Grundig Lamp

[Christain Cobb]

Thename comes from the inventor, Sir Edmund Tilley, from Hendon . He opened a factory in the sixties in Dunmurray and produced oil lamps and gas picnic stoves, all with double T names , eg Tilly Twosome Tilley Topper, Tilley Twin, etc.

Quite a lot of his oil lamp products were destined for America as apparently even in the sixties large areas of USA didn,t have electric

Donald

Donald, thank you for sharing your knowledge and memory with us so very often. When I left the Tech, my first job was in the Tilley Lamp Co. I walked there every day as at that time we lived in Milltown Road Derriaghy. The factory was in fact down 'The Cutts, Derriaghy, not in Dunmurry itself. It was next door to Grundig. I enjoyed working there for about eight months in '62.

Liz

I absolutely get a kick out of reading all the messages in the forum. The memories I have as a child in Lisburn start rushing back. As I was reading about the gas lighting I was thinking of the little light we had in the living room with a very delicate bulb that would break if you so much as breathed on it. I also remember we had a meter in the house and you put a shilling in to get gas. Girls do you remember using the heavy IRON from the top of the stove or the fabulous gas iron to iron your clothing...gosh we have come a long way babe.

Marlene

Hallo Silvia,

Here,s a description of how a Tilley lamp functions, I read it on the web

Donald

On pressurising the fuel tank, Paraffin, (kerosene), is forced from the fuel tank through the vapourising tube. The vapourising tube is pre-heated by methylated spirit, (alcohol), in a torch cup clipped around the tube.

A fine spray of hot paraffin leaves through a jet at the top of the vapourising tube and on entering the mixing dome vapourises into a gas. Air mixes with the gas and the mixture leaves the burner through a ring of holes, it then passes into the mantle which is suspended below.

Inside the mantle the gas burns and causes the mantle to glow with a bright white light. As the vapourising tube passes throught the centre of the mantle the heat from combustion continues the process started by the pre-heater torch, this feature also gives a clear shadow-free light.

Inside the vapourising tube is a cleaning needle which 'pricks' the jet every time the lamp is turned off. Should the jet block in use it can be cleared by quickly turning the lamp off then on again. A match should be kept at hand should the lamp fail to re-light.

This vapourising principle also applies to other paraffin, (kerosene), lanterns manufactured by other companies such as Vapalux, Bialaddin and the 'swan neck' lanterns such as Coleman, Optimus, Magnalux, Anchor, Petromax etc.

Hi Donald, Thanks for the info. I think Tilley lamps were used before the 60's. they may have been around since the 40's. I remember quite clearly having one in the 40's, after my father came back from the war, maybe around 45 or 46. I've been in the USA since l960. So maybe the factory in Derriaghy was new to the area, but originated in England. Sylvia.

Silvia

The Tilley Lamp Co began sometime in the 1800s in Hendon, they opened a branch in Derriaghy in the sixties , possibly because of the offer the Government made to create employment in Norniron ? eg Grundig , Wandelside Wire, Delorian and other companies , some of whom closed and retuned to their place of origian.

Donald

Marlene

No doubt you have some memories of the " aul place " and Norniron, let,s hear them please! An appeal to all others who read but don,t reply, have you thought that the people who write need support ?

Donald

Donald

Hi Donald

I don't remember too much about the gas lamps. But I do remember when there were less people living in Lisburn. Everyone knew each other. It has grown soo very much.

Sarah

Terry,

Those blank were for Grundig tape recorder chassis, the press tools which then formed and bent them were my first encounter with German workmanship and impressed me no end. I can remember those guards you mentioned for Mackies also. They were fitted individually to each Frame and then painted ( shades of green )in Woodvale factory. They went around the world. After Coombe Barbour went out of business ,Mackies were the world,s leading producer of Textile machinery. How does that song "Mc Alpine,s Fusilers" go, " Irishmen worth Germans ten! "

Donald.

Donald, I had an Uncle who worked in Mackies in the 50's and 60"s. His name was Sammy McCoubrey, don't know if you knew him or not, he lived in Kingsway, Dunmurry. My sister also worked in Grundigs for a time.

Sylvia.

He made the night a little brighter, wherever he did go

The old lamplighter of long long ago

Aye. we used to climb, spiel, pronounced speel, we called that, up the lamps.

Do they still use that word in NI? Maybe the origin is German.

And, like Beano, we tied a rope round one of those horizontal bars, and swung, maypole style.

Donald, That sounds like him, he loved to sing too. His favourite was "If I were a blackbird", and "I'll take you home again Kathleen". I think he died in 61 or 62, had a heart attack at work.

Sylvia.

Dabbler

Spiel is indeed German, meaning match, game, at stake,or children playing. Another we used lately on the forum with regard to Tilley lamps was Mantel, meaning coat, casing or shell

Donald

Hi Sylvia,

I remember Sammy McCoubrey, I worked in Mackies(accounts office) and played cricket for Albert Foundry at that time. Sammy had a friend called Cecil Murray who brought him as a guest to our annual dinner and Sammy sang "Kathleen" that 's what triggered my memory. Oddly enough Cecil sang "Blackbird" that night.......... It really is a small world.

Thank you also for your good wishes re.our holiday.

Beano

Beano et all

Do you know where the name "Albert Foundry" origanated?

I seem to remember hearing in the Tech that James Mackie started buisness in Albert Street Belfast, and later moved to Springfield Rd and brought the name with him, can you confirm this ?

Donald

Hi Beano, That is fantastic! I did not know Cecil Murray, but my uncle was quite the singer. His wife, my aunt, was my mom's oldest sister.

Re the holiday, you are very welcome, I'm thinking of maybe going over at Easter for just a week. Air fares are quite good right now. So I thought I might just take advantage.

Sylvia

Most likely, the dial lamps are of the "Wedge" type, like the lamps used in instrument panels of automobiles. The most common type is 12 V 1,2 W and is designated W1.2W , but they are available with other power ratings too.

Hello Marc,

Back to the radio chatter!

The Grundig back panel says, "12-15 V 30 mA"

The Grundig schematic says, "12-15 V 0.1 A"

Will the 3W, 12V, T5 bulbs be too much (hot) for the Grundig dial plastic? It looks like one side may have over-heated (see photo Grundig RF 440 missing dial lamp socket).

I am unfamiliar with the "W0.5W" nomenclature. Are your bulbs the "wedge" style, or the tiny "grain if wheat" style with only two wire leads? Does your supplier ship to US? :D

In your Radio you can see what too much power can do after time. Consider the radio has been designed for a lifetime of 12 years, guarantee was gone after 12 Months - nobody will complaint about the melted plastic after such a long time. But the missing socket lets me guess that someone just mounted a too strong bulb.

An explanation for the different power indications may be: The schematic is for the chassis RC440 which was used in several models. Probably Grundig had different lighting specifications according to the individual model.

Also needed: one wedge base lamp socket - specially designed to clip to the inside of the body. My radio only has one socket. The one on the pilot lamp side is missing. There are other style (modern) wedge sockets readily available, but I would like to be able to easily slide it in and out when changing the bulb.

Did other Grundig radios from this era (1970s) use the same (clip style) wedge base lamp socket? Maybe those radios were exported in larger numbers (to the USA) than the model RF 440, and I could find a donor radio on this side of the ocean.

I have a Grundig Satellit Transistor 6000 with a faulty ''toothed belt'' that activates the KW 2-9 drum tuner. I need to find this belt to make the SW spread bands operational. Do any of our members know a source where I can obtain this belt? I also would like to get some replacement dial lamps. Thanks in advance for any help I can get.

Beware with lamps too, because there are a lot of "similar" lamps on sale, but with diferent current. This radio use 30mA and 80mA lamps, and have a serial limiter resistor on some of this lamps, to limit heat disipation, and if you put the wrong one, it with light very dimm, or worse, burn the plastic interiors.

Hi all....I hope your summer is going well. I am working on this radio, and need to change the electroletics . Is there an easier way....the output transformer is directly on top of connections. I have to remove it and connections to get to it. Also...does anyone know where I can get phono cartridge for this set? thanks AL

This is what happened. The set was playing on BC. Poor sound quality...not much amplification. The electro can heated up and started leaking . I shut her down. Disconnected can, Replaced the 2 100uf caps. Now tubes light....but complete silence on all bands. I am used to American ac/dc radio repair....Where should I start to trouble shoot? Any help appreciated.....Thanks AL

Hi...My meter was in need of fresh battery. The correct voltages are: 280v ac between neg and pos of rectifier...260v dc at pin 5 of EL95....and still less that 1 volt at pin2 of 200ohm resistor on EL95

I think, in the next step Alfred should disconnect both 10 nF from the ECC 83 plates and measure the voltage at the screen grids pins 6 of the EL 95s. Please include a check of the 600 Ohm/2Watt preresistor. Voltage value should be in the range of 246 V to 229 V as stated in the schematic .

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