GEC Z5580 80w/125w MBF Lantern. Likely to date from the early 1960's, this diminutive but delightful little top-entry lantern is a development of the earlier GEC Z5560 family of lanterns, but uses a more simplified design of canopy with a narrower neck. Like the Z5560, the Z5580 also used a variety of bowl types for various applications; the lantern in the collection is fitted with a GEC 'Plastifractor' plastic bowl. This particular Z5580 came from an unknown location in South Staffordshire some years ago, but had been in long term storage with the contractors until late in 2006, when it was rediscovered languishing on the back of a shelf in their stores and was subsequently rescued for the collection. The lantern is in good condition and is currently stored, awaiting attention.

A side view of the Z5580 in the collection with the remains of a GEC straight-armed bracket still attached to the lantern. This is a lovely little lantern that has so much character about it; you can so easily imagine it lighting the junction of dark country lanes in years gone by. The mobile phone illustrates how small these lanterns are.

Close up of the 'Plastifractor' bowl reveals numerous small thermo stress fractures running vertically over the bowl; this is a problem common to these types of plastic bowls. As the plastic ages it becomes brittle, and this combined with the continual expansion and contraction of the material from both the heat of the lamp, and the ever changing outside air temperatures, eventually causes fractures to appear.

Here's an identical Z5580 that's also fitted with a 'Plastifractor' bowl, but the bowl on this example has gone cloudy and is in a more advanced state of deterioration, with severe horizontal cracking appearing between the vertical fractures. Photo Worcester, August 2005.