Mystery Ancient Lights by "De Walco"

[Guest lightnix]

My beloved and myself went out on the local mayor's annual charity walk today. It started at a nearby village hall, where I spotted these two fine old beauties hanging from the FOH bar...

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v631/lightnix/de_walco_lights_01.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v631/lightnix/de_walco_lights_02a.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v631/lightnix/de_walco_lights_02b.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v631/lightnix/de_walco_lights_03a.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v631/lightnix/de_walco_lights_03b.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v631/lightnix/de_walco_lights_03c.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v631/lightnix/de_walco_lights_03d.jpg

 

The final picture is cropped, actual size, from the original (not bad from 5m away, standing on a chair ;) )

 

The thing is, I've been searching the web for any info on this manufacturer and cannot find any... at all :)

 

Has anybody ever come across them, or have any information on the company's history? My curiosity has definitely been aroused now, not just by the mystery manufacturer, but why there are two knobs on the bottom of a lamp which appears to have a fixed, profile lens... :blink:

 

 

 

Edited to correct links

[Peter Chivers]

One probable allows the mirror to move and the other the actual lamp base to move. I've not seen that on a lamp in over 20 years!

 

Peter :)

[Floydey]

They look very similar to the lanterns that we used for productions at my school 35 years ago. The lamps inside were huge tungstan bulbs with an edison screw. Unfortunately I wasnt really into lighting then so I can't confirm they are the same make but the shape and the "gold" paint looks the same.

[David]

We had 4 of these lanterns in my school Hall (c1970s) along with rheostat dimers and Bakelite switches. I light my first show with them at the age of 14.

 

There is only one knob, this locks the lamp and mirror tray in position, the other knob is a guide to keep the mirror in alignment.

Moving the mirror tray forward, increases the beam size. They also had cardboard gel frames.

 

Hope this helps.

 

David.

[GregB]

I've seen very similar units at a school, think they were Fern. I'll check that...

[Richard Bunting]

Lightnix,

you've aroused my curiosity too. A search of Companies House shows that D.Walter & Co were dissolved in 1997, but had been based at Kangley Bridge Road in south London (where Rosco live). D.Walter (Lighting) & Co were dissolved in 1988.

Will have to check with Jim Laws (the Master of Ancient Lights), to see if he has memories of these.

If you do find any info, then do let me know.

 

Funny that they were based in Lant Street (in SE1). Can you make out the text just under the "DeWalco" logo - a patent number?

 

HTH

 

Richard

[JimWebber]

They look very similar to photographs of Strand (SELCO) "Baby Focus Spots" pictured in C. Harold Ridge's Stage Lighting book. (1928)

 

Jim

[Guest lightnix]

...A search of Companies House shows that D.Walter & Co were dissolved in 1997, but had been based at Kangley Bridge Road in south London (where Rosco live). D.Walter (Lighting) & Co were dissolved in 1988.

You obviously searched it far more adeptly than I did then, Mr. Bunting - jolly well done.

 

Will have to check with Jim Laws (the Master of Ancient Lights), to see if he has memories of these.

If you do find any info, then do let me know.

You've found much more than me already, using the same tools. One of my thoughts as I was taking the photos was, "Shame Ancient Lights aren't around any more :D ". Mr. Laws is probably still the guru where these things are concerned, although I don't know him personally and fired off the pics in an e-mail to Jason at NEET.

 

Funny that they were based in Lant Street (in SE1). Can you make out the text just under the "DeWalco" logo - a patent number?

Ahhh... so it was Lant St., I couldn't make out the T in Lant. Once again: Well Done.

 

One step closer, then I'm kind of surprised that I'd not heard of them, given that they lasted until a good few years after I entered the business (although it may well have just been on paper). I wouldn't put those lanterns at being much / any later than mid 1950s and perhaps even 1930s (I don't think there would have been much metal to spare for theatre lights in the 1940s).

[mikienorth]

Has anyone tried the ABTT Historical Research people? I recall chatting to them for quite some time at ABTT last year. I googled for the historical with ABTT, and it threw up Roger Fox, posting on ABTT forums.

 

I'm unable to do anything over there, but it may be worth a try.

[Guest lightnix]

I don't think I ever quite got around to registering "over there", either; but if any other history fans are and want to post a link in the ABTT forums (or any other relevant forums) to this thread, please feel free

[Richard Bunting]

Will have to check with Jim Laws (the Master of Ancient Lights), to see if he has memories of these.

If you do find any info, then do let me know.

 

Jim Laws replied with

"Yes, I can do quite a bit on Walters; I have a copy of the 1936/7 catalogue & am about to get a copy of the 1964. There won't be a lot of difference.

 

Considering the lack of progress with R & D, they lasted very well in stage lighting. Every East Suffolk school had 6 as per your photos, as they were always included by Gaumont -British as part of their overall package. When GB was taken into Rank A-V, they continued to be specked. I have a dimensions drawing that Rank drew up to get their head round what their customers expected!

 

The black crackle finish is the best I've ever seen! I think they had their own plano-convex lenses, or had their own moulds at least. You are right that the lens & the reflector were on separate knobs on quite a few versions, which was a slight help."

 

So that answers that one then.

 

Lightnix - is there any chance of swapping those DeWalcos for something more modern? I might have some ADB F101s for exchange

 

Richard

[P. Funk]

We had a couple of Furse copies of those at my old school...

[dbuckley]

A late post; I was hoping to say "we've got a couple of these in our garage", but that is not the case; we had a couple of old lights that I thought were these, but I did say to the garage manager that they were useless, which he construed to mean "can be lovingly dumped in a skip". So, at least got some space back in the garage B-)