It’s actually butane fuelled, with this Tilley mantle and ceramic nozzle/mantle support installed. I was fortunate that the original valve was intact and I mated it up with components from a Tilley GL602 butane lamp. Tilley GL602. It’s a large lamp, here alongside a Vapalux 300 for size comparison. The ‘light bulb’ reference relates to it having had key components removed when a previous owner electrified it. The light bulb socket, in brass, is of a pattern not seen for many years now, which places the butane lamp at an earlier date still - 1950’s would be my guess. There are no manufacturer’s identification marks on lamp or gas cylinder, which is of an obsolete pattern. Concerning the gas cylinder, its manufacturer intended it to be recharged through this port. That screw head within the port is the visible end of a stubby threaded component with a conical tip that provides a positive shut-off for a Coleman-style ‘check valve’ (all steel non-return valve incorporating a small steel ball). Belt-and-braces Coleman style, an additional seal is provided by an inner cap equipped with a sealing washer. I opted to recharge the cylinder through the orifice presented when the jet nipple is removed, however. Attaching the lamp head to the cylinder is quaint (!) with three pins on the lamp and two tethering stays … … matching up with corresponding sockets for the pins and two lugs on the gas cylinder for the tethering stays to hook into. Nickel-plated knurled thumb screws secure the tethering stays to the lamp interior. The globe is a spare Coleman glass I happened to have, but though large, I’d still to fabricate a support grid from brass wire to centre it in the lamp and raise it to a suitable height. So, a project to return an old lamp to usable condition, powered again by the fuel it was intended for. John
An expert fettle.! The electrickery was well dodgy though not being earthed and all that metalwork exposed.!
Eek.! We also collect a lot of vintage discharge lamps, which take up quite a lot of room. You would happen to still have that lamp holder would you.?
Thanks Jeff. @Sammi Jane I didn’t chuck the lamp socket and you’re welcome to it of course. Private message me with your address and I’ll post it to you. Here it is, ‘WO’ brand and the ceramic marked with a maximum 4 amp rating and a bulb wattage maximum of 150. I recall that brass bulb holders of a later era did at least have a terminal to take an earth wire. No such precaution here, suggesting an early date?
