tilley & coleman acquisition

[Petey]

Last night i collected my latest investments - a coleman 201 and a tilley lamp.

£10.50 the pair

I've had the pair of them stripped down and all seems well with the coleman. I've put the one mantle i have on the tilley (as you folk seem to rate that as being the better lamp) and got it working very nicely, but I have some questions...


the mantle is a 164x. is the 164h (happy mantle) brighter? are the generic 500cp mantles available brighter still?

I'm unsure about the status of the vaporiser on the tilley. it is different to the coleman. the coleman has a fine 'hair' pricker, and the needle shaft is straight. the tilley needle shaft is slightly bent and the point doesn't have a 'hair', just a conical needle point. should there be a 'hair', or is this correct?

the mantle on the tilley glows white in small patches and yellow in the vast majority. is this correct, or by scrubbing out the top parts ("burner 218") would this improve?


TIA

 

[Mike_B]

To the best of my knowlege there is no difference in the "brightness" of the different mantles. As regards the vap tube on your Tilley, I suspect it's dead from what you've described. A slight bend in the wire is normal, but there should be a fine needle on the tip. It's obvious once you see a sound one as it's a couple of mms long.

When you are replacing the tube (with it's wire) , make sure the fuel cock is open (lamp unpressurised obviously) when you screw the tube on. If you don't, the wire and it's needle will be forced against the top and will break the needle off.

It's always worth cleaning the air passages in the top part as they are a favourite haunt for spiders if the lamp has been stored. The mantle should burn white all over although sometimes you'll have a black patch or two. Generally this is caused by the mantle being contaminated by oil when it's fitted so make sure your hands are clean.

Enjouy - great bits of kit.

 

[rik_uk3]

The tilley rod is meant to be bent, DO NOT straighten it out. With clean fuel the Coleman will out shine the Tilley, but then the Tilley is a nice brass lamp and looks better. You need a Vapalux now (if you don't have one).

 

[dasy2k1]

I just got myself a vapalux on fleabay (sold as a tilley but hey) great lantern and very bright with a tilly happy mantle (no differance in brightness between the x and H mantles... just the h has a metal ring at the top for ease of fitting rather than a drawstring)

I find that if for some reson its not hot enough and spurts a bit then the mantle soots up and will burn dim yellow.....

simply turn the knob down a bit untill the mantle is barely lit, the edges of the sooty area will glow red and burn off, then gradulally increase the fuel flow untill there is no sooty area left