Here is a recently acquired nickel Primus 97. It was in good shape except for wear and tear and some dodgy soldering. I cleaned it up and sorted a bit of the solder out, but didn't want to go too far for fear the plating would deteriorate. The bottom leg/pot-rest is a ring-in. The stove came with only two. It also doesn't belong to the stove it came with (a Primus 210): The stove came with a tin and original accessories: Note that the cleaning needle have rusted away... including the one that broke off in the jet in the lipstick!!!! The cleaning needles were in this envelope: A rusty (unusable) spirit tin : The tin it came in: I like this stove. I've used it a few times since fettling. This stove is a powerhouse when running at full pressure, even though I will have to peen the jet a little. I'll post a couple of more pics below. Cheers Tony
Here is the Primus 97 running: As I said, I think I'll have to do a bit of peening: it gets a bit yellow at the tips on full pressure. None-the-less, it is a rip-roaring stove! Tony
Nickel plated, very handsome indeed. It's understandable why 97's aren't not as commonly found as 96's or 210's - same bulk as a 210 but only the same power as a 96, with it's smaller jet orifice of 0.23mm as opposed to the 210's 0.32mm. On the plus side, greater fuel economy of a 96 and longer burning duration on a tank fill (only potentially, depends on tank pressure and burner efficiency); cheaper purchase price - so why bump the cost up by selling a nickel-plated example? Great collector's piece and I'm happy to have a 1929 (brass) example, but I can't fathom why Primus made them! John
Easy. Customer demand. Nickle plating was an optional extra. One of the advantages claimed for lipstick burners was that they were less prone to blockages caused by coke build up, and easily cleaned out by the user if needed. Best Regards, Kerophile.
