Hi Check out this post for your flame plate https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/19043 Let see this baby running 8) Best regards Stu. PS i can make legs for this as well
Hi, What an interesting stove! It has some features which are more like an early Primus No.100, rather than an Optimus. Look at this post: https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/9286 Best Regards, Kerophile.
Very interesting. The Austrian Optimus does indeed look a good deal like an early Primus 100. It almost looks like the Austrian factory made Primus stoves under license and then for whatever reason switched to an Optimus license and tried to make as few changes to the actual stove as possible. HJ
Hi yogabum66 a very nice example one of the best engraved stoves i have seen beautifully lettered and i real like the stove logo on the filler cap that real does set the stove off
Interesting stove. I can piece together some of the makers history and speculate on the stove. GBR was an old Austrian firm of blowlamp, stove and lamp makers of various kinds going back I believe to at least the 1890's. GBR stands for Gerson Boehm & Rosenthal. Josef Rosenthal, as some point became the owner. The company at some time between 1920 & 1930 changed it's name to Josef Rosenthal Métalwarrenfabrik and again by 1934 to Phoebus-Werke AG. They are, of course, the company behind the famous Austrian brand Phoebus. In a 1901 catalogue they feature a couple of standard pressure stoves. One of them is listed as a "Primus Vienna". The picture is too indistinct to make out the writing on the tank. But it could be a Primus. They had a big factory and were certainly capable of making stoves as early as 1901 looking at their other products so it is possible they made Primus under licence for a while. The other possibility is that they imported them. Your stove - clearly made by GBR in Austria. Possibly under licence to Optimus? What strikes me as very odd it they have used the stove logo between OPTI & MUS. That is so similar to the trademark adopted by Primus from 1896 with the stove logo between PRI & MUS that the folks at Primus would have likely kicked up a stink. Optimus in Sweden have never adopted that format as far as I've seen. Having had at least one legal kicking from Primus over patent infringement I'm surprised that Optimus would endorse a possible trademark infringement by a licensee. Raises some more questions - why would Optimus have stoves made under licence in a relatively nearby market? Possibly during WWI when, despite Sweden's neutrality it's exports to Germany and on to Austria etc were hampered by Britain and its allies. Maybe in this scenario Optimus thought they could get away with the logo. Of course - GBR could just have ripped off the Optimus name and Primus logo for their own stove, possibly during WWI when the two Swedish companies would have been able to do little about it. It's totally out of order for that logo to be used on an Optimus stove and I need to bring it to the attention of Primus and arrange for it's disposal. Please send it to me asap and I will arrange this for you free of charge!
hi HJ many thanks for the comments, and just to think I put on ebay at a 99p start. it was all the offers that got me looking. Now I will restore it and get it going! It looks like it is a primus product, info from spiritburner has made this 95% certain....but why?.....we will see. REgards.
No worries I have disposed of it myself......dont want any law suit...........NAAAAAAH. thanks for the generous amount of info. from the pictures from kerophile's primus 100 it looks identical in shape and layout. I noticed that above PRI-(logo)-MUS it says "trade mark" but on mine it doesn't. now i will need a flame plate, new seals for the pump and some kerosene. I will post some pics of it finished and working. KInd regards Iain. Just to think I put it on fleabay with a 99p start. glad I did not sell it.
Actually my opinion was either Optimus under licence or Phoebus being a bit naughty. Definitely not a Primus despite any design similarities or logo similarities. I only mentioned Primus to show GRB had involvement with a Swedish brand early on.
hi, had a look at your link,you have been busy. I saw one even with "Made in Sweden"......how about a one off "Made in Austria"????? Any way I need a flame plate and since my stove is identical to a primus 100 then I should order to that spec. how do I go about it? kind regards Iain
hi, I have only seen one more of these stoves on a web site selling antiques. I will try to locate it again. The important thing is to repair it, get it working and preserve it for the future. Iain.
