Falks Fulmar 1, open 140w SO/H lantern

My first lantern of 2022, and its become a unique one in the collection, as well as my most favourite by far. The Falks Fulmar 1 was never a very popular lantern, perhaps it was because they were always cast aside for more known names such as Phosware and GEC. They found huge popularity in Glasgow, and were installed in their droves, however come the 80's and 90's, were replaced en-masse for lantern with a higher IP rating, such as the Alpha 4 and Tamcourt.

Somehow, seven managed to dodge the cull, and still worked faithfully in varying states of decay right up to their removal in July 2021, when column replacements swept through the area. Considering they'd pulled about 70 years service, they had more than outlived their design life, and so certainly deserved their retirement. Of those seven examples, only three were 100% intact, sadly two of those were lost from unexpected removal, meaning this is the only intact lantern to survive. A second lantern was saved, but was one of the destroyed examples, however I'm informed that example is still around and safe in a collection. They were installed very oddly, as the brackets were top entry. To get round this, brackets were made and bolted to the top of the lantern, where the spigot entry is, and then that bracket was bolted to the top entry thread of the bracket. A conduit entry was drilled into the rear of the lantern, and the cable the passed through that to allow a supply to enter the lantern.

Sadly even this one didn't survive its removal well, having the entire front end broken off. This was glued back on before being sent down to me. This makes life so much easier for me, as I can now replicate a whole new skirt, restoring the plastic back to as new condition. The cover for the lamp holder and electrical connections was snapped off at some stage, and its lamp holder had been broken away from its securing points when it was rewired, meaning the whole back end of the lamp was hanging out the lantern.

So restoration plans are in full swing, and this will involve a new plastic skirt being made, a lamp holder/electrical connections cover replication, replacement of the lamp holder, all the nuts, bolts and washers, and a total respray back to its original factory blue colour (hints remain on the canopy amazingly) and then this one will be another lantern that can weather the years safely in a dry environment away from the elements.