On the Wire Globe Guard of the Tilley PL53

This is a Tilley portable lantern, model PL53. Based on its features, this particular example is believed to date from the mid-1930s.



Today, I would like to comment briefly on the wire globe guard fitted to this lamp. Some of what follows may already be well known to many readers, in which case I ask your indulgence.



According to illustrations in Tilley catalogues, from at least 1933 through 1939 the PL53 was depicted with the same type of wire guard as fitted to this example: a design that hooks onto the ventilator at two points (the type shown on the left in the second image). However, this particular wire guard is very rarely encountered on today’s secondary market. If this design had truly been in use for as long as six or seven years, one would expect it to appear more frequently, despite its age. This discrepancy has long puzzled me.

However, I was informed by the late Neil McRae of an Australian newspaper advertisement from October 1937 that includes an illustration of the PL53. In that illustration, the wire globe guard had already changed to the more familiar type attached to the ventilator at three points (the type shown on the right in the second image). At the same time, the upper part of the handle had also changed from a loose coil to a fixed coil.

This suggests that the illustrations used in Tilley catalogues were not always updated promptly—a well-known, and somewhat unfortunate, habit of the company. As a result, the combination of the two-point wire guard and the loose-coil handle was likely produced for only a relatively short period, perhaps three to four years, roughly from 1933 to 1936 or 1937. This would also help explain why examples fitted with the two-point wire globe guard are so rarely encountered today.

While many aspects of design changes across Tilley models remain unclear to me, it is nonetheless deeply satisfying when even a tiny piece of the puzzle can be clarified.

It will be a year next month since Neil McRae passed away. During our time in the International Guild of Lamp Researchers, Neil was very much a senior and highly respected member, while I was, by comparison, far less accomplished. Even so, he was always generous with his time, his knowledge, and his encouragement.

Although his main online activities later moved to the CPL, his generosity and support continued, and I remain deeply grateful not only for his many contributions over the years, but also for the kindness he showed me personally, beginning with his involvement in the Guild more than twenty years ago.

Best regards
Shinzo

 

@gkpllantern
Thank you for your insights into those PL53 design elements and for your testimonial to Neil. Very well said.

John

 

Thank you, Shinzo.

I’ve never encountered the cage you show on the left, either.

I agree with your suggestion for the age of your lantern (and definitely after 1934, because of the Bakelite control knob).

I certainly miss Neil, too.


Tony