Noob with a Tilley 246

I'm trying very hard not to add vapelux/bialladins . Fortunately, they look mysterious and complicated.

 

You should try very hard to get one, as they are not complicated. They should
make you curious how they work and how sturdy they are made.
And any help is available here. So take courage.

 

Hi Chris, don’t be afraid of the Vapalux/Bialaddin lamps. As mentioned above they’re a good robust well made lamp and straight forward to fettle.

Stevie

 

I'd start with a Bialaddin 315. They're bullet-proof in my opinion and dead easy to work on.

 

Colin, I understand and agree with your view on these lamps, but the unique feature that sets the later Willis & Bates lamps apart from any other lamp is the alloy frame. Which can break, as indeed they do like my 315.... No such thing on the older models with the brass cage: they bend, which is straightenable.

Chris, mysterious perhaps, as indeed the later Bialaddins, starting with the second series 305 (or Mk2 as I call them) around 1954 had odd alloy frames, that to my eye got even odder with the more curved lines of the 315 and especially the 320. In fact it took me years to start liking these, let alone getting and understanding one.

But they are more simple than any X246, given the latter's fuel intake and valve, plus a pressure indicator (tit) that can leak. The pump also is a more complicated affair with it's fine-threaded concentric rings.
The british army used the W&B lamps for decades, and for a good reason.

You can always pick up a more conventional-looking 300X, the early black-topped Bialaddin from '46-47 the nicest looking to my eye (and the Air Ministry issue till 1950). In Britain they are cheap as chips.

 

@M.Meijer I definitely agree that the alloy frame wasn't a good move but I suspect it reduced manufacturing and assembly costs considerably. Zink alloy can be brittle especially when it's cold, and if it's left unpainted it looks grey and ugly. However I do like the look of the 315 and they work well... plus the three point screw fixing is more stable than the later 320 in my opinion. To be honest I'm not a fan of the 320. To me it looks like an alloy copy of Tilley's X246b frame design with it's central securing ring. My one and only Vapalux 320 gets extremely hot with prolonged use so it sits on the shelf most of the time!

 

Colin,

with identical gasworks and tops there should not be any difference in operating temperatures inbetween any W&B lamps. Rather than a model number I think it is a combination of tolerances that can produce differences in temperature (how do you measure that btw?). And even a hotter burning lamp should not be avoided to be used. I mean, I know of no working pressure lamp I would not burn myself on, so what is the practical difference?

As for the construction, I do not see any practical advantage in three screws keeping cage and tank together as opposed to one circular nut. Rather, it can only lead to uneven stresses on the horizontal lower ring of the alloy frame that might have been the cause of the broken leg at the connection with this ring as on my 315.



I do believe W&B, or rather Aladdin Industries had a good look at the X246B, and realised foremost the one-nut construction had cost-saving potential. I say Aladdin specifically, as they were likely the marketing force, requesting a cheaper product all the time.

Hence the painting-over of pump and fuel cap of the later 300X and so on, the introduction of an alloy frame, the lesser material and simpler parts needed for the 310, 315 and finally 320 models, the latter even appearing with a black plastic pump knob.

The 320 is the ultimate model lamp made in Halifax, but not necessarily the nicest, or the best.
I think its developement and appearance was solely cost motivated, as with the whole Bialaddin range, and as with so many other products made by man.

But that even the 320 has a deserved reputation as a solid and good quality lamp I think we owe to the british army who were and are devoid of marketeers.

So once Aladdin waved off around 1967 the subsequent Vapalux 320 and M1 promptly showed brass pump knobs and fuel caps again.
Back to a 'proper' product, but the painted-over brass fixtures are a unique and period feature I will not change for blinged brass.

 

Is that a Gransfors Bruk axe in the background??

 

I thought I had a 315 alloy frame you could have had but I just checked and it's a 320 frame!

Anyway, you've inspired me to light my 320 again!

 

Was happy to do my part Chris, don’t think I could say No to you seeing that collection of axes on the wall!

 

What do (swedish) axes have to do with this thread?

As for the Bialaddin 315 frame, a very sweet thought Colin, thank you!
But I am fine, as this frame is now part of a parts lamp, with a better overall 315 in the collection. I also dramatized the break by sticking a pin in it, and normally nobody would notice.

Regards, Mike