Tilley R1 Reflector

Morning

Looking for some advice if possible,

I have recently bought a Tilley R1 heater and the reflector seems to be copper but has rust over 70% of it which i thought a little strange, it seems to be a steel plate with a copper coating, is this correct? or am i missing something?

Any help would be much appreciated

 

I have never seen a steel reflector. They used aluminium in the '30s for a while but otherwise they are copper or Crome plate copper. Have you tried a magnet on it? ::Neil::

 

I thought they were copper aswell but its as if the copper coating is coming off leaving the steel. No i havent, hadnt thought of that i'll give it a try tonight thanks. It may well be aluminium but i wouldnt of thought it would/could rust the way it has...

 

I doubt it is aluminium. There would be no hint of copper or rust on one of those. Not a common type anyway and I think only used on the chrome plated de lux models from the 1930s. A magnet will tell you all. ::Neil::

 

Wasn't it common to plate steel auto bumpers first with copper then chrome on top?

I'm sure I have seen a rusty one peel a layer that was copper on one side and chrome on the other. In this case perhaps the chrome has gone leaving the copper.

 

I tried to polish it thinking it was copper so some of it has came up as clean copper but where the rust is its asif the copper peeled off and its down to steel, as if its just a copper coating on it and the rust had came throught that

Im going to try a magnet during the week and see, its really puzzling me

 

This shows the top layer of copper thats polished and then the rusty bit next to it

 

Tilley used steel for some lamp parts during WW2., so this reflector may be from that period.

 

Ah yes I forgot that. During WW2 Tilley were still making lamps and heaters for the home front but shortages meant all manner of parts were made of cheap steel. How about a picture of the whole thing here which might give us some idea of a date. ::Neil::

 

Exactly what I thought, too. From what I've seen from various car programmes on TV, it's very common to use 'undercoat' or 'primer' metals between the substrate and final metal layer, generally to fill in imperfections or enhance adhesion. The last one I saw showed the use of nickel between the steel substrate and the final chromium (i.e. 'chrome') top layer.

Whether the same sort of technique was used on Tilley reflectors is another matter, of course...

 

Thats it before i started to strip it down.

thanks for all your help

 

Looking at your tank notice no pressure pip .Have you run a magnet over the tank might be a all steel tank same as your reflector .
Bob .

 

The pressure pip is on the other side am sure, its the same base as my lamps so im guessing its brass. Ill try the magnet over that aswell though, going to try the magnet tomorrow

 

Pretty sure that's a brass tank. The steel tanks don't have so clearly defined rim. It certainly could be a WW2 period R1 so maybe a plated steel reflector is likely. ::Neil::

 

It looks copper to me with a very heavily oxidised coating.....

 

Im pretty sure it is brass, i will check today.
Im going to check with a magnet tonight and see so i will let you all know

Thanks

 

Update: So it steel, tried the magnet trick last night. Just going to take the copper coating off and polish up the steel.

Thanks everyone

 

Thanks for the update James.
Being steel makes it a rare item.
Another thing to be on the lookout for.

Did you put the magnet on the tank too ?

 

another update: gave the base its medium bench polish today, will wait until its all done until i give it a final polish