Hi all, Relatively new stovie and member here, I'm curious as to why and when the valve stem on the Svea 123's was changed from the older type which are angled downwards, to the newer type which are at a right angle ? Apologies if this question has been covered before. Thanks in advance, Gary
Welcome. Yes covered elsewhere. But, briefly, Optimus bought the Svea stove line in '69. In the early '70s ('72- '74) Optimus chose to make the 123 like the 8R. Thus adding a cleaning needle to the stove.
@Gary Binder Hi Gary Together with what snowcamper Ken said, specifically the change occurred in 1974 to accommodate the auto-pricker rack and pinion mechanism, best achieved with the control spindle horizontal. All about the 123/123R, thread HERE. John
Thanks @snwcmpr , It's the change in the angle of the regulating valve stem that I was curious about, I'm just looking through some old threads now, Thanks for the reply.
Thanks for that @presscall , I didn't make the connection with the pricker rack and angle of the stem, I thought it might have been just to stop the key falling off! Lol!
I understand the change was necessary due to the introduction of the cleaning needle, but why was it angled downwards in the first place rather than at right-angles as on the 123R?
Comparable stoves of the type, such as the Primus 71 and Radius 42, also had the valve angled downwards, probably to distance the hand operating the control key from the burner. Though a sensible preferred precaution and the norm for such stoves, incorporating the auto-pricker on the 123R forced the change, short of manufacturing a costly bevelled gear and rack to re-orientate the control spindle downwards again. An interesting variation is the Pifco Camper, where the decision to make the control spindle horizontal was probably determined by having a permanently attached control knob rather than a detachable key. The Pifco didn’t have an auto-pricker. A knob with its axis pointing downwards wouldn’t feel right in use I think. Certainly the contemporary Monitor Minor (left, alongside Pifco Camper) which uses a key and not a knob, has the conventional downward-tilting control spindle. With other details of the two the same, and the knowledge that Pifco didn’t make their own products but ‘badge engineered’ it seems likely that Monitor made the Pifco and incorporated that company’s design brief.
