The Traffic Gard  Kerosene Lantern
Highway  - Traffic - Municipal - Contractor - Utility

EMBURY  #40     DIETZ  #40     HANDLAN  #57

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Lanterns factory embossed with  ownership markings.

Embury was particularly interested in selling to contractors, utilities, and  government agencies involved with highway traffic safety and control and to that  end offered "stock markings" on many of their lanterns such as STOLEN FROM STATE  HIGHWAY DEPT or DEPT OF PUBLIC WORKS. It's strange that this practice didn't  seem to carry over to the production of the Model 40 but on the other hand the  Model 40 was produced as a traffic signal lantern and not adapted to general  illuminating tasks and was perhaps deemed non-purloinable. Then again, when  embossing was employed it may have been a matter of pride or situations where  more than one company used the same type of lantern in the same area.

However, both Embury and Dietz made Model 40s with custom ownership markings  much like railroad lanterns. And Handlan did so as well. The embossed markings  are on the tank/font (not on the globe, nor on the crown or dome - not enough  room). Early Handlan 57s may have the marking embossed on a plate affixed to  the font - this was common for highway torches but unusual for lanterns. It was  originally thought that because of the different marking methods marked Handlan  57s would be more prevalent than model 40s, however that's not the case.   On the other hand if Handlan model 2000s are  also considered then the theory holds true. The embossing usually followed the  "round" of the tank usually in one but sometimes in two lines. When two lines  are known an attempt has been made to reflect that.

How many did you have to buy in order to get your name stamped on them? An  early Dietz catalog says 12 cases, or 144 lanterns. Such was probably not the  case with Handlan.

Some owners simply repainted their lanterns, stenciled their name on them, or  applied their own non-factory tags.

Please send your sightings/observations to the page administrator so that they can be included here ONLY if found on 40s or  57s. (There are hundreds of similar markings on other models and could  constitute a project by itself, which is now in progress  thanks to Darrell Collins.)