logo image Tilley industrial lamps & lanterns


This Tilley Model OL 49 is an outdoor lamp.

It was manufactured between 1928-30.

It is a 300 cp version of a indoor model

that has been weatherized with a close fitting top cowl.

One set of instructions warned against using it indoors

which could overheat the fount!

This lamp is in Neil McRae's collection;

from the collection of the late John Findlay.


This Tilley Model GL 1 is a general purpose floodlight

that was manufactured from around 1933 to '40.

This 300 cp burner is no bigger than the standard lantern

and only gives a good spread of light because of the 12" reflector.

This was made for a tripod as on the FL 6 below.

This model, in Neil McRae's collection, lacks the globe

but has the correct ventilator and glass cage.


The Model AL 11 dates from 1935 to 1937

and was designed as a rail road inspection lamp.

They have a 250 cp burner and give a reflected cp of 1500 or more.

This one was given to Neil McRae by a gentleman

that had been using it as a headlight on a canal narrow boat.

Tilley made this single air tube version (right image)

of their FL 5 floodlight in 1935-36,

according to Neil McRae, whose collection this is in.

Model FL 5 later was made with two air tubes (below).

Neil notes that floodlights were primarily marketed to the railways

but were also used by road contractors, emergency service personnel, etc.


Front and back images of a Tilley FL 5 floodlight, made in 1936-37.

These floodlights were mounted on a tripod or stand (see image of an FL 6 below).

The plate on the back of this light says "SIG & TELE WOKING"

which Neil McRae believes identifies a southern railway that included Woking, England.

Neil left parts of this lamp with polished metal

rather than returning it all to the original black.


This Model PL 55 lantern dates from the late 1930's

and was used by a rail road company.

The red band on the fount denoted a maintenance and emergency gang.

This is a larger fount version of the PL 53

and was a predecessor to the BR lanterns.

This lantern is in Neil McRae's collection.


Neil McRae and Tilley book author Jim Dick agree that this

lamp was probably built by Tilley as Model EX93

originally for the Victorian Railway in Australia in 1938

for station platform lighting.

Neil's version of this lamp (above-UK) has the GF control cock

while Jim Dick's lamp in Australia has the XN control cock.


The Tilley Model SL-1 searchlight

was manufactured from the mid 1930's into WWII

This searchlight is capable of 20,000 reflected cp,

according to Jim Dick in his Tilley book.

This model is in Neil McRae's collection;

from the collection of the late John Findlay.


Model AL 10 hand inspection lamp (left)

was designed for use by the rail companies and was made around 1934,

according to Neil McRae whose collection these are in.

The unknown inspection lamp (right) may have been

made by Tilley in the late 30's or during WWII by an individual

who combined an old AL10 and a new steel welded fount.


Bo Ryman restored this Tilley floodlight Model FL 6

including painting it and recreating the transfer label.

It is marked for the Swedish Civil Defense.

This model, seen here with the Tilley tripod stand,

was manufactured between the mid 1940's and early '50's.

Bo has owned if for about 30 years.


The Model OL51 is a 500 cp outdoor donut lamp.

Tilley made these from the mid 1930's to around 1962.

As with all donut lamps, this model was used mainly by the railways.

In Neil McRae's collection.


The Challow lamp is named for the station in the UK on the Great Western RR line

where the model was first used,

according to Jim Dick in his book on the Tilley lamp.

The reflector directs the lamp's light along the axis of the platform

and the lamp can be raised and lowered for fueling and maintenance.

This lamp is in Kenny Connolly's collection.

tilleyal21.jpg
This Tilley AL21 inspection lamp reflects 2000 cp.

This lamp dates to ca 1950 according to Stephan Kalkbrenner,

who restored it and whose collection it is in.

The previous owner had it for about 50 years

and worked at the Deutsch Bundesbahn (German Federal Railway).

This version was painted black but Stephan restored it in gray

as it was used at the Technisches Hilfswerk (German Technical Help Works).


Four Model AL21 hand inspection lamps in Neil McRae's collection:

(from left) 1941-46, 1946 to early 1950's, early 1950's to 1961, and 1961 to late 1960's.

The earlier two lamps have three, rather than four, legs

among other differences.


The British Army calls this Tilley "Hospital Lamp"

a "Lamp Paraffin Pressure Hospital and Survey."

This model can be wall mounted, suspended by the central hanging loop,

stood on a table, or carried.

This is an ex military lamp ca. 1954

that Neil McRae obtained from a shop keeper on Canvey Island.

It had been used for perhaps 5 hours for emergency light.


Tilley made the OH574 lamp for specific needs,

such as inspecting overhead cables from underground railroad tunnels,

according to Jim Dick, who notes that the reflector

can be tilted from nearly horizontal to nearly vertical.

The lamp reflects 4000 cp.

This lamp is in Jeff Johnson's collection.


In the model No. BR 49, BR stands for British Rail.

This model was sold to the public but the vast majority were railroad lanterns.

They are a modified X246 with an extended cage

and a longer generator which allowed them to use

a kerosene fed wick device for pre-heating.

This lantern is in Neil McRae's collection.

To see subsequent BR models click here.


Model AL 15, left, and Model AL 15A, right.

These railroad inspection lamps were much lighter than the AL 11 (above)

and produced about 1000 reflected candlepower from a 250 cp burner.

AL 15A has a track work stand.

AL 15 is date stamped Jan. 1959; AL 15A dates from 1962 to ~1968.

Model AL 15A is in Neil McRae's collection.


This Model AL 8 was designed in the 1930's

for use as track work lamps for the rail companies.

This is a late one that dates to 1961 and is

unusual with a black, rather than brown, ventilator.

The 300 cp burner gives about 1000 cp of reflected light.

This one is also in Neil McRae's collection.


This AL 620 is another inspection lamp

but with a standard conversion head

and the same globe as the table lamps use.

This one, in Neil McRae's collection, dates to March, 1966.


By the 1970's and 80's Tilley was no longer making inspection lamps

so London Transport made their own from Tilley X246 parts.

This lamp was photographed by Neil McRae,

who has designated it LT1.

The Tilley Lamp Company has confirmed for Neil

that this one was made by London Transport.


A second inspection lamp by London Transport

from the same era as above.

Neil McRae, whose collection this is in,

has seen one other like it.

Neil has designated this lamp LT2.


A third inspection lamp by London Transport as above.

This one, in Neil McRae's collection,

was given to him by a man who used it

while working for London Transport.

Neil has designated this lamp LT3.

 

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AGM, King Seeley, & Thermos lanterns - later models updated May 9, '11
Coleman Canada lamps updated Apr. 12, '11
Coleman Canada lanterns pre- 1945 updated Jan. 17, '12
Coleman US lamps before mid-1920's updated Sept. 24, '11
Coleman Canada lanterns 1946 - 1970 updated Feb. 14, '12
Coleman US lamps after mid 1920's updated Mar. 30, '11
Coleman Canada lanterns 1971 - 1993 updated Feb. 10, '12
Coleman hollow wire lighting updated Mar. 14, '11
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Coleman US lanterns 1931 - 1945 updated Feb. 8, '12
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Coleman US lanterns 1946 - 1960 updated Apr. 2, '11
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Coleman US stoves mid-1930's - early-1950's updated Feb. 18, '12
 Coleman US lanterns 1981 - 2000 updated Aug. 8, '11
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Coleman US lanterns 2001 - present updated Mar. 30, '11
Custom lamps, lights, heaters, and stoves updated Aug. 4, '11
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Heater etc. manufacturers A - K updated Feb. 10, '12
Ehrich & Graetz/AIDA & Petromax lanterns updated Apr. 25, '11
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Germany lantern manufacturers updated May 3, '11
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International lantern manufacturers A - G updated Nov. 16, '11
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 International lantern manufacturers H - P updated Feb. 15, '12
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Pump manufacturers A - D updated Mar. 29, '11
Sweden lamp manufacturers updated Apr. 30, '11
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Tilley household lamps pre-1945 updated Nov. 13, '10
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UK lantern manufacturers updated Jan 27, '12
Tilley industrial lamps & lanterns updated Apr. 12, '10
US lantern manufacturers A - I updated Apr. 2, '11
US lamp manufacturers A - F updated May 26, '11
US lantern manufacturers J - M updated Feb. 14, '12
US lamp manufacturers G - L updated Feb. 6, '12
US lantern manufacturers N - O updated Jan. 4, '12
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US lantern manufacturers P - Z updated Dec. 1, '11
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Wrench & other lamp tool manufacturers A - F updated Aug. 8, '11
Wrench & other lamp tool manufacturers G - Z updated Feb. 2, '12

 

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© 2000-2012 Terry Marsh
 tgmarsh@noctrl.edu