Antique railway lantern Albert Butin

Details

The Albert Butin Railway Lantern is a signalling device used in rail transport, invented by the French engineer Albert Butin, a graduate of the Ecole Centrale de Paris (ECP). This lantern was used in France during the 19th and early 20th century to indicate the presence and direction of trains on railway tracks.

The lantern consists of a metal casing with a glass lens at the front and two interchangeable glass lenses at the sides, which can be red, green or yellow, to indicate different states of the train. In this case they are transparent.

Inside the housing is the oil lamp.

Inscribed: Albert Butin ingenieur E.C.P 35 Rue des martyas, Paris.

26.5 cm, 15 cm, 17 cm.