Hipolito No. 0 - A little bigger than your typical 1 pint "camper" stove?

Dear friends,
I would like to share my latest aqcuisition, and to ask the learned community of kerosophical thinkers a couple of questions regarding this stove:

Through my reading of various posts on CCS, I recently bacame aware of the fact that Europe's last manufacturer of classic brass kero stoves closed down as late as 1999, almost 120 years after Primus started commercial production in Sweden. I also read with interest that this Portugese manufacturer, Hipolito, apparently made stoves of excellent quality, so I decided to see if I could find a "sea horse" stove for sale locally.

Just a few days later, I came across a Hipolito No 0 in what appeared to be decent condition, but with only one picture of the stove in the box with the lit open, I did not have much to go by. On the other hand, the asking price was a mere USD 30, which in my native Norway is not much at all (a 0.5L can of beer is USD 4 in the supermarket, and a 0.4L glass of beer is USD 10 in a bar, for comparison).

The seller was a lady in her 70s who was clearing out some of her late fathers belongings, which would indicate that this stove is far from a recent purchase when new, but on the other hand, the condition of the stove and of the tin box is excellent, even if the burner shows signs of plenty of use, and the laquer on the stove tank has been completely worn off where you would put your hand when pumping. I guess the old man took good care of his gear.

I will add pictures below - any thoughts on the age of this stove, please?

Also, I wanted to raise another question: Is the Hipolito No 0 actually a bit larger than most 1 pint stoves?

I thought most 1 pint "camper" stoves were more or less identical in size, even if the shape of the stove tank varies in design and shape. I put it next to my trusted friends the 1970s Optimus 00 and the pre-1939 Radius 21F for comparison, and as you can see from the pictures below, the Hipolito tin box is notably bigger, and the stove tank on the Hipolito is also notably bigger than the ther two.

Any thoughts on this?

I have only one negative about the Hipolito so far: I find that the wind screen on the Hipolito is standard size (as is the burner), but it seems to fit rather oddly due to the oversized spirit cup on the Hipolito, which leads the wind screen to sit too high. Unlike on other 1 pint stoves, where the wind screen top rests on the support shelf holding the flame ring; on the Hipolito the wind screen sits higher and touches the flare on the flame ring. This also means that the pouring/lighting hole in the wind screen sits to high and makes it impossible to observe neither filling level nor spirit level towards the end of pre-heating. Also, you cannot raise the wind screen to light the spirit cup whitout knocking off the flame ring, which can be difficult to re-position with your hand once the stove is burning.

All the best,
T

(PS: In the photos below, the Radius 21F, which is missing the original wind screen, and has always wanted a steel wind screen for looks, has borrowed the Hipolito wind screen for the photo shoot. My Radius was very happy about this.)

 

Casa Hipolito changed from a Lda listed company to a Sarl listed company in 1972. Your instructions list it as a Sarl so your stove is probably made between 1972 and 1999.

 

You know, I've never done that size comparison, and I've never perceived any difference from my many other 1-pinters. Now I'll have to go look....

When I came to CCS in 2001, it hadn't been long since Hipo had stopped making the classic brassies. Base Camp (Mike the Stove) had a big stock of shiny new in-the-box Hipolito 1s, a 1 3/4 pinter, one of which I bought forthwith. Eventually they were sold off. (He also had a lot of NOS Monitor C-11s, one of which I bought, too.)

At that time, there was talk 'in the air' that a group of Hipolito employees had the tooling, and that efforts might be made to resume production to some degree. We wondered and hoped about that for quite awhile. As far as I know, it came to nothing.

 

Thanks for your commments. Considering the age of the original owner, I think it is safe to assume this stove is from the mid-70s.

@kerophile - any thoughts on the size question?

 

Hipolito and Wm. A. Meyer, their agent/distributor in the UK have stated that the Hipolito No.0 is a one-pint stove. I am inclined to believe them until someone proves them wrong:



https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/1973-hipolito-brochure.168/

Best Regards,
Kerophile.

 

Thank you @kerophile . I have no reason not to believe the manufacturer's specs, and I am but a novice here. I always believed that the labeling of a stove as "1 pint" was the measurement of the tank volume. But as everyone can see from the pictures; there is no question that there is a difference in size between the 1 pint Hipo and the 1 pint Optimus, and I have no more reason to doubt that the Optimus is a 1 pint stove as stated either, anymore than I doubt the Hipo specs.

Ergo: One of the following must be the case;

1) if the Hipolito is in fact a 1 pint tank, then Optimus must be stating their volume incorrectly, alternatively the other way round; or
2) the "1 pint" stove is a term describing the (rough) size and packable design of the smaller size camper stoves, but is not meant to represent an exact measurement of the tank volume; or
3) both (all) 1 pint stoves are constructed to hold 1 pint of fuel, but have different tank volumes allowing for more or less air when filled to the appropriate level, depending on design and shape.

Any thoughts please?

 

Hi @Trusty McTrad
Sounds like a good project for you!
Fill each stove with water and measure total capacity of each design. I am sure fellow CCS Members would be interested in the results.

Best Regards,
Kerophile

 

Thank you @kerophile - I just did, but with fuel, so I don't have to dry out the stoves later.

So, gentlemen, do you wonder what the answer is? It is quite interesting.

One Imperial Pint is 0.57 liter, or 0.568261 to be exact. That is at the outset what I would expect the tank volume a "1 pint" stove to be. (Not to be confused with a US pint, which is a dirrerent measure at 0.473 liter, but stove pints are definitively imperial pints.)

Because it is obvious to me when looking at the stoves side by side that they are not identical in tank volume, I decided to measure the Hipolito No 0 versus the Optimus No 00 (I reckon the Radius 21 and the Primus 210 are just in between the two in tank size), and filled both all the way up, just into the filler cap tube, measuring the same distance from the filler tube rim, to get a true measurement of the maximum capacity of the tank, save the air loft around the riser tube and above the filler cap, and without

The results?
Hipolito No 0: 0.65 liter - or 1.14 pints
Optimus No 00: 0.59 liter - or 1.04 pints

So, we may conlude, as suggested, that
a) Neither stoves are 1 pint in volume (but in a world of 1 and 2 pint stoves, they are of course both 1-pinters).
b) The Hipo is definitely bigger than the Optimus, as its size by comparison and the photos above would suggest.

I guess that as much as these stoves represent lovely pieces of functional mechanical engineering, the tank volume back in the early 1900s, and between manufacturers then and later, were not subjected to any precision or standardisation in terms of exact volume.

Given that the difference in volume is as much as 10% of the stated 1 pint volume, I would suggest that the "1 pint" labelling provided by the manufacturer can be interpreted as referring to an approximate volum of fuel that can safely be carried inside the tank (in support of hypothesis 2 and 3 above), not to any form of exact volume or absolute capacity.

Does that make sense to you?

All the best,
T

 

apologies, there was some text that went missing above. Before "The results?", I meant to write:

..save the air loft around the riser tube and above the filler cap, and without violating the manufacturer's instructions to never fill the tank completely full.

(In other words, both tanks were filled in the horizontal position, to the maximum of what you could carry with you, without any spillage when opening the filler cap.)

 

Hi, that is an interesting result. The general advice given by stove manufacturers was to fill no more than 3/4 full to ensure adequate air space for operation and to avoid spillage in transit.

Best Regards,
Kerophile.

 

Things NOT to do with an Enders 9061D

 

Interesting.
"One pint" in the brass stove world would be a nominal designation, then. Like 2x4 studs, many a caliber designation, and much else besides.

 

@Ed Winskill - thanks, i thought it had to be. Interesting still, how much the difference is; When camping, without additional fuel, I could probably go for an extra half day (one burn; coffee pot plus small meal) by taking the Hipo instead of the Optimus. So appreciating the differences amongst 1 pint stoves could be a matter of which 1 pint stove to chose.

If the true size of a pint varied by this much in the pubs, there would be riots in the streets :-)

Indeed, @kerophile , it deserves mention; never fill beyond 3/4 full. And "full" (4/4) in this case being into to the filler cap tube, not the total volume of the tank, right? That is why my mention of the maximum volume measurement being done at the maximum filling point, not the total tank volume, anyway.

All the best,
T

 

...and, even at 3/4 filling level (any level, really), the Hipo still contains about 10% more than the Optimus.

 

I have to say, I am quite impressed with the Hipolito. I bought it purely because it comes from the last of the European manufacturers of brass kerosene stoves, but it does pack quite a punch. Not only is the tank 10% bigger than the Optimus, but it also has a very powerful burn. Having cleaned the tank after my measurements of tank volume, I fired it up in the garage, and would you look at that flame!

 

An interesting post @Trusty McTrad .

That Hipolito is a nice addition to your collection and it has a lovely blue flame .

 

I have used my various 'one-pinters' on the trail regularly these last 15 years or so, since I returned to backpacking as a result of the inspiration of CCS.

But because we have perfected the art of the one-night (and now and then two-night) backpack trip, these considerations of marginal differences in fuel capacity will not trouble us!

 

@Ed Winskill - I agree, not a problem, but an interesting observation nonetheless, I think. I enjoy getting to know each stove better :-)
- I also now have another reason to chose the Optimus for a one- or two-nighter, as it is demonstrably smaller and lighter than the alternatives.