Good afternoon all, This is both a SRG entry as well as an update on what I believe is a Prentiss Wabers Number 4 stove. I'm trying to find the post here on CCS that talks about P-W stove dating, but this one clearly comes from the "skate key" era but seems to pre-date the model 4 with the legs and the folding top. The fuel control is also made in multiple pieces versus several here in the SRG with cast iron fuel controls. This stove came to me minus the burner cap. With help from people here and a lot of help from BernieDawg, I designed and fabricated a 3D printed cap. Here is the thread I had in the fettling forum which gives some details on the 3D printed burner cap: Burner Cap Dimensions for a Prentiss Wabers? This stove remains is a work-in-progress. The second revision of the 3D printer burner cap is not perfect. At high rates of fire, it burns rich, and I have yet to determine exactly why. I suspect that the cap is too restrictive, even though the slits match several measured originals in other collections. In discussions with BernieDawg via e-mail, we suspect that the inside of the cap might be too thick, impeding flow. I have an experiment to run with the unit once I make a ring to go between the cap and the lower burner portion to see if that helps reduce the restriction. The stove and it's key plus matching (?) pump. The pump came to me with no tip; someone here suggested using a zerk grease fitting minus the check ball and that worked splendidly. The stove was made in Wisconsin Rapids, and per Terry Marsh's webpage, dates it to later than the move from Grand Rapids to Wisconsin Rapids. (1921?) Terry Marsh's webpage: Prentiss-Wabers Products Co. stoves The tank is a bit dented. It was more dented when I received it, but several of the dents popped out when I hydro-tested the tank to 50 psi. Might see some of the dents in this angle. I'm torn if I want to unsolder the tank end, push out the dents and re-solder, or leave as-is. At this point, the "leave it as is" side of me is winning. The stove has very little to no original paint left. Best I can tell, it was a dark red. When I received the stove, it was handled roughly in transit and I had to back out many dents as well as straighten the hinge / hinge pin. The top latches also needed some re-forming. Didn't come out too poorly, but clearly, not perfect. In this photo, the piece of brass is an experiment. At my home, we seem to have has few days in the past year where there hasn't been at least some wind. What happens on this stove in the wind is that the flames get blown down into the air intake by the fuel vapor jet and that immediately puts the stove into underburn. The piece of brass helps keep that from happening, and doesn't seem to impede airflow as the flame still burns nice and blue at low to medium-high fire rates. At high fire rates, I still get yellow in the flame. Originally, the pump that came with it wouldn't work. I made up a little adapter from a Schrader valve, a nut, an o-ring, and a cut-off screw that I drilled through so I could use a standard bicycle pump. It works fairly well. I have since rehabilitated the pump leather in the pump so I don't use this adapter fitting all that much. A good look at the pressure gauge. It works and is accurate compared to another pressure gauge I checked it again. When I received the stove, the meter plastic window was so yellowed that I couldn't see through it. I carefully took the gauge apart, which required a lot of careful tapping with a brass drift, then replaced the window with new. The inside of the meter case had quite a bit of dirt as did the scale, so those got a clean prior to reassembly. Again, it's not perfect, but looks okay. A top view with the lid open. The copper tube and tube fittings are replacements. The original was just so beat up and the olives so mangled that they couldn't be re-used...and I tried hard to re-use them...but they just kept leaking fuel. Here's a shot of the 2nd version (actually sixth revision, but the second one I had printed at ShapeWays) at a moderately high rate of fire. Most of the flamelets are well formed and the flame is blue. But, some are starting to distort a bit. Here's a shot of the same cap at a slightly lower rate of fire. It burns nicely. However, if I crank the stove all the way up, and have the tank pressure just below the red line, I get some yellow in the flame. So all is not perfect! Bottom line, this is a neat stove and has provided many hours of education in metal 3D printing, burner cap design, and general stove fettling. It is not in my top tier of "user stoves" due to it running rich at high rates of fire, but if operated within its current capability, it's a good running stove. Thanks much, ben
I've got that in the dual burner arrangement. I have seen others with some sort of plate over the jet area, mine has no such thing. Never noticed an issue with wind, but if you don't pre-heat enough the flame from the burner jumps to the fuel spraying out of the jet. Interesting that a good preheat seems to solve this. Neat old stove, good on ya for fixing it.
I've been looking for a single-burning like this from that era, too. So far, no luck. That looks like quite a job getting a new burner cap researched, designed and made. And, it seems to work pretty well first try. Congrats! A very nice stove even with the dents in the tank. In another couple years you'll know what to do about them. Thanks for sharing the photos and experience.
