Tilley storm lantern X246B May 1978: this model has been in production since 1964.Operation of a Tilley lamp (Video)Large Tilley radiator R55 from 1957[1]Tilley Lamp TL10 from 1922-1946[2]
In 1813, John Tilley invented the hydro-pneumatic blowpipe.[3] In 1818, William Henry Tilley, gas fitters, was manufacturing gas lamps in Stoke Newington, and, in the 1830s, in Shoreditch.[citation needed]
In 1846, Abraham Pineo Gesner invented coal oil, a substitute for whale oil for lighting, distilled from coal. Kerosene, made from petroleum, later became a popular lighting fuel. In 1853, most versions of the kerosene lamp were invented by Polish inventor and pharmacist Ignacy Łukasiewicz, in Lviv.[4][5][6][7] It was a significant improvement over lamps designed to burn vegetable or sperm oil.
In 1915, during World War I, the Tilley company moved to Brent Street in Hendon, and began developing a kerosene pressure lamp.[12]
In 1919, Tilley High-Pressure Gas Company started using kerosene as a fuel for lamps.[13]
In the 1920s, Tilley company got a contract to supply lamps to railways, and made domestic lamps.[12]
During World War II, Armed Forces purchased quantities of lamps, thus many sailors, soldiers and airmen used a Tilley Lamp.[12]
After World War II, demand for Tilley Lamps drove expansion to a second factory, in Cricklewood, then a third, merged, single factory in Colindale.[12]
The company moved to Northern Ireland in the early 1960s, finally settling in Belfast.[citation needed] It moved back to England in 2000.[citation needed]
