Here is my re-assembled Tilley OL50. It came from the collection of Jim Dick, and was in parts. The tank on this OL50 has the three hanging rings of the IL33 tank. The control cock is XN (with a brass mesh filter, not the 'sock'). The white bottom face of the reflector is marked Tilley-Hendon. There is not brass Tilley badge. As it came (it was disassembled, but I put it together for the photos): Up and running: Besides the fiddling around that's required to assemble this lamp, the fettle was pretty straight forward: 1. I cleaned everything, and used car polish to buff up the paintwork and ceramic. 2. I repainted the hanging components because they were rusty. 3. I tested a few old Tilley 169 vapourisers and found an excellent one. 4. The top copper heat cap was hard to clean! 5. I remade the hanging bolt, because it was fractured by me unscrewing the bottom nut (it must have been swaged somehow): a. I cut the top off the bolt and drilled a hole through the top. b. I then threaded the hole so that I could put a piece of threaded rod in and reuse the original nuts (3/8, 16tpi): I then sil-brazed the threaded rod to the top of the bolt, and, as a safety measure, I drilled a hole through the now completed bolt to take a pin so that if the end nut ever comes loose, the pin will stop the whole kit falling to earth. The lamp is fitted with a Tilley Durosil 182 globe. All in all and excellent lamp and it's an honour to have one from Jim's collection. Cheers Tony
Well done. Next job a winch on the the pole (or wall) a pulley above table and you can raise/ lower as per Platform lamps for railways
Jeff I’ve seen a couple of these ‘push on’ mesh filters, associated with Jim Dick’s collection. I’ll see if I can find more information about them. Cheers Tony @JEFF JOHNSON
Wow, you have a very beautiful lamp Tony. Thank you for sharing such nice photos. I notice the orientation of the insect protector screen, I would have thought it should be concave side up? Perhaps it is a matter or preference.
Addendum to the above post: I see that Tony fitted the insect shield convex side up just as Tilley did on their X410A as per this link: https://classicpressurelamps.com/threads/tilley-x410a.13616/
Johan@JohanOptimus Yes... I'm always in two minds about which way to place this, and the later lower insect screens. Tony @JohanOptimus
Pete If you ever see one in the wild, grab it with both hands and don’t let go. I’ve grown very fond of this light. Cheers Tony
