Last Update:  October 24, 2011
Railroad Trainmen Electric Lanterns Series
Genesy Lantern Company
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The Genesy Lantern Company was first incorporated in Wyoming on September 21, 1921.  However, by 1923, they were based in Kansas City, Missouri.  
Started by Fred W Weick.  By the early 1920s, Henry B Patche would be the principle officer of the company and later the President of the company. Henry B
Patche would be the principle inventor of the company during it’s early years and a number of patents licensed under Genesy were filed by him.

It’s not clear what Genesy did during WW2.  It’s primary source of materials was brass, which would have been in short supply.  It’s possible it continued to
make railroad lanterns during the war out of steel.  We have a couple examples of steel bodied Genesy lanterns that were plated in nickel and included a
different kind of switch.  We believe these might be WW2 era lanterns.

In 1946, P.A. Stark took over the company.  By this time, electric lantern sales should have been increasing as railroads began to switch from oil lanterns to
battery power lanterns.  However, Star Headlight and Lantern and Conger Lanter companies as well as Adlake, were all coming out with newer and better
designs which competed with the Genesys.

Genesy made one last attempt to dominate the electric lantern market when in 1947 a new line of lanterns were invented.  These were basically upgraded
versions of the old lanterns and were back to being made mostly of nickel plated brass.   In 1950 after 3 years of testing and marketing, the lanterns were
introduced to the full market.  But they appear to have been a flop as only a few years later, the company would be sold off and apparently stop making
railroad lanterns.

In 1952 H. Franklin Libby, purchased Genesy Lantern Company and changed the name to the Frank Libby Company.  The company was still in existence
through 1971, but ceased to exist by 1975.  It’s not clear what products, if any, the company made or sold, when railroad lantern production most likely ceased
in the early 1950s.

Like Conger and Justrite, it doesn’t appear that Genesy ever made oil lanterns.  They also didn’t make a larger range of other railroad products that we can
find.  They appear to have been a very small niche company that probably worked with its original tooling until the final years.  

One thing that distinguishes most Genesy lanterns is that they were almost all made mostly of brass, except for during and immediately after WW2.  The brass
was often nickel plated.  The cage was almost always painted or plated steel.   

The early Genesy lanterns were a work of art and beauty.  The company was incorporated in 1921, but designs date back a few years prior.    

By the mid 1920s, Genesy had revised the style of the lantern and made them smaller and more utilitarian, but still made out of nickel plated brass.   This
general style, but with modifications, would carry through the 1950s.   

One of the major disadvantages of the Genesy lanterns, especially hose made from the mid 1920s through the 1950s, was that that brass battery barrel,
being made from think brass material, would often crack and split.   It’s very difficult to find a Genesy with a full intact battery barrel that has not cracked or
split.   This makes it difficult to screw and unscrew the battery barrel lid.  

This weakness in their design probably spelled doom for the lanterns in light of competition from the new models coming out from Star, Justrite and Conger
and the company probably ceased making railroad hand lanterns sometime in the 1950s.

We know that in at least as of 1950, Genesy was still trying to market railroad style lanterns to at least the public as camping and utility lanterns and that may
have been their last stand in the lantern market.
An advertisement from 1950, showing
how Genesy was trying to attract new
non-railroad customers to its lantern
design.
Basic History of the Genesy Lantern Company
Genesy Advertisements
Genesy Related Patent Documents & Drawings