Thorn Riviera 1

Lantern acquired in October 2005.

Perhaps this lantern's name is a little inappropriate considering that it was used in the most landlocked county in England! Having said that, there are very few of these lanterns in Derbyshire - the only ones I can think of off-hand are on a footpath adjacent the Spondon slip road on the A52; from where this example was removed.

The lantern is not in brilliant condition - the canopy is discoloured and the fibreglass rim between the canopy and the underside of the lantern is shedding fibres in places. A 76 mm adaptor is fitted as the lantern is intended to be mounted to 60 mm diameter columns. Unusually, the cell is a Cableform SS5 but it has flying leads as opposed to a NEMA connection.

The flat glass is very dirty, though the optic area is rated to IP66 so it should be clean internally.

The back part of the lantern hinges open to allow access to the gear. As the photograph shows, this area is quite cobwebby in my example of the lantern, however the gear can all be removed in one go, and so cleaning will be able to commence without the worry of water damaging the components.

Similarly, the front of the canopy opens on the same hinge to allow access to the optic. The canopy is not meant to open as far as is shown in the photograph, but the retaining clip has broken and so this can happen. The very DIY-looking yellow sponge is actually factory fitted, and its job is to prevent the canopy from being compressed into a gap in the ridge of the optic moulding.

The lantern was cleaned up on Friday, 11th November 2005. A great deal of soapy water and T-Cut polish were required in order to remove the scratches on the canopy. Notice that a new photocell has been fitted, owing to the previous one having a rather yellowed case.

The paint splats were left as trying to remove them would probably do more harm than good. The bracket entry was also turned around as I wanted to run the lantern as a side-entry fitting instead of post top.

The lantern was then fitted to a wall bracket and wired up. A new lamp was required as the existing one was worn out.

The below photograph demonstrates how the lantern would have appeared when installed.

Although the front section of the canopy would have originally been dark grey (as it is with my example), this has now faded to match the colour of the rear part of the canopy.

Thorn Gamma Basique | Philips ME 70

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