PW Smoke Pellet Question

There were two different smoke pellets. One was for the early smokers that used a large, very hot, light bulb with a dimple on one side to hold the pellet. Those pellets melted at a lower temperature than those used in the later smoke units with the nichrome wire wrapped around a flat piece that supported the pellet.

I suspect the clear bottle pellets are for the early lamp type units, and the brown bottle is for the nichrome wire type units.

Thanks Len, interesting that they changed up the smoke pellets - I didn't know that.

Paul

The smoke pills for the heater type smoke unit are part number "SP".  The smoke pills for the lamp type smoke unit are part number 196. I have only seen the 196 smoke pills supplied in a plastic box.  All the bottles in your photo are part number "SP" and are all for the heater type smoke unit. Lionel may have made running changes in the composition of the type "SP" smoke pills, but I m not aware that this has been documented.  There are many different bottles and labels for the type "SP" smoke pills and there are people collecting these variations. 

As David wrote:

All three bottles held the same pellets. The 1946 ammonium nitrate pellets came in a small rectangular plastic container with a spring clip that held the lid tightly in place.

The oldest "SP" smoke pellet bottles had the lettering stamped directly on the bottles as shown on the two end bottles. No comment on the value, other than you won't get rich.

The round, brown bottle in the middle, with the black metal cap is somewhat scarce.

There are variations on the paper labeled bottles too.

Sometimes SP smoke pellets break up in the bottle. The material is still fine. I use a little scoop to put broken down pellets into my smoke units.

The smoke pellets for the lamp type smoke unit are corrosive. Never use them for anything, not even for the lamp type smoke units. They will cause the inside of the smoke chamber to corrode.

• the following is from this site http://www.postwarlionel.com/cgi-bin/postwar?ITEM=sp
• Glass Type - Early production -- possibly only for a portion of 1947 -- had brown glass jars. For the remainder of the postwar era clear glass was the norm. The brown jars are rare.
• Tops - The tops are always a screw-on type. Earlier versions have metal tops while later production tops have plastic tops. The exact year of conversion to plastic tops is unknown but assumed to be in the late 1940s or early 1950s.
• Jar Height - There are two heights for the jar, a short and tall version. The shorter bottles were the first to be produced but the exact year of conversion to taller bottles is unknown.
• Jar Shape - There are square and round jars. Again, the exact year of conversion is unknown.
• Labels - Several versions of labels are documented -- mostly surrounding the color of the lettering. Red, orange and blue lettering have been documented as well as black lettering stamped directly onto a clear glass bottle (with no label in this example).
• Other Variables - Researching SP jars is still a relatively new area of interest. As more information is learned, more variables might be uncovered. One example is smoke pellets surfacing in post 1969 labels -- definately a case of Lionel selling old inventory.

this is what i have a few bottles of

quote:

Jar Shape - There are square and round jars. Again, the exact year of conversion is unknown.

There are at least two round bottles, the brown bottle with a metal cap pictured above, and a clear glass bottle with a paper label and plastic cap. The clear, round glass bottle is either late postwar or MPC.

Here is a container for the 1946 smoke bulb pellets:

Here is an MPC container of smoke pellets:

Hi John. Thanks for all that detail.

Do you have an idea of the range the brown bottle might be worth? I have not seen any previously for sale and don't want to either overcharge or undercharge a person who is interested.

Very informative knowledge being shared here - thank you everyone.

Paul