My Magic Lantern

This Magic Lantern used to belong to my Grandfather, it was given to him by a friend of his who used to give lectures. It has been in my possession for some twenty years I rescued it from my father's garage before it went into decay. As you can see from the picture this is not the original case, that was burnt some thirty years ago as it had woodworm. My father also broke up the lens and had one of these silvered, when I originally retrieved the lens and the slides I could not find this lens. I did not find it until my after my father died I eventually found it in a box in his workshop.

The new case is made of mahogany and is lined with an aluminium insert painted with mat black powder coat finish. The lantern's original light source was 2 x100W 240v carbide bulbs with this light source the lantern used to get very hot. The lantern's light source is now 2 x 150W 24v tungsten halogen bulbs, these bulbs are operated by an electronic controller, this allows one light to be faded away whilst the light is powered up. This makes the lantern easier to operate by one person. The lantern top or chimney is made from tinplate and copper sheet and has been soft soldered. The finish on this is black cellulose because the paint could not be baked on otherwise it would of come unsoldered. I have made every thing and it is great to use the lantern again. I have a small collection of slides some of them are hand painted but the majority are photo plates. I have a small collection of First World War plates.

Here are pictures of two of favourites slides these display a kaleidoscope image that changes as you rotate the handle.