Thanks for posting the pictures of the globe, it does look really good lit and un lit. More substantial than a clear glass globe.
Pump strokes are 100 with a pint and a half of kero in the tank. That gives you around 30 psi which is operating presure. 1949 to 1954 is this one with no markings on the base flange. In 1954 they started to stamp the flange with "Tilley England" around the owl logo. This shaped tank was replaced with the next version around 1959 although there is a problem with this because after Oct 1956 Tilley date stamped their lamps but no date marked examples of this type are known BUT there are no date marked table lamps of any type from 1956 to 1959 so exactly when this one was replaced is a bit of a guess. ::Neil::
Thanks... I'm pretty sure there is less fuel in it than that and I've only been giving it 50 pumps as the pump starts to get noticeably tight and I wanted to err on the side of caution, so maybe my gauge will work after all. And thanks for the confirmation on the dates, mine too has no markings anywhere. Another one for the 49 to 54 club then
Not sure you need worry. That tank is about the best engineering Tilley ever made. Very heavy base plate and light but spherical upper tank sides makes it a very strong pressure tank. In fact the only problem with these is the light brasswork means it dents easily. I seriously doubt you could get near to over pressure using the fitted pump. ::Neil::
your own list 'had' 2 lamps in that range, and I posted on bbl back in 2006(iirc) 3 dated table models for you to see.
Going back a few posts to Mathew's pictures, is that he original paintwork? I notice that the little pressure pip and the collar that the pump screws into both appear to be painted but not the "bump" on the top of the tank where the handle attaches...
Sorry no clue which are 'hemispherical tank'?? please remind me, thought we were discussing the OP's lamps type, saying no table lamps were dated totally confuses me.
Gneiss, it is indeed to original paint job. Here is a better picture of where it painted to at the top. It does lap up that bump under the handle a bit but If you are masking yours off to paint I would have a crisp line around and not lap the paint on to it.
Looking closely at that area on mine I'm now wondering if that overlap is deliberate... On mine I have a series of what superficially look look stress cracks all the way round the bottom of that bump, looking through a jewellers' eyeglass you can quite clearly see that these are tool marks - so I wonder if they just extend the paint up the bump a bit to cover those up. Incidentally I haven't tried, but does the handle unscrew from the tank at that point?
My pressure pip works!! I've been squirting a tiny bit of WD40 down it every few days and last light when I fired the lamp up for some "action shots" the pip worked...