Sealed beam lantern

First they discontinued the alkaline 918 group size batteries these lanterns bolted on top of. The remaining Chinese carbon-zinc version arent worth buying. So I made a battery box out of scrap of OSB and bolted lantern to that. Used 4 Dcell inside it for power source. Though all batteries seem to have rapidly escalated in price.

Then the 4546 sealed beam burned out. I have been grabbing any of these old lanterns when see one cheap, so have spare bulbs, albeit 60+ year old bulbs. But I looked and yea the sealed beam bulbs are also discontinued and the NOS (new old stock) are getting few and far between and escalating price, guess for collectors or something? Not sure the logic, the reason these were discontinued is lack of demand, so jacking price on last few???

So as a lark, got a half inch diamond bit, kind with wax in center to cool it so doesnt need water. And drilled hole in center of back of burned out bulb. Worked well, but surprised me when it went through and I must jerked my hand as I got small crack. I had been using bit in hand drill in one hand and bulb in other. Not good idea. Better to chuck bit in drill press and use both hands to manipulate the bulb. But crack was minor.

Then ordered a wired socket and E10 conversion flashlight bulb (the 4.7V one since powered with dry cells). Slow boat from China. Somewhere around $3 total. Got those and today dug out partial stick of epoxy putty. It was old and bit crusty but new stick also inflated price so worth small gamble. Got it kneaded to uniform color and epoxied the socket with bulb (used bit silicone grease on the bulb threads) into the hole I had drilled. Luckily the epoxy cured hard. It works fairly well though different light than the sealed beam provided. Downside since bulb no longer factory sealed, might get bit condensation. But get pretty good light. Same 0.5W draw as the sealed beam. These sealed beam lanterns were efficient and state of the art back in the day.

I have read of people using parts off cheap Rayovac floating lantern to replace the sealed beam. About same size. Meh, those are really cheapo crappo plastic, but they are quick temporary fix I guess. And there were some of these lanterns made with a chromed steel reflector and regular incandescent flashlight bulb which could be then replaced with a conversion LED bulb. But honestly there arent lot options, the sealed beam era has passed. I looked and found one seller of old sealed beam headlight bulbs for now antique cars. Mostly kits to convert to halogen or LED headlights.