WW11 or WW1 6volt light

[Raiden18]

I am looking for any info on this light, it was made by G&W manufacturing in New York with out any date. It uses 8 6 volt batteries and all joints are quality dove tails, I believe it is Teak and also that is a military item. I have tried every search option on the internet and without any luck. Any help or info would be great.

Information

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[rcathey]

Welcome to the forum!
I was able to find another one like it but that's really just about all. It was on this website: http://www.antiquesofthesea.com/instruments.html
You might try sending them an email..maybe they have more information handy.

Here's some more pictures from that same site: http://www.antiquesofthesea.com/0442_Reserve_Light.html

---------- Post added at 04:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:25 PM ----------

And a small note on, I believe, this very type of lantern:
Antiaircraft Journal - Google Books

[Zorba]

Unlikely to be WW II, if for no other reason than most items where metal by then.

[Cosine26]

Are the batteries in Parallel or series?
My guess is WWI

[Hcompton79]

Are the batteries in Parallel or series?
My guess is WWI

From the diagram posted on the back the batteries are placed in series but are tapped with a switch so as to vary the intensity of the light by varying how many cells and thus how much voltage is applied to the lamp.

I see no mention of what voltage batteries were used, only that eight are to be put in series. Eight 6V batteries would make 48V, which I would imagine to be unusual for a light of this type. Could they be No.6 dry cells, which were commonly available during WWI and 1.5V a piece? By determining the voltage of the lamp installed, one could get a better guess of the batteries used.

Edit: The wiring diagram shows eight cells in series, not eight batteries. Since it stipulates dry cells, 1.5V would be correct for each cell and thus that lantern would be a 12V affair.

[Raiden18]

Thank you, once you posted reserve lantern it came flooding back that it was my dad called it. The farthest back I remember it was when he working at Yorktown for the Park service.

---------- Post added at 05:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:38 AM ----------

Thank for the wiring info that that makes much more sense.

[Sunray]

Somebody needs to tell Mr. Bakker that it's 'tongue and groove', not tong.
Be surprised if it's military myself. The military tends to cover everything with stamps assorted and usually has the maker's name on the thing. The Boat People would be using brass or some other metal for the case too. Wood would tend to rot at sea without a lot of maintenance. 13.5 pounds is a heavy thing as well. "Emergency light at a gun or mortar battery" says Army though.

[Merle]

It just might be older than WW 1; I have seen similar lights in various pics - and movies.