. 1,066,241 issued July 1, 1913, applied to a solid burner tip and a cup-shaped reflector with air holes, respectively. Neither directly applied to the Zar lamp. The last four were Zar patents. Patent No. 1,075,960 issued Oct. 14, 1913 was for a non-clogging sheet metal burner tip. No. 1,083,427 issued Jan. 6, 1914 claimed an air bladder behind the reflector to preclude air blast effects on the flame, an idea that was apparently never included in the Zar lamp manufacturing. The last two patents, No. 45,514 issued Mar. 31, 1914 and No. 1,094,358 issued April 21, 1914, applied to the Zar lamp body design and an easily removed and replaced burner tip, respectively. Baldwin’s five other Zar lamp patent dates were never marked on the lamp. In 1917, Simmons produced and advertised the very rare Hold-A-Lite lamp (shown elsewhere in my pics) with a similar appearance to the Zar. However, the Hold-A-Lite appears to have had a very short production life. See Bohannan, Mining Artifact Collector #16, pp 20-25)

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