I came across this nice old Tilley recently. The font was originally plated, but threadbare so I painted it. I know Tilley moved production to Dunmurry in NI., in 1960/61. The pump and control cock are of brass construction. The pump looks standard type from X246 and table lamps, of the 1950's, the control cock has a design seen on earlier Tilley table lamps, but with a modern plastic knob. I theorise that this was a transition lantern whether it was assembled in Northern Ireland or England I cannot say. Is it possible that the components were made by Willis & Bates, who were contractors to Tilley in the early days, they would have the knowledge and designs to work from, its just a thought' The marking are 961XA, Made in England. Sorry I posted this in the X246B page by mistake, so this is very much a duplicate.
A fine example and the date code stands for September 1961, most of Tilley's export lanterns were plated and Tilley would have used the parts which they had in stock hence the earlier pump, and the control cock is the early 1960's model. This link shows a variety of Tilley control cocks. 8 Tilley control cocks
Paul, It's cleaned up nicely the components are correct for the 246A 1962 January Tilley X246A, Chrome
Thank you, I had not seen this type of control cock on any other Tilley lamp of the transition from Hendon to Dunmurray, just on the very first X246A with bent frame legs, the first X246A was a guardsman with very plain brass control cock similar pump to the early A. I know that Willis and Bates made a Vapouriser for the Tilley lamps 606 type, when advertised on their web site, they mentioned they were contractors to Tilley Lamp Co. The Willis and Bates Vapourisers were very good by the way. As the fount is marked Made In England, I thought that Willis and Bates may have manufactured parts for Tilley whilst their new factory was being set up, as all components seem to be made to a high standard including the fount.
