This parcel label (front and back) is a survivor of Tilley’s business prior to their production of oil pressure appliances. Postmark date stamp of 29th November 1918, so although the Armistice had been implemented just a couple of weeks before, the consignment of steel stock from the Sheffield company of Darwin & Milner was nevertheless marked for URGENT delivery, WAR MATERIAL. Graces Guide entry:- Prior to high pressure gas lighting, town gas produced by municipal gas works was a low pressure fuel suited to ‘fishtail’ burners with an output comparable to that of wick oil lamps. The invention of incandescent mantles improved matters but gas at a higher pressure was necessary to light up larger mantles with sufficient intensity, creating greater levels of illumination for street lighting and commercial premises. The high pressure was achieved by using a mechanical pump, powered typically by a hot-air engine. The expense, bulk and installation requirements for the engine, pump and pipework mostly excluded domestic applications but by 1923 Tilley oil pressure lamps had created a new market for versatile, portable lighting suitable for domestic and commercial users and Tilley discontinued manufacture and installation of their coal gas ‘high pressure’ equipment. Here’s the original location of Tilley’s premises as it is today at 53 Kingsland Road, London. ‘GLASS’ emblazoned above a window is a legacy of a glass merchant in occupancy after Tilley’s business moved to Hendon. Extract from an Ordnance Survey map of 1896, a ‘P.H.’ (public house - bar in the US) directly across the road. John
I’d read this piece on the William Sugg website on pumps to increase the pressure of town gas. Evidently the Tilley ‘Syndicate’ had developed their own versions. One of the pumping engines. Researching this chapter in Tilley history, it amuses me that my attraction to butane lamps (as well as pressure lamps and stoves) is actually a return of sorts to Tilley origins rather than a dalliance with an uncool ‘gassie’ usurper, insofar as pre-pressurised hydrocarbon gas was the fuel prior to the development of pressurised paraffin vapour. As you’ve on occasion remarked, @David Shouksmith , a butane lamp is a pressure lamp too.
Thanks John, great to read about our industrial history, i never knew about the higher gas pressure system.. still hoping to get over to the gas museum in Norfolk one day i always look forward to seeing lamps from your gas collection as you seem to find ones ive never heard of let alone seen cheers
