I picked this up at a flea a decade ago because it looked interesting and was marked Primus. I posted it on the CCF but no one had a clue as to it's origin or function. The attached pictures are from said post. It was dusty then and it is still dusty now.... The tank is 10 centimeters tall and 9 wide. All brass, except for burner bracket and fuel tube. Someday I'll strip the rattle can spray coat and have a better look, but the only markings visible are on the burner. Fuel cap has an air release knob, and the threaded piece contains an NRV. What is it, who was the maker, what feul does it use and what parts are missing? My guess it is a torch for applying ski wax. What say you....?
Hey, @DonS , That's a very interesting pressure appliance! I'll hazard a guess that it "might" be an engine block heater, to help the engine start in freezing weather. I wonder if @optipri could help with this? Bo? Any ideas? Thanks, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc PS - I see that @snwcmpr , was qicker on the draw than me! Well done, Ken!
Could certainly be, but why does it have such a small tank, has the burner angle it has, and can be hand held....?
It therefore could be a pre-heater for a diesel (stationary) engine. Farms used to have several diesel engines for milking, processing or as a tractor. Before selfstarting became the standard, most of these engines were heated up with such burners. The shape or form is dictated by the engine configuaration, placed where it would do its job, then removed. No big tank therefore, as it is used only for a short time and needs to be 'handable'. It looks like it was pressured through a bicycle type adapter attached to a swedish pattern NRV - so perhaps this was done with a standard bicycle stirrup pump.
Assuming that bell is liquid tight, pour alcohol into it, then light it. Actual gassifying of liquid fuels even in our modest stoves happens inside the cast top, not in the tubing underneath / before it.
As you probably know the threaded exposed tube portion of the NRV has no interior threads or Shrader valve. Either a pump would be threaded on to it for a air charge or a piece is missing that allows a pump to be pressed against the stem ala early lamps, stoves and lanterns. Bell is not liquid tight. Preheat over a small tin....? Good guess as any. I did some internet research and it seems hot bulb engines were widely used for about three decades, mostly on the continent of Europe. Farm, transportation and stationary equipment and such. IF such a great need to preheat hot bulb engines existed, as it must have, why are there not oodles of this style torch around? Seems from my research that common blowtorches were the norm for this type of engine heating. A blowtorch would generate many more BTU's and with a more direct, pointed flame. My torch is very well made, to the point that I believe it was from a production run and the manufacturer chose a premium burner to use on it. With a couple hundred views of this thread and several hundred views on the CCF several years ago not one person knew it's function, had seen something even remotely like it, or made a guess what fuel it used. I believe I need to remove the rather thick coat of black paint on it and check for any markings. I just hope a basic paint remover will do the job and it is not some baked enamel paint job that would require blasting to remove. To be continued....
Because you don't need to preheat an engine for long, they generally fit into an opening on the engine and the angled burner is at exactly the right angle to impinge on the part it needs to heat and you don't really need to hold them in your hand - they just sit there for a short while doin' their thing. This isn't it but it can do while I find something better - you'll get the idea:- Startup and running of a 1929 Kromhout M1 hot bulb engine. - YouTube Or this (watch to the end):- Hot bulb antique tractor starting SFV 302 - YouTube There's something written on the burner shroud - what is it? That might give a clue...
Ommit the 'stirrup', just the bicycle pump. Any in-frame telescopic bicycle pump has a rubber receptical on a right angle that when pushed on allows tyres to be pressurized that way, or indeed with a short hose screwed onto it. Perhaps rather unknown in the US, but I think this heater is not from there anyway. As for priming, I am at a loss. It does not make sense to preheat a preheater. The only thing I can think of is it was perhaps meant to be filled with propane or similar? Does the unit allow this? It then should have at least a valve in that pipe towards the burner. But I am shooting wildly here.
Looking at the never used state, perhaps nobody ever knew what it was for: the fruit of a practical joker who went at great lenght, as it looks rather professional.
I see it needing preheat. I also see it in a different world than our instant on society. >It could be propped up at an angle for preheat. >A torch could preheat and light it. >It could be used in a commercial environment where more than 1 is used at a time. Ad Infinitum.
David, I snapped a few new pictures of the burner. On the burner shroud is PRIMUS SWEDEN and stamped on the burner nut flats are the numbers 26 and 0562. And the shroud is steel also. See attached... No Duane, in my possession and not presently for sale. If one is on Ebay is there a link? Duane
One of those just sold on eBay! My thoughts were that it was a small trench cooking heater or similar given the burner angle and the use of a bike/ hand pump to pressurise it. The one on eBay was very new looking...not fettled...and painted green from what I could see.
