Project 635B721, a.k.a. 635B (Leacock)
In this installment, we'll take a look at another one of the relatively rare Coleman products - the model 635B721 lantern. This lantern was made by Coleman exclusively for the Leacock Coleman Center. They are an authorized Coleman dealer & service center located in Ronks, PA - which primarily serves the Amish population of the area. The lantern was built to the specification of Leacock (and, presumably, their Amish customers).
I have read some accounts which say that just 1500 of these were made. I have seen other info which says that only 500 were made. I am not sure which is correct, but, given the number (and various models) of lanterns that were made by Coleman over the years, I would say that either figure would entitle this lantern to be called rare.
All examples of this lantern that I've seen, taking into account my own lantern, plus others that I've seen on eBay, as well as those reported on our own CCF (which numbers 4 or 5 total) were manufactured in January 1996 (date code 01 96). I don't know if Coleman only made one run of these in that one month or what. If anyone has knowledge of one of these produced in any other month, please let us know.
Aside from the Leacock labelled collar, another thing that makes these lanterns unique is that the valve is the old style conventional type, with a needle valve shut-off, and a separate tip cleaner lever. Also, the tip cleaner works in a reverse manner - that is, the lever must be up to run the lantern, instead of down, like all other lanterns with this type of valve.
Because of the conventional valve, this lantern also uses a different fount from the other 635B models that were produced. The valve outlet (bung) is centered at the top of the fount, where the other models, using Schrader valves, have it offset, and use a separate center bolt to secure the burner frame to the fount.
OK, now that I've given some background on this lantern, we'll get into it. First, I'll show you some pics of how I received it. It was partially disassembled, packed & shipped. Never had this happen before.
As you can see, the seller included a brand new vent, in addition to the old, pitted one. I'll use it for display.
OK, here we go. We'll start with the burner. Remove the burner tube screw.
On this one, the tube was quite stuck in the burner. I used a punch to gently tap around the top of the burner cap, to loosen the tube.
Removing the tube,
Unscrew the cap from the tube.
Here is the burner assembly completely disassembled.
Next, we will loosen & remove the valve knob screw...
...and the knob with direction disc.
Now, to the pump. I couldn't budge the cap by hand, so I used my trusty strap wrench for assistance.
This has the neoprene cup, which is incorrect, according to the parts list. A leather cup will be installed.
Unscrew the air stem.
Removing the valve is straightforward. Gently place the valve in a vice and evenly twist the fount to unscrew the valve. Count the exact number of turns it takes to remove it, and record this. Withdraw the valve.
Here is the valve assembly with the F/A tube disassembled. You can see that this is an old style valve. At this point (1 96), Coleman hadn't made an old style valved lantern in over 12 years. They were (and are) all Schrader valves. This is the last and latest conventional valve lantern, and it will most likely be the last lantern ever to carry such a valve.
Here we see that, as I said above, the tip cleaning lever works in a reverse manner. Turning the lever up moves the eccentric block down, while turning the lever down moves the block up.
Here are all the parts - cleaned, checked and ready for reassembly. A summary of the cleaning process:
1) All brass parts went into a lemon juice bath and scrubbed with an old toothbrush (soak time dependent on need). Then, rinsed thoroughly with hot water, dried, then polished lightly with 0000 steel wool. All fuel passageways were sprayed with Gumout (carb cleaner).
2) Steel parts went into a separate lemon juice soak. Rinsed & dried. Used steel wool and dremel tool brushes as needed, to remove rust & carbon.
3) Collar - This appears to be aluminum with some type of clear coating and black ink lettering. Very lightly washed with soap & water and dried. Then, using 0000 steel wool as well as Q-Tips & Mothers, very lightly (using almost imperceptible pressure) cleaned and polished out the areas of corrosion that had set in. Then washed again. During this time I had to carefully work around the lettering on the collar, since I am convinced that this would come off with the slightest wipe of liquid. This took me a very long time for a moderate improvement. Very tedious. At least I was able to get the corrosion out.
I think I could have obtained an even better result, were I to apply a new clear coat after the job. Unfortunately, I was afraid to dissolve the ink with the clear coat. I've had that happen before. It's fine, if you can obtain a replacement item, but with this, I wasn't willing to risk it. Overall, though, it looks pretty darned good.
4) Fount - This was very clean on the inside, so I just rinsed it out with Coleman Fuel and dumped it out. On the outside, I washed with dish soap & water, rinsed with hot water and dried. There were some spots where the paint had chipped and had some light surface rust, so I went over those areas with a mixture of rubbing compound & Formula 409, this both cleaned the rust off and blended the edges of the paint to make the chipping softer and far less noticeable. I then waxed the entire fount. Looks really good, and with original paint.
We will now assemble the valve. First, the F/A rod spring looks slightly compressed, in my opinion, so I stretched it a small amount.
Place the spring onto the F/A rod...
...and insert the rod into the F/A tube.
Screw the F/A tube into the valve body and snug it tight.
Here is the assembled valve. You'll note that I haven't touched either the valve packing or the tip cleaner lever. The look and feel of these gave me the impression that they were in great shape, and didn't require service. If I am wrong, I can always service them later.
A little Permatex #2 on the valve threads, and into the fount it goes. Tighten it the same number of turns that you counted upon earlier removal.
Let's move on to the burner. First, screw the burner cap onto the burner tube and tighten hard by hand.
Insert the tube into the burner, aligning the holes as shown.
Insert and tighten the burner tube screw,
The assembled burner.
Turn the tip cleaning lever down.
Insert the cleaning needle of the generator into the eccentric block, and lower the generator to the valve.
Install and tighten the jamb nut.
Install the collar.
Lower the burner assembly onto the valve and collar, being certain that the end of the generator enters its port in the burner.
Install and tighten the center nut.
Place the knob on the valve stem.
Now, the direction disc...
...and the screw.
OK, back to the pump.
Remove the clip, working it off with needlenose pliers.
Lift off the cup & retainer.
After wiping everything clean, we first replace the retainer...
...now, the new leather cup.
Seat the clip on the pump shaft.
Oil it up...
...re-install the air stem...
...and carefully install the pump.
We're in the home stretch now.
Tie on a #11 (or 111 or 1111) mantle.
Trim the string ends.
Burn it off.
Install the heat shield.
Replace the globe...
...the vent...
...and the bail. Assembly complete.
Another Sunshine of the Night!
Enjoy!
BobA
