Long time looker, first time post. I picked this up from my local hiking club for a couple of dollars along with 3 other stoves (2x Primus 71, Optimus 8R and a Coleman 400A. As you can see its a Primus 71 and with a bit of a clean goes ok. There is no date stamp on it except there is a letter R on the flat filler cap. Any clues on a possible date would be appreciated.
Hi @richardnz Your Primus #71L (shorty=small tank), seems to be from the mid to late 30's. Congratulations, it's in good shape. Enrique
Interesting, thanks for that and thanks for the speedy reply. The family these cookers came from had a bit to do with Sir Edmond Hillary after he first climbed Everest, if only they could talk. Another question which of these 71's do you think would be the most desirable? From left to right 30's, 1954, 1962.
Weeeeell ... If I had to choose one "user", I will take the 1954. By the way, the filler cap says the '54 is the one in the right but the case is from the '62. The one in the middle with the later design of filler cap is the owner of the red & blue tin. But my choice is kind of personal preferences. The three are wonderful stoves. Cheers Enrique PS: Personally I have one from the 30's, one from 1953 and other from 1954... I have always to struggle to make a choice on one of them!
Hello Enrique, Glad to hear you too like the P71 and I thank you for your info and I hope you continue commenting with this post ... WELCOME Richard ! We're glad you could join us and thankful that you posted this. So, you are wanting help dating your 3 nice Primus 71s, yes. Sorry to be a buzz-kill but might we have a do-over here? Would it be ok to do 1 at a time? If so, Richard, WHICH one would we want to start with? Maybe post pic of the first P71 stove you wanted date info for. We can do all 3, I myself suggest 1 at a time will be a good approach. Before we start: You could please get us off to good start to confirm for us, if year or year codes are present on any of the P71s? There are 3 categories of "PRIMUS" 71 year codes: > code on the bottom you can see an example here , > year on the collar you can see an example here and examples w/o either of those are the, > no date "Primus" made P71s (for various years, many "Primus" 71s do not have a date). IMO your 3 are "Primus" made, pre 1963 (1963 and later Optimus made the Primus 71 ). What do you have for year codes: Left pic (shorty)? Middle P71? Right P71? I will also offer before we start: A couple items shown are not "PRIMUS" made imo: The Tin on right is compatible but is later than '62, it is Optimus made, not original to your Primus. BTW all those blue/red painted tins of same shape are Optimus made tins, yes, they are used on 1963 and later Optimus made Primus 71 stoves. Similarly the Optimus slotted tank lid No.298D (shown on Middle P71 stove above) is not original to a "Primus" 71. thx omc tag @richardnz @shueilung.2008
... I hope Kiwi Richard has more success at fathoming the meaning of that than Brit John has here, OMC!!! John
thanks for that. I just was interested in a possible date for the shorty. The other 2 have date codes so all good for that. I didn't think the tins are original to the stoves
Richard, Enrique, all, Possible dates for the shorty [and shorty tin]? Setting aside dating the tin for now. I'll take a stab at narrowing the year range of your shorty. mid 30s -to- NLT '37 (not later than 37). Re the end of that range, "NLT '37": Due to 2 1937 AB date stamped P71s in SRG, those 2 stoves share the same characteristics as yours (again, tin aside). If '37 was 1st year of date stamp (does not mean all made in '37 were stamped). I would place yours as version just prior to 1937 dated version (date stamp being the only difference). Re beginning of that range, "mid 30s": For me mid 30s is 33-36, we might yet date yours closer to 36/37 (that's my guess) . Consider the 1st version of P71 began c1931, (tins aside) 2 different version P71 stoves followed that and THEN comes your version. So, that's something I offer for you to consider. I do not attempt to date range the tin. Especially re your short version tin, we know the type was in production in '39, I suspect it may have been out earlier than 39 but I'm not sure. If more examples of pre 39 stoves in your tin continue to emerge, the more we might wonder if your tin pre dates '39. thx omc tag @richardnz @shueilung.2008 @Etherman
Hi @OMC I agree with you, but... After my post, I read somewhere in CCS that this tin model appears for the first time in the 1937 catalogs. So I will correct my appreciation to "late 30's". But, anyway, who knows the real production facts? No photos, just drawings year after year. Well, the most important thing is that they're beatiful, user friendly and, with some care, they can last forever! Cheers Enrique
Richard, My impression is yours is not stamped, sorry for double checking this BUT are you sure the bottom of your P71 is not stamped AB? (one might guess P71s that came in the newer tin, like yours, those might be ones more likely to be date stamped?). Enrique, Dating the shorty tin aye, and right you are, there she is, well done!! . I had entirely forgotten about that image in 37 catalog. So, it seems use of that type shorty tin began NLT '37 (not later than '37). BTW this is re when the use of shorty tin began. What is still an open question imo, is when the use of the taller / standard tin of this type began? thx omc tag @shueilung.2008 @richardnz @Etherman
@OMC May be when they decided to change the fount capacity to half pint (0.284 litre)? The first 71's I believe were 0.18 litre. But they continued making the "shorty" fount with the models 71E and 71K till the change in the pot-draughtshield design (integral draughtshield) in the 50's and the model K was droped. Enrique
I wonder if the change in fuel tank sizes to the larger size was due to improving the reliability of the stove and the convenience of not having to refill the stove sooner as with the smaller sized tank. The larger tank size would allow the stove to burn longer before it got to the point where it would run dry and scorch the wick making the stove loose performance from there on. The seals would also benefit from less heat stress for longer because of having more fuel to start with, therefore allowing the seals to last longer before having to be replaced. Cheers, John
Good morning, @threedots I also would like to know for sure the sales figures for the models E, D, K and L. I suppose (but that's just me), that the most sold was the L because actually we see more of them. So it was improved to compete with the others of it's time (Lamb, Radius and later Optimus and Svea). The models E, D and K were far more complete, costly and standing alone in the hiking's stoves world. Why changing them? So they went on with the small fount. At last, in the early 50's, people begun to get caught by the "gassies" so they dropped the small founts and the K model to cut production costs. They kept the best seller L and the sumptuous E model. But I'm rambling, that's just my point of view. I would have liked to be present, back in those days (30's to 50's) in Sweden and see the progress and developement of Primus, Radius, Sivert and Optimus... Or what's easier, that someone of us (stovie) from Sweden, gets to the companies archives and survivors, and wrote a book stating the facts. 8) Regards Enrique
"But I'm rambling, that's just my point of view. I would have liked to be present, back in those days (30's to 50's) in Sweden and see the progress and developement of Primus, Radius, Sivert and Optimus... Or what'seasier, that someone of us (stovie) from Sweden, gets to the companies archives and survivors, and wrote a book stating the facts. " that would be pretty cool
