Some Tilleys and a Vapalux

Hello All

I discovered Tilleys due to an interest in lamps and light and realising I could have a gas lamp in my own house - so I bought the Tilley Table lamp. A couple of years later a 246a Turned up in an antique shop for £22 so I had to have it and got it working pretty quickly. All quiet for a couple more years until frustration at crappy Delonghi oil radiators made me decide to get an R1 - if I could find one on my next trip to Hay last Autumn. On the way back, at Leominster, a crusty looking R1 showed itself to me and £40 got that inc the draught excluder and a dip stick. The plated 246 then arrived as a present never given for a reasonable £50 posted. Living in Yorkshire I did hanker for a Vapalux (I like Anglepoise lamps and get the impression that Vapalux is to Tilley what Hadrill Horstmann is to Herbert Terry; the better engineered relatively forgotten brand and I like that sort of thing). Another Guardsman turned up on FB advertised cheaply and I agreed to buy - the vendor said he had another lamp and that turned out to be the Vapalux 300X which I understand to be fairly rare. Both very cheap complete with hand made wooden boxes and service packs. Finally I was after a PL53 and that arrived a couple of weeks back. If there's interest I'll post more of some of them separately. Anyway, main reason to post is a query if anyone from the Leeds area is good at Vapalux fettling. I can do Tilleys but the Vapalux has a couple of broken frame pillars (the ones that screw into the handle brackets) - I don't want to mess this up. I am thinking of going to the Newark event and any advice would be appreciated.

I'll try posting the pics if this thread appears - first try is AWOL!

 

It’s here, now, Rolf.

Cheers

Tony

@Rolf F

 

Hi Rolf and welcome. Sounds like you've got the bug! Post some photos and You'll get plenty of advice from some very knowledgeable members.

Stevie

 

Thanks both. Sadly my pictures seem to get held up for mod approval - I've got a couple waiting and I'd like to post more. Not sure if there is a problem with how I'm trying to do it but I'll not fret til tomorrow!

 

Welcome aboard!

 

Rolf, your posts with images are stopped by the system because you use a third party image hosting service.
You need to actually upload the files to us in order to show them in your posts.
This is simple. Just use the button saying "Upload a file" at the bottom of the text field while composing a post or new topic.
Multiple uploads are possible.
Once uploaded, you also need to place the pics where you want them.
The easiest is to just simply choose to mass-post every picture. Just make sure that the text marker is at the end of sll text, and with atleast one 'carriage return' clicked.

 

Hi Rolf, welcome.
I too started with Tilleys, then progressed into Coleman’s, then Evening Stars then into blissful oblivion fettling my finds and treasures.
This hobby is not addictive, “I can stop any time” ....... that phrase is the danger sign. If you utter it, think it, then you’re hooked.
O’ “I can stop any time”

Cheers
Pete

 

@Rolf F

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

Lots of good advice to be had here and lots of welcoming, friendly, knowledgable folks to meet if you can make it to Newark.

Keep your eyes open for a duffer in a Tilley Hat and I'll say hello.

Regards, Jeremy

PS bring some of your other lamps to light too.

 

Ahh, thanks for the tip off Carlsson - I think I tried that and got an error but I'll give it another go! Edit - seems to be working anyway. I blame user incompetence! Below is what I have (I refuse to call it a collection!) in roughly date order. I'll post individual shots of them if anyone is interested. In the mean time, the detail of the Vapalux shows the problem - the rod is broken within the little block. I assume that means the rod needs replacing unless there is a way to repair (which I would prefer). Currently I can't get the block off from the rest of the fixture but I am attacking it with penetrating oil. It also really needs a more presentable hood top.
And thanks for the welcomes. If I make it over I will be looking for you Jeremy - the 246A might accompany me as a serviceable lamp!​

 

@Rolf F

Definitely a collection. Small but proud as I am sure all of our collections were once.

Hope to see you at Newark.

Regards Jeremy

 

Rolf

It’s not a collection?

Then it must be an infection.

Diagnosis is “lamp pox”. It’s very hard to cure...

Tony

@Rolf F

 

You see, at the moment it is a small selection of lamps covering specific areas of interest and the only reason there are three Guardsmen is circumstance!
Anyway, I thought I'd post a bit more on some of the more interesting lamps or those I need help with. Oldest but newest to me is the PL53 which I got because I want a shaded Tilley (just need a shade, original ideally - how hard are they to find?). To be honest, I wasn't that happy with this one after I'd won the auction - I thought maybe I should have waited a bit longer. It didn't help with me noticing a word scratched into the rim just after I'd won it! Still, it looked like it would clean up and be a useable lamp. And, to be honest, it is pretty likeable. As far as I can tell from here it must date to around 1940 but I detect a date anachronism re the shape of the arms and the control cock. The other interesting thing to me is the preheater clip. The handle is floppy and a replacement for what was there before but the rest of it is excessively over-engineered and I've not spotted elsewhere on here yet. The nrv has a hexagonal end and four holes. Otherwise, it hasn't seen use for a long time and I'm not sure how easily it will come apart.
The scratched in word turned out to be rather nice for a wartime lamp. It says "Matron"! I'm sure Matron would not have settled for a used lamp so I imagine that it started out as Matrons lamp. I'm rather happy to have it. Renovation will obviously consist of cleaning the fount (which is undented and the paint unflakey but spotted - I'm hoping a lot of that will clean off but it is what it is and I think it will look fine either way. I'm not sure how to deal with the cage. My R1 cage was rusty and I've polished that off to a shiny-ish black finish. I guess I could polish that up properly but it looks quite good as is and maybe the PL53 cage would look good that way too. I suspect silver paint would look tacky but opinions appreciated.​

 

A picture from the Ebay ad showing pump and control cock. Ideas on likely date appreciated.

 

G'day Rolf, I don't have a Vapalux but I had a similar failure on a Hipolito. My repair is covered in this post . You might be able to modify the idea to repair yours.
Good luck

 

Ho Rolf, that's a very original looking PL53, the hood looks to be very good. I'd be keeping the 'matron' mark... Just fired my similar lamp up, lots of character!

 

The lamp is early to mid 1940. That control cock won't fit the 1940 to 1945 lanterns but a PL53 with handles fitted in that way dates from 1940. Everything looks right for the period but the old XN cock is not at all common in a WW2 period lamp which dates it to a single year so that is a very cool lantern to have. The meth torch is an odd one. I have seen something like it before with a Bakelite handle but I'm pretty sure they are home made and not correct original parts. The design of the pre heater torch hardly changed from the 1920s to maybe the 70s or 80s when they stopped using asbestos. ::Neil::

 

@Mackburner

I purchased my first and only new Tilley x246b in 1991 and the fount is date stamped the same year. This also came with the asbestos wick lighting torch.

Regards Jeremy

 

Jeremy

Are you sure it was asbestos and not woven cotton wick (similar to lamp wick)?

Tony


@X246A

 

Fear not Stevie - I wouldn't dream of removing the Matron mark(s - there's a smaller one on the other side) the idea is to just polish the spotting off the finish. The lettering goes through the paint so should be OK but I'll not do anything without making sure it isn't hurting the paint. The hood isn't bad - the white enamel on the underside is a bit chipped in one area and the brown is flakey in places but it looks presentable. I'm starting to think that this shouldn't be the everyday lamp I bought it to be!
Neil - thanks for confirming what I had worked out re the age. I wasn't sure what rules were what but I do suspect that this lantern hasn't been messed around with.
Martin - thanks for the tips on restoration of the columns. If doable that sounds like a potentially preferred solution.
Re the clip - it certainly doesn't look home made but it could be an adaptation I guess. It really seems ridiculously over-engineered - the u shaped spring clip wraps around the little dumb bells and also has two wire clips, one on each side, to retain the wick. Some more pics attached. It looks like any handle will have been attached to the body with wire via the two holes - the wick wraps round so wire through the wick is the only obvious way to go. I suspect that would also have to be fairly awkwardly engineered to avoid being wobbly like the current set up.

 

That lantern should restore well enough and happy fettling!

 

I can just imagine Hattie Jacques patrolling the wards during the night with that PL53 - who'd dare pinch it!!

 

The preheater looks like it has been made out of an old cupboard door catch, I'm sure I have seen ones like that before (minus the wicking of course). Maybe even the catches for billiard cues, now that I think about it.

 

Hello David, that's true!

 

The heater and table lamp make a great combo. Great for sitting outside on a Summer evening.
The heater will help attract female company. My wife is indifferent to the lamps but when I light the heater it becomes much more cosy.
A few glasses of Prosecco also helps

 

David - I know what you mean re Hattie though I was more imagining the matron as Joan Hickson!

Cupboard door catch makes sense for the clip. Will be back shortly with the Vapalux….

 

How about "Typhoid Annie"?! Wow! Off topic again! Sorry.. The PL53s are nice lanterns. I have a couple and a PL55, too. The PL53 is one of the few lanterns my wife likes, along with the Vapalux E41!
She has good taste!

 

I'll post the Vapalux - as I said before, this came as one of those "I have another lamp I was about to list - would you be interested in that one as well" and for not much money I was! I also though it would only be polite to buy his Tilley Titan camping stove and I hope someone at Newark can help me with that as well....
Anyway, the Vapalux is a 45/46 as far as I understand. Two broken pillars to fix. Non original glass but otherwise as is. It was previously used by a Boys Brigade and the newspaper it was wrapped in in its box is a copy of the Guardian from 1990 (and in the box pictured is the 246 that I was initially only expecting to buy) .
I do need I think a new top cap for it. Main thing that puzzles me is the rim of the fount. It appears to be silver metal and fairly roughly finished. Non magnetic. Is this what they are normally like?
Most of the paint is missing so my plan for once is a repaint. But I certainly don't want it ending up looking new. I think the plan will be to polish the existing paint to enable a good colour match to be achieved and have spray cans made up in satin or matt finish which I'll polish up a bit after painting. It should look fairly shiny but not completely consistent and not new.

 

Once that lantern is properly fettled it will be very reliable!

 

This is going to be a fun project to fettle.
Enjoy!!!

 

As you see from my display photo, I have a Vapalux very similar to yours or maybe even idendical! They are very nice lanterns and the brass hood can be cleaned if you want. The paint that is left can be quite hard to remove - mine took a few tries and it kept leaving a sticky residue - much different from other lanterns I have stripped, if they needed to be re-sprayed. I don't light it much but it is a good runner for sure. Happy fettling.