Tilley
lanterns
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Neil McRae got this Model
PL52 (on the left) out of an old stable.
It would have been discarded
if he hadn't taken it.
This lantern dates to the
mid '30's and is outfitted with a reproduction mica globe
and finished as it would
have been originally.
The Model PL53 (on the
right) dates from WWII and differs from the PL52
in that it has the glass
globe and a steel fount.
Both of these 300 cp kerosene
lanterns are in Neil McRae's collection.


The Tilley EX4 lantern
was made and exported in the 1930's and perhaps the late 1920's..
An early version, in Kenny
Connolly's collection (left), had a combined tip cleaner
and air release valve (center)
which was later replaced with the familiar control cock
and separate air release
screw (right) (Jim Dick, Tilley The Versatile Vapour Lamp, 2000)
Neil McRae dates his EX4
(right) to 1936-40, which he got from Australia.
This model was replaced
by the Tilley EX100 (below).
Another 300 cp kerosene
lantern,
this EX100 model was made
for export from 1938-46.
It shares the same steel
fount as the PL53 above.
This model shows up in
countries such as Australia and Canada.
Neil McRae made a new shade
(and ventilator) for his lantern
by taking a disk spun to
the right shape,
cutting slots and attaching
the steady lugs.
Model SDR, which may stand
for Short Double Reflector,
is unusual in that it has
a circular parabolic reflector above and below the mantle.
The burner is the standard
300 cp but Tilley claimed 400 cp for this lantern.
This lantern was expensive
when it was produced from about 1945-46 (left) and 1946-52 (right).
These lanterns are in Neil
McRae's collection.


Two types of the original
Model X246 storm lantern were made between
1946 and 1950.
The earlier version (left
and center-running) has a brass globe cage and ventilator
and a brass globe support
ring rather than wire.
The later version of this
model (right) has a steel globe cage.
Both of these lanterns
came from the collection of the late John Findlay;
the earlier model is in
Will Nelle's collection while the later model is in Neil McRae's collection.


Three later versions of
the Model X246, 300 cp kerosene lantern -
The version on the left
was made from 1950 - 54; note the bail attachment to the frame.
The version in the center
was made from 1954 - Oct. 57; the Tilley name is now stamped on the side
of the fount.
The version on the right
was made from October 1957 - April 1961 and are date stamped on the bottom
of the fount.
The lanterns on the left
and center are in Neil McRae's collection
while the lantern on the
right is in Steve Clark's collection.
In the 1950s Tilley also
made De-Lux versions of the above X246 lanterns.
These were plated in Speculum
over the brass.
The late John Findlay found
this about Speculum in a book about metal alloys:
16.5 parts tin, 32 parts
copper, 4 parts brass, & 1.25 parts arsenic.
Neil McRae, in whose collection
this 1950 - 54 lantern is,
believes that Speculum
was only used by Tilley during the 1950s and perhaps until 1963,
when they moved from Hendon,
U.K.

Model X246A (left) was
made from about 1962 to 1964; this one is dated March '62.
The original gold paint
was removed.
Later versions had a black
ventilator.
Model X246B, right, was
made from about Sept. '64 on.
This lantern, dated Jan.
'91, only produced 188 cp vs. 300 advertised cp.
These lanterns are in Neil
McRae's collection.
Model X359 is the same
as X246A except that it has a preheater torch
(using kerosene and air
under pressure from the fount)
and thus does not use the
usual meth spirits torch for preheating.
This lantern, in Steve
& Jill Wood's collection, is dated Nov 1960.
According to Jim Dick in
his book on Tilley, this short lived model was introduced in 1959
and was likely Tilley's
only model to feature a preheater torch.

Models BR49A,
left, and BR49B, right.
The BR models differed
from the X246 models
in having the preheater
device and an extended cage.
The BR49A was made from
1961 to '64,
while BR49B was made from
around 1964 to '70.
This BR49B was made in
Jan. '69.
These lanterns are also
in Neil McRae's collection.

These are (l-r) a Tilley
X458 "Flounder Fishing" model, X410A, and X460 -
three small fount lantern
models that Tilley made primarily for export.
All are 200 candlepower
vs. their standard 300 cp and date to the early '60's.
Neil McRae restored the
X458 lantern - image on the right -
by cleaning a lantern that
had been modified
and attaching the correct
burner head and globe.
Neil knows of one other
example of this model - in Australia.