Evening, John, Thank you, Sir! We'll toast all our CCS Mates, at the Gathering, and you will all be there "in spirit", so to speak! I'm taking one of my old #100's, an Optimus (GASP!! ), and will post some photos of it, after the event. Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
Hi What can I say? Wowww. Great looking stove. These old stoves are true wonders. Give them some care and they do their job for another century or two. Good Luck! Regards Jens
Wow John that is is an amazing looking stove! My Holy Grail at this point is any Primus or Optimus stove I can get my hands on. These brass beauties are the coolest looking things I've ever seen. One of these day.
Hi John. wonderful post of great fettle! I love your early Primus No.100. I wonder whether this stove had a reserve cap originally? There is no obvious place to park it when the stove is in use. You will now need to get some photos of this stove posted in the Reference Section. Best Regards, Kerophile.
Love the 100s and that's a real mature beauty you've got there. Interesting to see yet another example of that design or pressure release with some grotty solder repair. I'm coming to the conclusion that this is almost the norm and therefore for some reason this was a common failure point - I've only ever had one of my stoves of this pressure release design that hasn't had a pre-existing repair. Anyone else any views on this as I've noticed a number of stoves if the reference gallery with similar amatuer solder jobs. Cheers, Graham.
Morning, John, and All, Kerophile makes an excellent suggestion about the reserve tank cap. Exeter_yak made a lovely one for my own old #100, and I'll use it this week at our Stove Gathering, for which I leave in a few hours. Looks great and works very well! Contact him to see if he might have a few left, or can make you one of his wonderful tank caps. Great workmanship, that's for sure, equal to, or even better than, original! Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
Bon Voyage on your stove Gathering, Doc, and thank you very much for your suggestion about the reserve cap. I'll not discuss it now, given that you're packing for the off, but will gladly look into what you suggest. Fact is, the old Primus has been around for 100 years, so a while longer to make amends for relapses in care from previous custodians won't hurt, I'm sure. Have a great time - that's to you, yours and CCS buddies, Cheerio Doc, John
Presscall, that's a wonderful find you have there, and what good colour. There would be some stories to tell if that stove could speak. Bom Bom, You're right, about the pressure releases. I think they are vulnerable to damage, sticking up as they do, this one, shown below, appeared to have been hit hard, several times. Perhaps in an effort to stop it leaking. However, underneath the ugly duckling layers of solder, there lurked a swan.
John, I hear you , working on a project and a new stove arrives and unfortunately the project at hand gets pushed aside - well this 100 deserves the immediate attention - wow, nice , very nice and good to see it working Tom
Can some one explain to me how you get rid of all the excess solder? Does it not cause and amalgamate with the brass? Alan
Hi Alan. Excess solder can be a pain to get rid of. Here is what I do: Either re-melt the solder if it is really thick, and then wire brush when the solder is molten. This shifts everything except what is in the joint. Once the stove has cooled down again you have only a very thin solder/brass interface coating to deal with. Or, buy youself one of those one-inch wide Skartsen scrapers that are used by painters for removing stubborn old paint and coatings. We have them in boatshops. This is basically a handle with a screwed on replaceable steel blade, which cuts on both the push and pull strokes. With this tool it is possible to shave-off solder deposits, and even the brass tank if you are not careful!!! It is very accurate and controllable. You can then use very fine (600-1000 grit) wet-and-dry abrasive sheet to remove any final traces of solder. Here endeth the lesson. Best Regards, Kerophile.
Rustbucket - Canook Coleman joins the party! In 'Rustbucket - meets an ancestor' Dave Gibson likened the firing of my 1902-to-1910 period Primus 100 to ... that Woody Alan movie where he wakes up 100's of years from now and starts up a Volkswagen on the first try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeper_(film) Well, like Woody Allen in 'Sleeper', tonight I stepped forward in time 200 years from the Primus 100, with this ... Ok, not 200 years exactly, more like 40 ... ... but let me explain what I meant by that exaggeration. Flushed by success at my 'fettle- LITE' to get the Primus running, I confidently (over-confidently it turned out) imagined I could 'fettle-LITE' this Canadian Coleman 500 for a test firing for you also. All started well, first the simple job of undoing nuts holding on the 'spider's web' grate and factory-fitted windshield. None of the nuts put up any resistance, even without penetrating oil ... ... so the components came off easily In fact, the Coleman came apart effortlessly. I was impressed with the quality of the components The fuel valve unscrewed without too much difficulty. Great! However, the difference between this and the Primus and its strip-down was already clear. More parts, more to go wrong I'm thinking. 200 years in the future in fact. Or, in contemporary aviation terms, the Wright Flyer compared to a Lancaster or Super Fortress I'd usually expect the F/A (fuel/air) concentric tubes and rod to be a source of trouble, but this example (middle, front row in the above photo) seemed surprisingly clear of gunge and the plunger control cam rotated freely when the bent wire control lever was rotated. Then the pricker needle - or absence of it I should say!! - caught my eye and I decided it wasn't up for a firing this evening afer all! Emptying the tank, I could imagine how this heavy, oily, derivative of petrol (gasoline) would have contributed to the pricker's demise I was annoyed at this setback to my plan to re-assemble and fire up the stove tonight, but remembered that at least Coleman facilitate replacement of just the pricker/rod and not the whole component of control wheel and shaft by thoughtfully separating the two. Yes, the pricker/rod unscrews ... ... easily in this example. Of course, it also enables adjustment of the extent the needle protrudes beyond the jet nipple orifice. I resolved to be patient with this Coleman resto, and get Rustbucket finished first and the outcome posted for CCS. It didn't stop me thinking ahead though, and in addition to considering where to track down a new pricker/rod, I'm thinking of finding a paint match for the original olive drab, still in evidence on the base and in the filler cap surround recess. I'm pleased with the Coleman, an example of which appears in this extract from the Terrence Marsh website (last item pictured), also with the windshield and an olive drab painted tank http://terrence.marsh.faculty.noctrl.edu/lantern/colestovespre1945.html Thanks Flivver, for help in researching this topic. Oh, nearly forgot, how's the Coleman non-return valve on this example? They're known to be a bit of a challenge to extract from the pump tube, but again, thanks to Flivver, and Lance and other Stateside CCS members who've shared their extensive knowledge and experience with us in these columns, I've not extracted it just for the heck of it. No, I checked it was working using an airline to pressurise the tank, lightly oiled it and left it alone! If it hadn't been working, I'd have alternated oiling, pressurising several times, over a period of time until the metal ball valve eased up. If they don't ease up, out comes the screw extractor set. Rustbucket's finale is next (unless I dig out another interesting stove) ...
Great stove!!! And story. Thanks! The Toronto, Ontario plant was turning out some nice 500's. There are more parts but not much to go wrong with. Spiders in the mixing chamber are more of a problem than anything. You can still get a replacement generator for 24 (USD) The check valve (NRV) can be easy or be a "pig" to get out. Try gently but if it is working then leave it be. Most are working from my travels. Cheers, Jeff
Can't really tell from the lighting, but the whole things looks as if its brass. I'd polish what was and leave it at that. You can always olive drab it at some future time, but a brass 500 would really be novel for me. I received one yesterday (a 1947) and its up and running with nothing more than some lube on the pump leather and fuel in the tank. Good luck with yours. I wonder if its worth searching for some suitably sized wire (guitar string) and trying to replace the pricker wire in your generator. No idea, just a thought. Best, Bob
I'd have to agree with Texas. Isn't the way it is the way it came originally or do you see evidence of green paint on it? It would look great polished.
In my post I said of the pricker/rod, with it's arrangement for attaching to the control wheel spindle "... Of course, it also enables adjustment of the extent the needle protrudes beyond the jet nipple orifice ..." Error! No it doesn't, I was thinking of Petromax lantern style pricker rods operated by a cam. The Coleman rod just screws all the way in, hand tight. Regarding the tank. Yes, it's brass and not chromed or steel, but was painted olive drab originally. You'll see in my photo set a shot of the base, where none of the paint has been stripped. Tell you what, I'd need to prep the brass tank for painting anyway and will give it a bit of a polish. When that's done I'll post a photo here of the stove reassembled and get some more opinions on what's best. If the consensus is "paint it" I'll dis-assemble it and go ahead with my original plan. John
John, I am not a collector... but that No. 100 even makes me want to track my own a No. 100, imagine using a stove that has been around for a century. Simply gorgeous! Makes me think... from memory I have an old Radius No. 21 stashed on a shelf... hmmm... may need to find it. Lynn
Bob's comment got me thinking. I couldn't see a way to drill out or otherwise remove the pricker stub in the old (steel) rod, but I had an idea ... ... on a lunchbreak from work I visited a model shop and bought a length of brass tubing of the same gauge as the pricker rod. That's it at the top of the photo. At the bottom, I've attacked the old pricker rod with an abrasive wheel and have machined a spigot on the screwed end, which I intend to fix into the tubing at one end ... ... and at the other end of the tube I've crimped a pricker wire of suitable gauge taken from a donor pricker tool (top of photo) To provide more stiffness for the pricker tubing I insert an appropriate length of piano wire before taking the threaded end of the old pricker rod ... ... and fixing it in place by tapping it home and crimping the tube onto it ... ... making a complete pricker rod The join's apparent, but secure ... I then begin to reassemble the generator. First, the 'spring' pricker rod guide The jet nipple is screwed on and tightened up last Finally, I check whether my measurements were right. Yes, the pricker clears the jet orifice with the control wheel screwed home, but with the right amount of clearance
