Hi. The latest addition to my 3-legged army - an early Primus No. 6, I believe of the 1897 model. It seems to me to be original, even if it differs in some details from the two other presented here in the Gallery: @Tony Press - Primus No. 6 - 1897 and @igh371 - Primus No.6 1897 Mine has no text or markings on the pump tube lid - differs from the one on igh371’s. It is similar to Tony Press’ lid, with no text, but the knurling is different. The filler cap on mine has two small dots where igh371’s has asterixes. And the spirit cup is soldered midway between burner and tank. Orherwise I notice and «I» and «4» stamped on the hex nut of the burner. I dont know if that is significant. I appreciate any more precise dating on this one! I will resolder one loose leg, and remove some excess solder, while trying to maintain the overall patina. And fire her up :-) Håvard
Actually, Håvard, 1897 really does seem to be 'it'. All of the documentation, adverts and sales figures seem to converge on the original Primus No.6 silent burner having been a one year model, i.e. only having been produced and marketed for the 1897 model year. After that the designation was changed to 'No.5' in all catalogues and adverts. Links to all of this information can be found through the 2 posts that you list above. What is so interesting, however, are the little differences that you have noted scattered between the other examples in the gallery. There are the 2 liked above, and also 3 others here, here and here. Every single one of them seems to have had at least one (or more) components changed or altered. Later parts substitutions are fairly easy to spot, like the silent burner having been swapped for a roarer (3 examples), a later filler cap having been substituted at some point (eg on Christer and Tony's examples), a later pump tube cap used to replace a worn out one (eg on Tony's), or a later pump rod assembly installed (as on yours). These all add to the story of the many many years these stoves must have remained in use. Other alterations appear too, usually as a result of essentail DIY repairs eg to the often weak tank/riser joint. In 2 cases this has led to the priming spirit ring having been raised up the riser from it's original tank top position to make way from a typically messy riser joint solder job (the examples being my own and Thumper's). But this brings us to a unique feature which is to be seen on this new example of your own: namely the early No.1-type pine-bract priming cup seen in the photos above. I think that unique feature must have been on yours from the beginning. It is not something that can have been retro-fitted other than through an entire riser transplant which does not look to have been the case. It would be interesting to speculate on what happenstance in the factory led to that riser having been installed on this tank! Take care of that burner, you are very lucky to have such a nice complete example of the original form silent burner
Thanks, @igh371 for confirming and complementing my findings. Now, I guess I need to look out for a more suitable pump rod assembly, either with "PRIMUS MADE IN SWEDEN *" or "F.W. LINDQVIST ∙ PATENT ∙ ". I cannot rule out that the riser (and priming cup) has been replaced on mine, as there is a certain amount of solder where the riser is attached to the tank. Anyway, I'm very happy to add this one to my "pre-1900" stoves list (a very short list....).
even without the Lindqvist inscription your pump rod cap looks contemporary. More important is the cup-end assembly, there is a good photo of the original type of pump rod end in Christer's No.6 post here: Primus No.6 - Pre 1911
