Don Stroud, Class of '65 - This weeks picture really brings back a flood of memories. Mother's Day has always been a very special day in the Stroud family but this one really sticks out and it goes along with this week's picture. Since Mom and Dad really enjoyed fishing and spent quite a large amount of time fishing together, what better way to increase time together was to give Mom a Coleman gas lantern for her very special day! Some things look better on paper than in the executed mode and this one of those. Mom wasn't nearly as enthused with her "Coleman" as we were! However, it did take her several night fishing trips before she really understood the importance of her gift .In fact, it still has a place in her garage nearly 50 years later. The answer to your picture would be "mantels" that when lite, gives off the a very special hue at night. I'm on the way to South Carolina for a church mission trip this morning so I must get myself together. For some reason it takes longer to do the things now than in past years. Ha! I'm really looking forward to working with our 10 fifth and six graders this week. Last year, we worked in a soup kitchen and in nursing homes . Our children are such a blessing and work very hard on these trips. By the way, "Happy Fathers Day" to everyone! Once again, thanks for the many memories and for all you do for us.
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W. Dale Meyer, (Would have been) Class of '66 - Easy one Tommy...or at least for those who camp. The pictured item is a mantle for the Coleman latern. I was always amazed at how long they lasted until they got so brittle they shattered. The item sparked a memory for me. I had been camping at a not too distant state park here in Michigan. Before the trip I was concerned about the rusty safety chains and replaced them. The camper I had at the time was small and had a mountain tent that attached. It was light enough not to require a surge brake. We had just come down about 10 miles of dirt road and turned onto to a divided highway. Let me tell you that it is a horrible feeling to have your trailer pass you. Fortunately, it went into the center island and the tongue buried itself in the ground. The only casualty? My glass cover on the Coleman Latern. That is when I learned there is an adjusting nut on the ball hitch that needs to be checked. I think I did about five miles/hr all the way home!
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Linda Taylor, Class of '64 - Coleman lantern wicks......still use them! Getting ready to pack them for a trip to Grand Canyon in two weeks with my daughter. When she was 10 we spent the entire summer traveling, tents and sleeping bags (9000miles). When she graduated from UAB, over a month ago now, what she wanted for her graduation present from mom was a road trip to the Grand Canyon that we never found the time to do during high school and college. If you ever think the small things in life don't stick with your children, think again. I never thought I had given her such a great gift years ago. What she doesn't realize is what a great gift her request was for me!
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Bruce W. Fowler, Class of '66 - As one who came to camping, aside from a brief experiment with Webelos, after graduate school, I know they have something to do with camping - they have a Coleman label, which seems rather a synonym for camping - but what I am at a loss, probably temporal.
They are sacks of some sort but I am going to go out on a limb and ask if they are diffusers for acetylene camp lanterns? I have heard those of deeper history talking about but have never experienced.
I have had occasion to consider the neatness of such. Acetylene is a wonderful compound whose compactness seems in and of itself to make quantum mechanics equally wonderful. There is also the matter of diffusers. James Burke, the historian of technological and social connectiveness, has a great discussion of electric arc lights and to a lesser extend acetylene lights but he fails on discussing diffusers. One way is with a coarse mirror, that is, something that reflects but not specularly, because the source is already too specular. The other way is to absorb and/or scatter the light with a hood or some such. This latter has the advantage of being not only nonspecular but nonspectral as well.
But I stand ready for enlightenment.
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Rick Simmons, LHS ’59 – ‘63 - These are Coleman lantern mantels. A special unleaded gasoline, that when under pressure and vented into the mantels of these lanterns would produce a vapor that when properly tuned and ignited would produce a very bright light. I used them when camping. Still have a lantern which I haven’t used in over 30 years.
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Chip Smoak, Class of '66 - Hi to the Famil-Lee and all the other readers. This is just a wild guess but the mystery photo appears to me to be the sacks for hand warmers. I can tell you a story of a time that I wish that I had a couple of hand warmers but unfortunately did not.
I was 14 or 15 when I was deer hunting in a tree stand in northeast Texas. It was bitterly cold. I finally gave up about 9:00, lowered my shotgun to the ground using cord, climbed down out of the tree and started trudging my way back to the house shivering so badly that if a 15 point buck had stood nose to nose with me I would have missed it. I did not warm up until about 5:00 that evening. I spent the day in front of a roaring fire in the fireplace. Then was when I learned truly learned the meaning of chilled to the bone.
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