Dietz Lanterns Have Stood The Test Of Time

Dietz Lanterns Have Stood The Test Of Time MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous 23-6-32 With a 160-year history, Dietz lanterns have survived depressions, wars, fires, and competition from upstart innovations like rural electrification. Through all that time, the company has been under the management of five generations of the Dietz family. Today, the lantern comes in many different models, all with original Dietz tooling. The company's history is long and colorful. Robert E. Dietz, grandson of a French-German immigrant, gave up a job in a hardware store at the age of 22 to buy a small lamp and oil business in Brooklyn in 1840. In 1850, he received a highly prestigious contract to light the premiere American performance of P.T. Barnum's Swedish Nightingale, Jenny Lind. At that time, this was the greatest musical event in the history of New York. Fabled showboats gliding down the old Mississippi knew the dependability of Dietz lights. And so did hard-bitten New England seamen, gold-hungry miners in California, Civil War soldiers, woodburning locomotives stuttering across the plains, as well as horse-drawn trolleys. Lamps and burners were the mainstay of the growing Dietz business until 1896, when the company began making automobile kerosene lamps patterned after buggy lanterns. With the coming of rural electrification, lanterns no longer played such a crucial role in daily life, and third world countries became larger users than the U.S. In 1956, a subsidiary, R.E. Dietz Company Ltd., was established in Hong Kong and to this day, the plant continues the company's lantern manufacturing traditions. The lanterns have been sold in more than 80 countries and are carried by many distributors around the world. One of the distributors is Yellow Creek Products in Monroe, Indiana. Owned by Marvin Schwartz, who is Amish. The historic lights have been particularly important to the Amish community, due to the simple lifestyle its members lead. "In recent years, we've been importing a much larger number of these lanterns. Of course, the Amish use them for indoor lighting as well as on buggies, but people in general are also doing more camping and recreation," says Schwartz. "Also, as people are preparing for what might or might not happen with Y2K, demand has increased dramatically. This year our lantern sales have quadrupled." Schwartz says the heavy construction of the Dietz Lantern, combined with high quality paint and finish, has drawn a loyal following of customers over the years. The lamps burn kerosene, citronella, lamp oil, or charcoal lighter fluid, and they burn for between 11 hours and 75 hours, depending on the size of the lantern. Prices range from $13.95 for the compact and rugged no. 50 Comet, to $39.95 for the solid brass model no. 20B. At $22.95, the "Air Pilot" model is one of the largest Dietz Lanterns and has been the most popular one at Yellow Creek, Schwartz says. Some of the lanterns come in a variety of colors. Replacement parts are also available, even for many older lanterns no longer in production. There's a $5 flat fee for shipping and handling in the continental U.S. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Marvin Schwartz, Yellow Creek Products, 1081 W. 100 S., Monroe, Ind., 46772 (ph 888 775-7493; fax 219 692-6290).

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