Philips MA 90

Lantern acquired in August 2004.

This is another lantern from Danial Thomas. It came from a replacement scheme in an area called Skewen in Neath. All of the columns and lanterns are being replaced as they are mainly old concrete columns except for the odd one or two replacements. The lanterns are also being replaced because the light levels needed to be improved. The replacement lanterns being used are Thorn Riviera 2 lanterns running on 250 Watt SON lamps. Another reason why new columns are being installed is that the council plan to put up Christmas decorations through Skewen in the not too distant future and so all the new columns being installed are very thick steel ones to take the weight of Christmas decorations and they also have a weatherproof 16A plug socket at the top of each column so they can plug the lights straight in.

The lanterns were installed about five years prior to acquisition, when two mini roundabouts were installed to improve the flow of traffic through a very busy junction. Some of the columns have not been replaced because there isn't anything wrong with them and they simply fitted the Riviera lanterns onto the existing columns and brackets.

The MA 90 from above, in as-received condition. Although this lantern is not fitted with a NEMA socket, the position where one would be fitted can easily be seen.

The rim of the fibreglass is quite mossy, despite the lantern only having had a few years' use on the road.

However, inside the bowl, there is no moss and very little dirt - the IP65 rating of this lantern means that the lantern is, in theory, dust proof.

This photograph shows how my three MA lanterns compare size-wise. The damaged gear in head MA 90 (middle) uses the same lantern body shell as the gearless MA 50, and likewise, the gear in head MA 50 (bottom) uses the same lantern body shell as the gearless MA 60. The gear in head MA 60 uses this body shell as well; however, the back casting is longer, in order to accommodate the gear.

I used the gear from the gear-in-head MA 90 to power the gearless MA 90 as it was just lying about, gathering dust. In time, the bowl and canopy will be cleaned (see below), but I just wired the lantern up to see what it was like. The Sangamo time switch was already in use - powering the Z8896, however the space above it was perfect for fitting the SOX gear to, and so I decided to change what it was controlling.

I decided to give the MA 90 a much needed cleaning on the 15th October 2004. The photograph above shows the different pieces of the lantern, all removed and ready for cleaning. The bolts in the top right hand corner hold the shoe in place, the object in front of the canopy is the lampholder support, and in between the bowl and the canopy is the lamp support and the three removable bowl clips.

A rare sight here: an MA 90 without the shoe fitted. Surprisingly, the area where the two prongs from the shoe fit to the canopy was quite dirty - I expected it to be cleaner - having not been exposed to the elements as much as the rest of the lantern.

I washed the canopy in warm water with a small amount of Exodus, but it was still a bit grubby around the Philips logo, so the canopy was again washed - this time with a pressure washer. I managed to make the scratches running along the canopy fade, but they wouldn't completely disappear. Even so, the canopy still looks a lot better. The shoe was also cleaned up and then re-fixed to the canopy.

As mentioned above, the inside didn't really need a cleaning, but it received one anyway!

The bowl cleaned up well - and I didn't need to use the pressure washer on it either!

The lantern was mounted to an AC Ford AC872 wall bracket on Tuesday, 16th August 2005. The photograph was taken just after the lantern was switched on.

Thorn Pilote T2 | Revo C13723/S

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