This beast just landed today. It is a model I was not aware of until some images of it appeared on the Coleman Collectors forum a few weeks ago. We knew there was an HRH1 from images in paper from Thacker in Florida. That model shows the controls in the upper part of the rear of the reflector and from the front there is no sign of the vaporisers under the burners from which I conclude the vaporisers and burners were horizontal. This HRH 2 has twin vertical burners operated from the front. There are two openings of the same size in the tank. One is for the pump and the other is to locate a fuel indicator which has three graduated plastic probes which I assume will show the colour of the kero through the cap. It is a big heavy beast which looks big enough to hold a gallon of kero, the whole thing is 580mm tall and the reflector is 460mm wide. It is a rare thing as it is the only one I know of in the UK. ::Neil::
I thought this was in Jim Dick's book but I've temporarily mislaid my copy. If not there, I've definitely seen this heater recorded somewhere - unless it was HRH 1...
What a fantastic heater! From what I can see, apart from the hot end and possibly some pump parts, it doesn't seem to share parts or even styling with other Tilley products. Could it have been manufactured by A N Other utilising a few bought in parts? Being picky, does it carry the Tilley name anywhere? Not all Tilley items were name stamped but usually there was a transfer - and this looks to be in near-original condition. Is this model catalogued anywhere?
Jean the size is the same as in my original post 580mm high and 460mm wide. It is not marked as Tilley but does have a stamp in the base which is the regular "Made in England" seen on most Tilley lanterns. That dates it to before 1963 ish for sure because product after that was marked as Made in the United Kingdom We have no paper for this model but it is the same as HRH1 with a different burner layout. HRH1 is listed in a parts list from around 1960 with a pretty complete range of Tilley product and we have one flyer showing HRH1. The parts list is interesting because it shows a shut off valve as wel as a burner control. It also shows left hand and right hand burners which means they are different. You can see the main valve in the flyer. There are two holes in the upper back casing which is where the feed to the burners passed through and in the HRH2 the reflector is inverted so the corresponding holes are in the lower part of the reflector. So HRH1 and 2 share all parts except for the fuel feed and burner arrangement. ::Neil::
So it is - WTF! Perhaps the American advertising agency that produced the advert weren't aware of Tilley products but saw the word 'Lamps' and assumed they were electric ones. The heater design seems to indicate Tilley met 'The Jetsons' somewhere along the way...
Do we know what the cost of this heater was when produced, other than adding together price of all parts separately?
No we don't have a price for HRH2. I have no paper listing the model at all. HRH1 however was $69.95. I suspect HRH2 was slightly cheaper since it was a simpler burner so maybe it was around $60. ::Neil::
The Vapalux MAD1 military version Complete with handy fold out feet for stability and ceramic heat pads. Also doubles as a portable Radar scanner for tracking rare Lamps at boot sales. Your eagle has landed.
Neil, This quite an extraordinary and most interesting find. We may never see another one. Looks to never have been fired. It almost seems like this was a creation by Thatcher. The design is so mid-century Modern. David hit it right on with the Jetson's analogy. Some observations and questions... The pump looks definitely Tilley. Is it an R55 size pump? (shortened of course) The HRH-1 parts list part numbers quickly change from a few standard Tilley numbers to sequential numbers in the 2xxx range. Lots of custom parts. The price for an HRH-1 vapouriser is $4.00 while in the same price list (I have a copy) a Tilley 169 for an R55 is $1.35. That's an expensive vapouriser for the time. I wonder why? And the burners are 3X the cost of standard Tilley heater burners. The plastic fuel indicator is very similar to a Valor heater type. The drain plug is not something typically seen on Tilley products (I think). It looks like it might be a two piece fuel tank, very similar in size and shape to an Aladdin Aladinnette heater. Might the top part of the tank be steel and the bottom half brass? Is it all brass? The HRH-2 must have been an attempt at cost reduction as the standard vertical components make a lot of sense and seem much simpler and cheaper than the custom horizontal set up. An all around unique and classy heater. Dan
The tank is all brass which is typical Tilley. Yes the pump is sort of like a shorter R55 it has a locking screw but other than that is a pretty standard pump type. The HRH1 vaporisers are probably unique to the model and maybe something like the one used in the iron. A drain plug is not a common feature at all. Possibly because the tank is not flat bottomed and the whole thing is heavy and would be difficult to tip to empty. One thing I have found is this unit has never been run. The inside of the tank is as new, the vaporisers are clean inside and there is no sign of heat damage to the upper case above the burners. I have now fitted a pair of burners but I am reluctant to fire it up as I think it best to preserve this as good as possible. I may just give it one burn though and take it to show at Ipswich. ::Neil::
Just looked for a date for this beast. There is no date stamp. It is hiowever stamped in the base with "Made in England" which means Hendon and the control cock is the same as fitted to X246A. So I guess that puts it 1962 to 1964. ::Neil::
So far the only one I know of in captivity. Mind you I would have thought there must be a few more out there because surely Thacker would have had at least a small stock available for customers in the 1960s. It is the most expensive piece of Tilley I own. Cost me just a tad more than a VL1. Mind you the mail cost from the US was huge and more than half the total cost to me. I will probably haul it to Ipswich again this year. It runs well and it is always nice to show off a unique item. ::Neil::
Neil: Resurrecting this old thread because I came across this mention of the HRH-1 while dusting off my Thacker stuff. The letter from A. W. Thacker (signed by the man himself) to dealers is dated January 1960, and gives an insight into the size of their operation. The psychology is interesting too, severe cold is on the way and supply of heaters is limited - so buy some now! Their "very fine new heater" the HRH-1 retails at $64.50, and availablility is even more limited. .
Yes interesting stuff. These heaters are just so very rare. I did hear of a second HRH 2 found in a storage unit in the US this year but I still don't know of any examples of HRH1. $64.50 was expensive for 1960 and it sounds as though they never had many to start with. Maybe it's not so surprising none have survived although you might have thought that anyone spending that much might have looked after such an expensive piece. As yet I have found no patent or design patent for them either and they surely protected the deign at least. So we have no idea of how the controls functioned for HRH1. All I know is there were three controls of some sort behind the reflector and the vaporisrs appear to be horizontal. Strange, stylish and rare things. ::Neil::
Thanks for the insight Neil, I’m again quite surprised how little information has survived from Tilley. I’m a little confused with the talk of vapourisers. The image of the HRH 1 in Jim Dicks book appears to be an identical heater to your HRH2? Or have I missed something here? Stevie
@Mackburner Did you see the HRH 2 at Newark earlier this year? @BigStevie The vapourisers on the HRH 2 are basically the same as a 606, the only difference is the plate just above the control cock appeared to be fixed when I got my mits on the above heater for a play. The picture showing the HRH 1 looks as though it’s a horizontal burner, would certainly be interesting to see an example.