I've seen a two variants on the Companion air screw - one flat and one with a knurled knob. Anyone know which is earlier?

Dr Peter is our non resident expert on all things Companion so perhaps he will be able to answer.
I have always assumed that type of was a Lanray replacement.
Now that you have been exploring the stove world for some time, can you tell us, what is the most common found in Victoria. Handi have the prize for Queensland, Companion for NSW.
Fr Laurence

It's very early days for me - but based on a small sample and a chat at T W Sands, Companion dominated the market here. I haven't had time for a systematic check of what is lurking in second-hand shops round here - maybe next month.

On the subject of the knobs, my local antique shop 5 minutes walk away, that I finally looked in, had three Companions all with knurled knobs. I'm inclined to think it was original equipment, because there was only one outer cap missing between the three - all 5 remaining were Companion caps, so maybe they hadn't been tinkered with too much.

There is 2 types of air screws that came with the Companion 1 is the knurled thumb screw (like Lanray) the other is the butterfly type. I don't know what one came first. I alwas thought the knurled one was first, Reason I think this is these stoves appeare to look older but this can be missleading. Handi has both types as well but all the knurled type are brand new in a box and I havn't come across this type fitted to a stove yet. Albert

Handi Albert

On closer inspection, the Companion knob is not the same as the Lanray. Actually there are three types, knob, oval with Companion on each side, and oval with Svea on one side and Companion on the other. I have now inspected all 40 of my Companion stoves and offer the following observations.
11 Companion/Companion
13 Knob
16 Svea/companion
All but three have a sort of trademark, and the three have possibly been polished off. Generally if the airscrew is Svea/Companion, the trademark in shield will be SVEA and a stove picture. The Companion/Companion and Knob types have only the stove picture in the shield.
I think Dr Peter has posted here before about the order in which the three types were manufactured.
Fr Laurence

I never said that air screw was the same as the Lanray I stated (like Lanray). I realise they are differant.
Yes there is 3 types and I was putting the 2 butterfly types in the same catergre. It would be interesting to know what one was the oldest Albert

Handi Albert

I was the one who thought the knob was a Lanray, now I know better.
But what surprises me ( or maybe it does not) is that no-one here thought it was excessive to have 40 Companion stoves. In collecting there is a natural tendency at the beginning to but everything in sight, and as these were very common, I bought quite a few. But I also have a rule that I will buy any stove that sells for less than a new set of silent burner rings, currently about Oz $16. So a five or six dollar stove will always find its way into my collection.
Fr Laurence

Dear Fr. Laurence,

Owning 40 Companion stoves is far more restrained than accumulating over 200 stoves by various makers, collected over a 35 year period. For what it's worth, my own observation of Companion (during my formative years on the east coast of Australia) has led me to believe that the round knob airscrew probably came first, followed by the Companion/Svea flat screw and then the Companion airscrew.

I always admired the Companion product for its high standard of manufacture (although the riveted pump leather assembly was always an irritation). I think the Primus/Optimus/Radius domestics were a little more exotic (perhaps, in part, because they were imported from Sweden, and the fine stamps on the front of the tanks added to this impression): handsome, even, but the Companions were extremely well made and reliable. less prone to leaking at the joints over time, also.

One further guide to dating domestic model stoves, in general, is the shape of the top part of the leg. It seems that the earlier the leg, the more pronounced the bend (later Optimus legs are far more streamlined than those from the 'teens and 'twenties.

BTW, did anyone else observe the Primus No. 121 cast-iron range on ebay (I think this is its second coming).

And: Fr. L: all the best for the Feast of the Assumption, August 15th.

That is 40 Companions out of a total collection of 215 stoves. Many companions on this site too!
Laurence

Hi Laurence,

I spent a day of my holidays scouring the central Victorian antique shops. The sample I saw was:
Lanray 2, Primus 4, Companion 3, Handi 1, BAT 1.

Came home with a 'new' Companion from a strange little surplus store - the last of the Department of Defence surplus release from 15 years ago. That, the Handi and a Primus 54 were my prizes of the day.

What better way to spend your time. I have never found a real disposal store up here, they are more like camping goods stores and the only ex army stuff seems to be ammunition boxes.
Lanrays - I have had trouble with stuck valves, but maybe that was the previous owners faults for not using a lead washer. Bats - beware the leaking tanks fron hairline fractures in the brass.
LKL

Laurence, you brought up the subject on cracks in the tanks of Bat stoves. I have had big problems with this. Yesterday I spent over 14 hrs strait with one small meal break repairing Stoves and lights for a bloke. It was about 12 of them I repaired. Fitting legs removing pump tubes all that kind of things.
Any way He loves his Bat stoves, Aladdin Lights (both of these brands are prone for cracks in the tanks). The other lights he collects is Anchor types of lights These are a petromax clone. Good lights but goes rusty quickly.
To me he has picked on the 3 worst stoves and lights to collect. I will walk past them with out looking at them.
By the way he brought to me 15 tanks for the Aladdin to solder the cracks up 2 tanks had 8 plus cracks in it. By the time I got though 1/2 of them you could only see a hair line of solder where I seeled the crack.
I like him comming over because he takes all of these off my hands, but then I have to repair them next time he comes over.
Albert

Handi Albert

Hi Albert,

I also recently had a Lanray crack. It had been working perfectly (stored in Melbourne). Last May I filled it, and fuel ran everywhere: big split in front panel of the tank. I have also seen this occur in Optimus and Radius stoves from the '20's, including those which seem not to have been over-pumped or otherwise abused. A big mystery...
PW

Albert and Peter
It seems like the Bat and Aladdin tanks must not have been annealed after they were formed. I know that brass doesn't like to be worked too much without releaving the built up stresses. Have either of you tried to anneal one of them? I don't know if it is possible because they were fitted with fairly low temperature solder

No David by the time we get these stoves and lights the cracks is already in them so annealing would be too late to do this. The bloke I repaired the tanks for told me he asked another person before me to repair them , His reply was Quote Do you have a concrete path and a 14 lb sledge hammer. Reply was yes. Than hit the bugger on top as hard as you can. Unquote. So they came to me for repairs.
I have 2 Aladdin lights with cracks in the tank One is now a ceiling light in my lounge room the other is a bed side light. I have others with cracks as well.
Albert

Handi Albert

In regards to cracks in the tanks of these stoves and lights, As a thought only.

How would fiber glass resons go if the tank was cleaned then pure some resons in it and roll the tank to seal it fom the insides.
I can't see fuel desolving this. Albert

Handi Albert