Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Issues with a Gill body globe

Hi,

I rarely post here, usually only when I have a specific issue or question. I have an issue with a gas globe that I’ve had for a few years.

I bought this globe from my uncle a few years back. I am by no means any sort of expert on gas globes. According to my uncle, the body that contains the front & rear faces is called a “Gill body”. I’ve never had it apart in the time I’ve owned it, but the metal rings supposedly hold the front & rear faces in place.

I’ve attached a couple of photos to this post showing the globe from the front and from a ¾ view of the side. The issue I’m having is that I have the globe sitting up fairly high on top of a fairly large desk – the desk is quite heavy, and for that matter, so am I. When I step from the hallway into this room and start toward the desk, the floor of the room deflects some. This causes the globe to start sort of rocking/wobbling back & forth, maybe as much as 1/8”. That’s only an estimate, but it is quite noticeable. Also, you can hear when the globe rocks – it sounds sort of loose, like the entire assembly is rattling. The base of the body has some pretty good sized chunks broken out where it fits into the lamp base. It looks very fragile, and I’m afraid to tighten it very much at all. Additionally, there is a noticeable area of cracking on one side of the body.

I’m wondering if one of the reproduction modern plastic bodies would be able to secure the front & rear faces from the gill body globe. I don’t know a thing about the gill bodies. I don’t know very much about the reproductions, but I did buy one a few months ago, including front & rear faces, along with the body and a lamp base. I liked how it fit together, fairly snug, and it really feels like one fairly sturdy unit when completely assembled.

So, would the faces on my gill body globe be able to fit one of the new reproduction plastic bodies? Thanks in advance for your input.

your best bet would be to find a gill body - read on, .. ...

https://oldgas.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=33460

https://www.oldgas.com/forum/ubbthr...p;Board=1&main=94376&type=thread

Hey,

Thanks for the links. I read just enough from those two to realize that I'm in way over my head here. I think I just might end up moving this globe to another location where it might not be so susceptible to the deflection of the floor and the accompanying movements. That is probably the simplest solution to this problem.

In as few words as possible: no, your lenses won't fit the reproduction bodies.

Your Imperial lenses are 13.25" in diameter. No one makes reproduction bodies in this size. They are made for 13.5" lenses.

But finding another 13.25" Gill body is not easy. They are currently going for around $1,500.00 at auction.

Your best bet would be to remove the body from the base and remount the globe retaining ring to the wooden base so as many as possible of the retaining bolts contact whatever is left of the base of your body.

Good luck.

Jim

Actually you can buy a plastic body kit that fits a gill. I saw it on ebay recently, no idea how well it works though. Here's a link to it. Like Jim is saying, those are special size lenses and the gill body itself are going for a lot of money now.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/275809747208

Click this link to go to ebay for gill body conversion thing

Wow, who would have known? Thanks for posting, Paul. John

No problem, I just happened to catch it on ebay few months back. - Paul