Dietz Standard Grade Lanterns

Brief History

Robert Edwin Dietz first began selling whale oil and camphene lamps and lanterns in 1840 at the age of 22.  Robert and his brother Michael patented the first practical flat wick burner especially designed for the then new fuel oil, kerosene, in 1859.  The following decade Robert sold his interest in “Dietz & Company” to begin manufacturing “Irwin Patent” tubular lanterns after buying the defunct Archer and Pancoast Company from a receiver in 1868.  Since that time the R.E. Dietz Company manufactured hundreds of lantern models, and pioneered the automotive lighting industry.  The new lanterns offered below are not reproductions, but are a continuation of production on original tooling and presses, with some models now over 100 years old.  The lantern division of the R. E. Dietz Company moved to Hong Kong in 1956, and all Dietz lantern production ceased in the U.S.A. in 1970.  In 1982 the Dietz lantern factory was moved from Hong Kong into China.  The R.E. Dietz Company was closed in the United States in 1992.  For nearly 150 years, Dietz lanterns have been known around the world as “The Old Reliable.”