MTFCA Forum

Question about 1912 gas John Brown headlamps. Looking at the front of the car, which way are the gas headlamps put on? Hinges inside or outside? In other words, again looking at the front of the car, are the hinges on the far left of the passenger lamp and on the far right for the drivers side? Thumbnuts on the inside or outside? I suppose I could do it either way but am curious as to what is "original."

Greg,
I'll look at some of my photos from the era. I would suspect they are mounted hinges out for easy lighting.

Acetylene powered lights are headlamps.

: ^ )
Keith

With John Browns from Ford, 1912 - 1914, depended on what two headlamps you got.
Here is a '12 with two JB lefts and another with two JB rights (hinges).
E&J's of this time period were all lamp hinge left.
Since you have a L & R "pair", I like the knurled knobs out on mine so I can close and
secure the lamp away from the radiator (especially on relighting}.

Early 13' John Brown headlamps. Hinges outboard. Nuts inboard.

If you had E and J lights you'd have nothing to fritz about. They are all the same. From the previous post, the same could apply to different mixes of brown lamps too.

Allan from down under.

The reason I asked is because I looked at several old photos of original T's and found a wide variety of how the headlamps were mounted. Some hinge inside, some outside, etc. Of course, lamps could have been changed around so who knows. Not sure of the lamps in the attached photo but they have hinges on the left side. Are these E&J or Brown?

Just wondering if there was an "original from the factory" convention. One of those anal details, you know........I do however plan to mount them as per Mark Chaffin's post above, so I guess it is academic. Just curious.

Pic above are John Brown.

Last photo is an example of what seems to happen often,
the headlamps are one supplier and side lamps another.
In this case, the side lamps are E&J.

I spent a moment puzzling over this too. Interesting Mark’s “untouched” ‘13 has lamps with hinges outboard.
Also interesting to learn not all lamp mfgrs. made “pairs”. Not a big thing, I mounted mine hinges inboard as the lenses can touch the fenders the other way.

Mark Chaffin wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 10, 2024 11:39 pm

Early 13' John Brown headlamps. Hinges outboard. Nuts inboard.Screenshot_20241110_203642_Gallery.jpg

Do I see light bulbs?

big2bird wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:41 am

Mark Chaffin wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 10, 2024 11:39 pm

Early 13' John Brown headlamps. Hinges outboard. Nuts inboard.Screenshot_20241110_203642_Gallery.jpg

Do I see light bulbs?

Yep, has later reflector so is electrified, did the same on my pair of old, beat up and missing parts Victor lamps.

The later Ford reflector fit the bucket, and the later Ford script rims in brass (were nickel plated) fit too by just riveting the hinges and latch parts to the rims.

Actually, they are original accessory inserts to convert to electric headlights. The gas burners and reflectors remain in place behind the electric bulb and reflector. Neat accessory for sure.

Our '14 has all matching JNO. Brown lights and the headlamps have the hinges outboard - I'm the 3rd owner but can't verify if the lamps were ever swapped.