Having a nose at our Tilleys and some have three numbers stamped on the bottom eg "374" which I presume is March 1974. Another has a BR prefix so I presume its British Rail (?) and another has "XB" after some indecipherable numbers. Is there a list of codes/markings for Tilleys in circulation somewhere I can use as a reference? thanks Bill
Bill You are right about the date. As for the indecipherable, could it be "246XB"? Edit: what I said on this line 1/2 an hour ago was a complete brain fail! Tony
Tilley started to stamp tanks around 1954 with "Tilley England" on the base flange of the table lamps and heaters. From October 1956 the lantern tanks are stamped on the side with "Tilley-logo-England" or "Tilley-BR-England" and in the base plate they are stamped "Made in England" and then another stamp which is three or four numbers and two letters. The numbers are month and year but we don't know what the letters mean. After the move to Belfast the stamps changed to "Made in the United Kingdom" Some models from around the early 1960s have the model number added to the side of the tanks. ::Neil::
Thanks for that, so I got the date bit right and checking the date on some of our Tilleys it seems to prove that the tilley is a solid bit of kit! we have some old camping gas lanterns (sorry about the swearing)that were only fit for the tip and were younger than some of the Tilleys!
Oh yes old Tilley were very well made and from the 1920s to 1957 can be expected to survive well. The only drawbacks are rust on the enalmelled hoods and the burners tend to die of old age. The rest is just standard fettling. ::Neil::
