After a recent visit to the
Coleman factory outlet and museum in Wichita, I was struck by how good the
1901 solution to the lighting problem still works today.
I purchased one of Coleman's new
North Star Dual Fuel lanterns. It costs 5 to 10 cents per hour to operate and can use standard unleaded fuel from any gas station, and puts out the same amount of light as a 75 watt bulb. Battery-powered lights cost roughly 50 cents per hour tooperate and put out far less light.
It was also intriguing for a geek to look at the mechanism, largely unchanged since 1901. The lantern vaporizes the fuel by using heat, then burns that. You pump it up with pressure once an hour, which keeps things moving.
Comments
Fri, 05.09.2008 02:07
Republicans give lip service t o freedom and liberty but usua lly deliver a fascist form of socialism. Democrats tal [...]
Fri, 05.09.2008 00:43
First off, you mentioned "the Republicans know that their po licies aren't working" which i sn't actually true. The [...]
Fri, 05.09.2008 00:00
Though I ride to work in nothi ng like hurricane winds, I hav e been using an electric bike and it really helps figh [...]
Thu, 04.09.2008 21:23
Except that the Democrats aren 't talking about ending war, t hey are just looking to shift focus from Iraq to Afgha [...]
Thu, 04.09.2008 10:14
At least he didn't say, "A kan garoo!" http://forest.compl ete.org/posts/395-Kangaroos.ht ml
Wed, 03.09.2008 13:24
This sort of frustration comes into play when people don't u nderstand information manageme nt. Dell, being quite l [...]
Wed, 03.09.2008 12:20
I can't speak for John, and I (happily) haven't seen a recen t Dell catalog, but: I hav e yet to see a computer [...]
Wed, 03.09.2008 11:31
You falsely claimed that you f ound the materials sexually pr ovocative. That the supreme co urt ruled that the gover [...]