Necessary camping information: Learn how to care for your flashlight and lanterns. You can do it yourself!
In a typical flashlight, the bulb sits in its socket on a flange. The bulb is held in place by a plastic protector that either snaps onto or screws over the base of the bulb. The threaded cap at the head of the flashlight holds the lens, reflector, and bulb in position, with the bulb's base making contact with the positive battery terminal.
At the base of the battery case is the contact spring. This spring makes contact with the negative battery terminal. It carries the negative half of the circuit either through the metal battery case or, in plastic cases, through a metal strip, as far as the switch.
Only when the switch is pushed forward to the ON position does its contact bar extend far enough to touch the collar of the reflector. If a dead flashlight does not light with new batteries and a new bulb, look for a bent switch contact. Straighten it so that it makes contact with the reflector collar when the switch is on. Also look for corrosion, especially on the contact spring. Remove corrosion with a strip of sandpaper wrapped around a pencil or dowel.
Oil (Kerosene) Lamps
Oil lamps should be fueled only with kerosene or commercially bottled lamp oil, never with gasoline. Before lighting a new wick, wait for it to become saturated with kerosene all the way to the flame orifice. To light the lamp, remove the chimney and turn the wick up far enough to be able to ignite it with a match in the orifice.
Then, put the chimney back on the lamp and adjust the wick height to achieve a bright, smokeless flame. The tip of the wick will usually be considerably below the top of the flame orifice. To extinguish the lamp, simply blow into the top of the chimney. Do not extinguish the flame by turning down the wick.
If one side of the flame burns higher than the other, trim the wick square with scissors. When the lamp burns with a smoky flame even though the wick is correctly adjusted, clean out the air intake holes in the burner. Never touch the chimney until it has had time to cool. Soot can be cleaned from the chimney with soap and water. If the inside of the reservoir becomes discolored, clean it with a strong detergent and hot water. Burners and chimneys are available at hardware stores or your local home improvement center.
Gasoline Lanterns-
A gasoline lantern should be filled only with a special fuel sold for this purpose, never with automobile gasoline, paint thinners, kerosene, or fuels containing lead additives. The use of improper fuels will damage the lantern's generator, which vaporizes the liquid fuel into gas. The lantern's pump should be lubricated regularly through the oiling hole. If the pump fails to build up pressure in the fuel tank even after lubrication, remove the pump plunger and apply oil directly to the leather pump cup.
If the lantern flickers, burns with a poor quality flame or no flame at all, or continues to burn for a minute or longer after the lantern has been shut off, replace the generator. To reach the generator, first release pressure in the fuel tank by slowly unscrewing the filler cap.
Remove the ventilator and globe after unscrewing the nut at top. Turn the cleaning needle lever up and then unscrew the nut at the generator's base. Slip out the needle and the generator will fall out. To install the new generator, reverse the above steps.
