GEC Clearmain 250w/400w Mercury Lantern. The 'Clearmain' was a popular 1950's mercury lantern whose design was based on GEC's former Wembley range of lanterns. Like some of the earlier Wembley's, the Clearmain employed a large Prismatic Glass bowl to refract and distribute the lamp light from either a 250w or 400w  MA type mercury vapour lamp, which was held in a vertical attitude within the lantern. Earlier examples of the Clearmain are easily recognisable by their parallel sided glass bowls, while the later versions used a taper-sided glass bowl. Many towns and cities in the UK at one time used the GEC Clearmain as a main road lantern; the 'Main' in Clearmain indicating its use as a main road lantern. The Market Town of Farnham in Surrey still employs quite a number of taper-bowled, side-entry 'Clearmains' to light the roads in the town centre.

There are currently two GEC Clearmains held in the collection. The first is a Z8828 'Yoke' mounted lantern that originally came from New Haven Docks, and was obtained through fellow collector Bob Cookson. It is a little unusual in that it's a yoke mounted lantern, rather than the side-entry lantern normally associated with the GEC Clearmain. The second example is another taper-bowled version, but of the side-entry variety. This Z8128 lantern is also in very original condition and came from an industrial site in Staffordshire, along with a very nice GEC Dioptrion.

The Z8828 GEC Clearmain mounted in its GEC 'Yoke' bracket. This is a big lantern, made heavy by its large prismatic glass bowl.

A side-entry, early GEC 'Clearmain' with Parallel sided bowl. This example still has its original copper-wire netting around the bowl.

A later Z8128 GEC 'Clearmain' with taper-sided bowl. This example was photographed in Farnham, Surrey. The 'dirt' in the bottom of the bowl is actually the remains of 1000's of slow-cooked insects! 

 The Z8128 side-entry GEC Clearmain lantern in the collection came from an industrial estate in Staffordshire, and is in original condition. The reflector plate has come loose inside, but that's easy to put right. The Biro pen gives an idea of the lantern's size.