I want to build an old fashioned style lamp post and I'm wondering how practical it would be to use an old Tilley/Bialaddin burner and feed it from a tank inside the base of the post so that it could be filled and pumped from there... It's just an idea at the moment for something I think would look good in the garden. Any thoughts?
I think Stephan's your man with this - except you'd need a Tilley do-nut. I can't see why your idea wouldn't work though. It would be effectively a hollow-wire system and take a bit of working out but definitely practicable...
As David says, a nice post like Stephan's, with a donut at the top would be nice. With your idea though, I would go for a good strong tank at the bottom, an old gas bottle or something, then use copper brake pipe and fittings/ connectors to supply fuel to the top which I would get a fitting machined up that takes a brake pipe union in the bottom and the Tilley control cock in the top. Then you just need to build the post part. I like the idea, if you need help with the brake pipe or the connectors I can sort those out for you through work, including all the flaring at the joints.
I was wondering about something like a small CO2 fire extinguisher tank for a pressure tank as it is long and thin and should easily handle the pressure.. I didn't get much further along that line of thought though. I was also thinking of a bike/car type valve rather than an internal pump as maintenance would need to be minimal once it was installed in the base of the post.
I think you should use the CO2 to pressurise it all instead. You know! Just as Lux did. Seriously though. I thought that this (below) was the kind of post you meant by "old fashioned style lamp post", but from the other replies I now understand that you apparently just meant a straight post with a hanger for the lamp. But if you were thinking of the same thing as I do when thinking about actual old fashioned style post, I think the Lux below is a good illustration of how to use the base as a tank, but still maintain the regular lamp post appearance.
Here's my post, I have to rise and lower the lamp with a winch but I like the idea of the hollow wire system
It is exactly the type, except I would probably go for a square or hexagonal lamp as it I think it will be easier to make and certainly easier to get glass for...
You need to take into account the pipe that feeds the burner, if your tank is too small then it will be empty before the fuel reaches the burner. I'm not good enough at maths to work it out but I'm sure someone will. It might not be as bad as I imagine but it must take a fair amount to fill the tube.
Another thing to pay attention at is how to pre heat the lamp or operate the cleaning wire, of course this depends on the height of the post. Mine is 3m high but I can reach the knob without lowering the lamp.
Yes, that thought just occurred to me also, and when I scrolled down to add a post, there was Stephan's. If this is going to be fixed at the top of the lamp-post, wouldn't it just be easier to design a housing the Tilley just sits in and arrange things so that the tank is not visible from below. Otherwise, you could just use a Bullfinch gassie lantern and feed it from a gas cylinder below. Heresy - twice in two days...
A ladder might solve some problems in one. It's what the 'arm' of such lamp standards were for - a ladder rest.
Matt, you'll really have to use a LARGE pipe if that should be a problem. The feed pipe used on the original lamps of this type has an inner diameter of around 1 to 1.5 mm., which would mean that a filled tube of some metres length only contain a few millilitres of paraffin. Cleaning and operating shall of course be done by a simple remote control, just as like the real lamps of this kind use. A Tilley knob is easily changed to a larger circle of the same kind as you use in boat steerings. It's called a rudder quadrant, and is then operated by a wire loop that goes down to the base of the post. Since everything already is invented, it's just to copy existing designs. That also goes for the auto filler for meths and the lighter on a stick. I have actually been planning on doing a lamp like this myself for many years now, so I already had it all in my head. The trickiest part must be to make that large pole in cast iron. Absolutely true. Unless you don't find a real old lamp, post and all, and can use the house in that one. Many electrical lamps had this old style look, and should be able to find somewhere.
Well, they had atleast two different systems. One was with a separate tank for alcohol positioned up at the lamp which was large enough for several lightings. You lighted that one by manoeuvring a lever with the aid of a stick. The other was an alcohol bottle on a stick that placed the correct amount of alcohol in the preheating cup via a clever spring loaded pump mechanism. You just placed the top of the stick against a fix point in the lamp, made sure the outlet was positioned above the cup, and pushed the whole set upwards and the alcohol squirted out: Perhaps a bit too complex... I'm sure a squeezable bottle with a pipe along a stick, ending with a spout, will do the trick.
Shall we predict a 'Towering Inferno'? Or - 'Rains of fire'? There should be a smiley of grabbing a coat and leaving . . .
There'll be thousands of these lying in scrapyards / architectural salvage yards dotted about the country. They'll not be cheap though. You could ask our friend Drew Pritchard - £POA, that's always a bad sign... I'm sure the likes of B&Q will do an ersatz version in aluminium or similar - but again, not likely to be cheap...
Garden antiquities? I said B&Q! - 60 quid... Not too tall so a pair of stepladders would see you prick and prime without any bother - never mind rudder quadrants and squeezy bottles on poles!
But then he will miss the fun in building these things! But on the other hand it's of course best to keep a short post like that if it is a regular small Tilley burner (i.e. as in X246 etc.) he is going to use.
Just an idea but A Scaffold pole and a selection of hardwood mouldings and you should be able to construct a reasonable replica.... A few years ago my work made some replica bollards for supermarkets and riverside areas, resin poured in a mould with a four inch steel pipe down the middle ,as you are mould-less then nice wood sections bonded on could be your best bet.
Yes, I fully understand that. When I had these plans myself, I was intending to use a Primus 1020-type burner for the same reason. Or even better; a 1001-type burner. I guess the larger OL51-type isn't so easily found? Like the one we discussed in this topic about Lux lamps converted with a Tilley burner.
Interesting that they appear to have used the whole top half of the lamp, I was only planning to use the stop cock, vapouriser and the burner itself and possibly make a brass ring for it to hook into. What did occur to me was; were I to use a B&Q post as David suggested this has more than one lamp, so multiple burners. How well would they share fuel if fed from a single tank?
Can't see that two (or more) burners would be a problem, except you'd have to fill and pump the tank more often. You'd just need a single supply pipe up the column and a T-piece at the top to provide the separate fuel supply to each burner. Does Mrs Gneiss know about this...
