Sidmouth Seafront Lantern

Lantern acquired in July 2007.

Thanks to Steve Rowe for this ornate lantern. As the name suggests, the lantern was one of a number used on Sidmouth's seafront (pictures can be seen here) until the whole lot were replaced due to some of the wooden columns being in poor condition. Whilst the lanterns look old and traditional, they are actually quite modern - the entire bowl is sealed, and the lamp is positioned horizontally, with an optical reflector positioned above. Two of the lanterns ended up in a reclaims yard in Exeter and were spotted by Davy. This lantern had been mounted upside-down on a column, causing the gear and cell to be submerged in water. Steve managed to save the other one (which had thankfully been stored the correct way up!) - so at least two of these unusual top-entry fittings will hopefully still be around in years to come. The nearest equivalent lanterns to these in Derby are the old fittings on Exeter Bridge (see here for pictures)...the closest we can get to a seafront!

Whilst the lantern looks quite old, it is actually not  - the bodywork is aluminium (painted gold / bronze) and the 'panels' that make up the bowl are actually four curved pieces of plastic that are stuck together. The optical part of the lantern is, therefore, completely sealed - this was probably a requirement in the specification as the previous lanterns (running 125 Watt mercury lamps) suffered in stormy weather, and on occasion, panels would blow out of the frame, causing the lamp to fail prematurely from being subjected to the bad weather.

Whilst the bottom piece of these lanterns is solid, the Urbis Victory-based lanterns that replaced them have a clear panel.

A 1 Inch BSP thread is tapped into the top of the lantern, and would screw onto couplers at the end of each bracket.

The lantern would be secured to the bracket by a bolt located on the length of thread inside. Although the lanterns were fitted with SELC 849 minicells, they were actually group-switched from a single location - notice how the 'live in' wire has been cut, in order to prevent the cell from energising accidentally.

The wiring and components will all require replacing - they didn't take too well to being submerged under water, oddly! An in-line fuse carrier exists within this part of the lantern too (visible bottom-right), suggesting that the columns did not have base compartments that would have allowed for the fusing to be installed remotely. The capacitor carries the date code '4197', indicating that it was made between the 6th - 12th October 1997. A hand-written date on the other side of the reflector states that the lantern was fitted on the 20th January 1998.

The lanterns ran 70 Watt CDM-T metal halide capsule lamps (this was relatively new technology in 1997, when this lantern was made) - the lamp appears to have been unaffected by the flooding, proving that the sealed optic was effective.

Relite Hyperion 'C' | Atlas/Thorn Beta 8 / AEI Junior Amberline

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