First post here so go easy please. Just purchased this from the bay. New to all this so here goes! Tank is in good condition just dirty and clean inside. There’s two types of control cock apparently, not sure which one this is. The springs are on the inside of the gallery bit, 1940’s? The pricker works fine. There’s no mantle yet but there seems to be the remnants of something in the upper mantle groove? The globe is aftermarket with no markings and there isn’t any kind of pressure release on the tank anywhere. The pump seems to work ok. I’m waiting for a service kit to replace seals etc and I’ll oil the pump leather. Can’t see anything wrong as yet but I haven’t stripped the pump yet! I bow to you more knowledgeable folk. Any info is extremely appreciated.
GF control tap the steel ring is the remains of a tilley ‘happy mantle’ a type of mantle with a steel ring that you pressed onto the burner by hand happy days cheers pb
Welcome, @Dave Gidman. The ring in the mantle groove is the remnants of a Tilley “Happy” mantle and should be removed. Cheers Tony Ha! Crossed with the Pod.
@Dave Gidman A few things to come back on: 1. The control cock is a GF cock (1940 onwards). Check the riser tube/handle and see how deep the area is that the cock screws into. Would it take the much longer XN cock? 2. Does the bottom rim of the tank have any stampings on it? Cheers Tony
Dave That is the Registered design stamp. The next thing to check is that the tank is brass, not steel (a war time economy). Cheers Tony
@Tony Press Definitely brass, I gave it a quick polish earlier. I can’t see anything else stamped around there. I’ve just been on the Terry-Marsh site and I think this is mine on the left. Perhaps it is a TL10 without the shade? I read the Neil McRae piece about the different TL’s so I don’t suppose it matters what it is really. Lovely thing whatever’s on top.
@Tony Press @JEFF JOHNSON @podbross Thank you Everybody for the replies. I’m getting my head around this lamp now. (It only got delivered this morning) GF Control cock, brass, 1940’s TL10 with an aftermarket glass globe instead of its original glass shade by the looks of things. Sound about right?
AND THERE IT IS! Heard about them but this is my first. Right above that stamp. I couldn’t see it with my naked eye but in one of the photo’s yesterday it stood out like a sore thumb (Thanks pb). In my defence the tank is filthy. Is grinding a v in the crack and filling with solder a viable fix or have I bought a door stop? I’m going to try a pressure test today with the original seals.
Definitely give it a good pump up it may still be ok as there is a lot of solder on the inside as that is where the base plate sits so fingers crossed for that yes, the carefully grooved channel via dremel with some solder is very viable too good luck with the test Dave Edit ** there is a fettlers masterclass on the stress crack repair theme in the Fettling Forum its a great read
Apologies for the crappy photo’s. Done the leak test. No leaks. Gave the tank a quick whip over with the Dremel and found another equidistant the other side of the pump in exactly the same place on that rim. it’s getting a few hours with a cloth and Autosol tonight then I think I’ll try the solder thing.
Stress cracks galore. Gave the tank a good polish and a third popped up. A right doozie! I’ve serviced it and given it the dunk test again and there’s no leaks. Can’t really do anything for a few days as I’m at work so I’ll dig out my blow lamp and Dremel etc mid week and give soldering a go.
Some WW2., Tilley tanks were made with poor quality brass because of the shortage of materials during the war. I have had several TL-10s from that period which had stress cracked tanks, but because TL-10s are a fairly common lamp here in the UK., I just stripped the faulty ones for parts. My advice is to try and obtain pre 1940 TL-10s. Hopefully you will be able to fix that tank, but because the metal is fatigued it may well crack elsewhere once the tank is pressurised and paraffin is far more searching than air.
I’m in two minds what to do. I’ll possibly solder this for the experience I think but I won’t use it much at all, or even use it for parts like you say. I’ve got my eye on another, not sure how old it is but it’s serviced and working from a reputable seller/shop so I’ll see. That’s a good bit of info though thankyou.
Hello Dave, you are welcome and the link below shows a repurposed column from one of those knackered TL-10s which I mentioned in my previous post. https://classicpressurelamps.com/threads/blanilley.5258/
I’m sitting here pondering how to convert this to electric which is sacrilege I suppose but if this tank is useless there isn’t much else to be done but to cut my losses. You live and learn. That’s a lovely lamp in the link, very ingenious but well beyond my skills.
