Hey buddy...you got a light??

Prometheus started it when he stole fire from the gods, and man has been searching for better ways to turn night into day ever since.  The Ancient Greeks took the first step forward as they created oil burning lamps made of terra-cotta pottery to replace torches around 600 BC.  And although nobody knows for certain when candles first made their appearances we know that the Romans first invented the wick candle using it to light homes and places of worship at night.  So for centuries candles and simple oil lamps were the best solutions for illumination.  It wasn't until the end of the 18th century when the first commercial use of gas lighting stepped onto the scene.  And by early in the 19th century, most cities in the United States had streets that were gaslight.  This was an enormous step forward in illumination but it had two significant drawbacks - portability and availability.  Even after the invention of the light bulb and electricity began showing up in cities during the late 1800's the problems of portability and availability persisted.

And so an opportunity presented itself to a young man named Robert E. Dietz to satisfy a growing nations need for portable efficient lighting.  With his purchase of a lamp and oil business in 1840 and the introduction of his Tubular Lantern in the 1860's Robert Dietz was to do for portable lighting what Henry Ford did for transportation.

A short History of The R.E. Dietz Company

The R.E. Dietz Company was founded by Robert Edwin Dietz (1/5/1818 - 9/19/ 1897) in 1840. The company sold whale oil, sperm oil, camphene (distilled turpentine), glass lamps, candle sticks and dead flame lanterns. At the end of the Civil War the cost to distill kerosene from Coal Oil decreased and kerosene was more affordable to more people and so were lanterns. In addition, the growth of the railroads and the westward expansion of the United States made the need for lanterns and inexpensive fuel sources even greater.

After successfully introducing a new tubular lantern in 1868 and building a new factory in 1887, Robert E. Dietz retired in 1894 and left his two sons in charge of the company. The building was destroyed by fire in 1897 and the company back in business by early 1898.

Many lantern models were discontinued during the Great Depression and in 1956 the R.E. Dietz Company shipped it's metal dies and stamping equipment business to Hong Kong and formed the R.E. Dietz Co LTD. in Hong Kong. The U.S. Dietz Company went out of business in 1992.

Key Events in the History of the R.E. Dietz Company

1840 - Robert E. Dietz purchases a lamp and oil business. His brother joins him and change name of company to: Dietz Brother & Company. By late 1860's the Dietz Company starts to product lanterns under the "Irwin" patent. The new Tubular Lantern becomes an instant best seller.

1868 - the first Hot Blast Irwin Patent Tubular Lantern is produced. The Dietz Company buys out many smaller lantern companies over the years.

1872 - R.E. Dietz Company is the first factory to use Steam Power to cut and draw a lantern bottom or oil pot from a sheet of tin.

1880 - Dietz #3 Tubular Street Lamp is invented by Lewis F. Betts and is put into production

1881 - R.E. Dietz introduces the first Cold Blast Tubular Lantern

1887 - First production of the original Dietz Cold Blast Tubular Driving Lamp begins

1896 - R.E. Dietz introduces the original Cold Blast Motor Truck Lamps and first automobile kerosene lamps

1897 - Robert E. Dietz dies at age 79.

1903 - R.E. Dietz Company is awarded the contract to supply lanterns for the construction of the Panama Canal.

1906 - R.E. Dietz Company introduces acetylene gas automotive headlights, taillights, mirror lens search lights, square and round acetylene generators.

1909 - R.E.Dietz Company starts to produce the Dietz Vesta Cold Blast Tubular railroad lantern

1912 - The Dietz D-Lite Tubular Lantern is introduced.

1955 - U.S. Government bans the use of kerosene lanterns on the nations highway and local departments. However, they continue to be used until 1972.

1956 - G.J. Dietz establishes the R.E. Dietz Company, L.T.D. in Hong Kong to redevelop a large lantern market

1958 - R.E.Dietz Company introduces the Visi-Flasher battery powered strobe light road marker lamps

1959 - R.E. Dietz Company stops production of all railroad lanterns

1971 - Dietz annual lantern production in Hong Kong in tens of millions of lamps

1992 - R.E. Dietz Company closes all manufacturing in United States

2003 - R.E. Dietz L.T.D. established in 1956 continues to manufacture lanterns in China

Lantern Types

Dead Flame Lantern

This type of lantern was designed to eliminate, or minimize, the effect of drafts on the flame. A series of baffles inside the top above the top of the globe was positioned so that no top draft or wind could blow directly on the flame. Also in this "non tubular lantern", bottom draft holes were a certain size and located so that wind blown against the base was deflected by the fount (oil pot) and the globe base. This moderately controlled air flow produced a uniform relatively non-flickering flame.

Hot Blast "Tubular" (side tubes) Lantern

This type of "Tubular" lantern re-used heated, partially burned air by mixing it with fresh air. Fresh air entered at the globe base through the perforated globe plate. As this air became heated and rose to the canopy above the globe , part of it , partially burned , flowed up through the canopy tube channel and was drawn (pulled) , via down draft , through the side tubes and then back up through the mesh inside the burner, where it mixed with more fresh air coming in. Because the partially burned air carried carbon and other impurities, the flame of a Hot Blast Lantern tended to be yellow not white. This flame was more controlled and therefore brighter, with better light output, than that of a Dead Flame Lantern. This design was a major step forward. All other design changes that followed were improvements on it.

Cold Blast "Tubular" Lantern

This type of lantern sent only fresh air to the flame at the wick. All hot, burned air was exhausted completely from the lantern, not re circulated as in the Hot Blast Lantern. The channeling of only fresh, oxygen-rich air to the flame yielded a white, more brilliant light. The candle power of a Cold Blast Lantern was double that of a Hot Blast Lantern of the same wick size.

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