1934 210 1936 210 This topic is partly speculative and hopefully helpful but please do not treat it as being proven fact The stove attached to this topic is a 1936 210. Full details of the 1934 and 1936 stoves can be found using the links above. During the middle of the 1930s there were several changes that happened at about the same time. Generally Primus was conservative taking the line that "We made it that way last time so we will make it that way this time" although from time to time they did change features on models. I think that it must have been in 1935 or early 1936 that they made a radical change to the 210s. The earlier models used a female connection on the bottom of the rising tube and a cap for a reserve lid. During the 1930s there was a depression and people who were struggling to buy food would not be buying luxuries like stoves. This would affect the sales and I suspect that Primus looked for savings in their production costs. The 210 used the connection on the 1934 stove and the 51s and 54s used the connection on the 1936 stove. I think that the decision could have gone either way but the 51s and 54s stayed as they were and the 210s changed to an identical connection. The 51 and 54 reserve lid was already in existence so they saved the cost of making the cap reserve lids. That saved the cost of making two designs of reserve lid. Spares for the earlier type would not be a problem as stocks could be produced before the appropriate machines were converted for other uses or scrapped. The earlier rising tubes needed a machine set up to cut the threads in the lower female end. A machine was already set up to cut the threads on the male rising tube so another machine could be set up for other work or scrapped. When I was buying stoves off ebay I used to use the different connection to "date" undated stoves. Obviously I could not accurately date the stove but I could put them into a period. Any stove with a female bottomed rising tube had to have been made before 1936. Any stove with the male bottomed rising tube had to have been made no sooner than 1936. If it was made by Hjorth it was made between 1936 and 1955 inclusive. If it was made by Bahco it was made between 1955 and 1962 inclusive. I always avoided asking any question relating to age as that could have alerted other buyers to the desirability of the stove and increased its price. I always asked questions about missing pieces or anything that would decrease the desirability of the stove and decrease its value. Providing that the seller was honest they would add the answers to the listings and depress the price. As well as this change there were two other changes that first appeared shortly before. Both changes seem to have happened in 1935 as they first consistently appear on the 1935 stoves. Primus introduced the tank lid with the captive airscrew. This did not have a cost saving effect. It would be slightly dearer to make than the previous tank lid. Primus introduced the fully slotted reserve lid on their 96s. This was a big improvement on the previous reserve lid. I doubt whether there was any change in production costs between it and the previous reserve lid. I have not seen any documentary evidence to support my opinion but it seems strange that several model changes occurred at about the same time when usually models remained unchanged for long periods. Regards Bryan
good afternoon bryan and a merry Christmas and prosperous new year too you a very interesting piece of reading and something important if any of us ever needed to replace a burner on a 210 which is quite easy to over look. you realy have dedicated a lot of time and research into our great hobby i personaly have learnt a good few things from your threds which i find all them so very interesting indeed
Hi Brian Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to you. When the two previous CCS websites existed Ross suggested that I put some of my stoves on. I never had the time or inclination to photograph the stoves because I was too busy collecting. Now that I have sold my collection I have all of the photos used for the ebay sales so can put items on although it is not necessary for all of them to go on as some models are adequately covered already. However over the years I have picked up some knowledge of stoves which would be useful to people starting collecting as I can remember being frustrated at not being able to find anything out when I started collecting on purpose. I had previously collected because I was hoarder and my sole interest in stoves was as a user. I am currently trying to finish giving the information and will then break away completely from the website in case I am tempted to start collecting again Regards Bryan
It would be a great loss if you do break away completely bryan i have very much enjoyed your threads and pictures but all the very best in the future what ever you decide
yes--don't break away!!..maybe just sort of stand by and see what happens.we have lost too many good posters over the last year or so--
Hi Brian & Dave I appreciate your interest but if I stay involved with the website I will be prone to get involved in topics and I really do not have the time. Being realistic I am 72 so my remaining life is theoretically much shorter than most of the members so is much more precious. I am very prone to get involved in arguments that do not interest me so I do not want to waste my time doing that. Having now sold my stove collection or rather most of it I now have to restore and sell seven motorbikes and restore my son's motorbike and dump it on him. This is going to be very time consuming and I find that after spending a day in the garage I am quite content to sit in a chair and read a book or watch tv. I am out of practise working on bikes so will be working much slower than I used to. A good part of two bikes are in the loft and one of my ex works colleagues suggested that I better get them down soon as I might end up too weak to lift them down! My wife has always been curious about how many bikes that I had but I managed to avoid telling her. My registration documents were the old style so I sent them to the DVLA in one envelope and thought nothing about it as I expected to get them back in a single envelope. They sent them back in the same post in seven separate envelopes and my wife wanted to know why I had seven identical envelopes from the DVLA! After all my years of evasion the ruddy DVLA shopped me to my wife! She has now forgotten and still asks me how many I have. After I had been retired for several years I attended the office Xmas dinner. Two ex colleagues opened our conversation by reminding me of when I had bought a motorbike and hid it in the loft so my wife did not find out about it. I had forgotten about that one and got quite worried that there was three up there. Then I remembered that I had given most of it away as I had only wanted the front wheel. It was an incomplete bike but I thought that it was the same model as I had but an earlier version with a twin leading shoe front brake and that was what I was after. When I got it into the loft I thought that I might s well get a registration document for it and when I checked the frame number the bike was the wrong model! Nevertheless the front wheel was adapted to fit my bike and gave really effective braking which was a big improvement as the more modern disc brake was diabolical. The earlier brakes were difficult to find as other motorcyclists were buying the wheels to get away from the unreliable disc brakes. There were serious problems when they were introduced onto motorcycles because they did not work in the wet which made life very interesting. After several years they located the problem as being the brake pads. Instead of the ones fitted to the bikes they replaced them with aircraft type pads which have more metal in the linings and they then worked fine. Thanks for your interest Regards Bryan
Interesting perspective - my old man is 6 months younger than you & I don't consider him old & he's just getting 'into' stuff eg collecting old cigarette lighters. Outside of the Club House I like to think we discuss rather than argue. I say if the subject is of interest to you stay with us! You'll always welcome to stop in when you get time.
Bryan, There are very few here with the encyclopedic stove knowledge that you have and you simply don't need to go away. I have a tendency to "spout off" when someone makes a statement that I don't agree with, but find if I walk away for awhile that I have a little different viewpoint. Check in a time or two in a day. Doesn't take long. Thanks, Bob
Hi Bryan, I for one would be sad to see you disappear for good. I've always enjoyed your posts and have learnt a great deal from them. I think we all recognise that there are huge gaps in our collective knowledge concerning a lot of the history of the various stove models and the respective manufacturers. However, examples of previously undocumented stoves and variants of new stoves, and also paperwork, continue to be uncovered. I think the lack of your insight and interpretation of some of these finds would be a sad loss to the forum. I appreciate that there are other demands on your time but would encourage you to at least cast your eye over the reference section of the forum occasionally to see if there are knowledge gaps you are able to fill. All the best, Graham.
Hi Ross, Bob, Graham I may have unintentionally created the wrong impression about my age and health. I am fit, active and healthy and not yet ready for the knacker's yard. It is not me that's old just other people of the same age! Having said that I have noticed that someone seems to be making the hills steeper and weights heavier. However I have a lot of things that I want to do which collecting stoves prevented. On a similar basis continuing to be actively involved on this site would probably prevent me doing the things that I have a higher priority to do. I have had Ventile to make outdoor coats for about 7 years. Instead of making better coats I have been buying commercially made coats to keep me dry when dog walking or walking. For years I searched for good fabric for making activity trousers. Last year I bought four roll ends for £4 at a car boot sale. They look ideal for trouser making so I would like to try the fabrics out to see if they work. It would also be very pleasant to get a pair of trousers that fit and did not insist on falling down. If you have been involved in clearing up after someone has died it is soul destroying and very upsetting. You take shortcuts to finish quickly. I was concerned about my stove collection ending in a skip and being lost to collectors. The collection has been mostly sold but if I had not done that stoves worth £12,000 would probably have been lost to collectors forever. No one in my family has any understanding of paraffin or petrol stoves. Despite my opinion of gas stoves I still have a collection of those. Both of my children camp and I presume that they could manage to screw a gas cartridge to a stove. I also have a small collection of cook sets which would be of use to them. I have a collection of motorcycles that need restoring and selling. Motorcycle collectors are just as acquisitive as stove collectors and good examples are difficult to find. If the bikes are left they will probably end up in the skip. My son still rides and is interested in bikes but does not have the knowledge to repair or assemble them. I am fairly certain that I can complete 5 of the 7 plus 2 partially complete bikes with log books plus a lot of spares, some unused. If I can get that lot sorted and sold I will make some bike collectors happy as well as the stove collectors that I have made happy. I will also have some money for me or my family to use. Whilst on holiday last year I saw a souvenir tea towel that had lots of definitions of old age and many of them were really funny. Unfortunately it was a display model and they did not have any others. These are the ones that I remember Old age is when nearly everything aches and that that does not ache does not work Old age is when your house is too big and your medicine cabinet is too small. Old age is when you get in to a rocking chair and cannot get it to work. They would be even funnier if there was not a grain of truth in each of them! Graham I am currently looking round the website trying to see gaps that I can fill. When it gets warmer I will start to clear the garage to get space to work on bikes. The though of clearing it horrifies me. Have a good Xmas everyone Regards Bryan
Bryan, I understand your sentiments.....but don't agree. I have 4 David Bradley garden tractors that need restoring, I have 8 (down from 14) canoe and/or kayaks that need paddling or selling, I have an accumulation of old family history back to the 1700's, I have a 50 year accumulation of my Dad's paperwork. None of it is junk, but its all junk and I don't know what to do with it. You seem to have the determination and the discipline to get at what you want to do and good for you. Just don't leave us here at the stovie forum because you know too much for us not to have the benefit of that knowledge from time to time. Hows that for selfish? Anyway, get busy on that stuff.....and I may on mine. Bob
Hi All A 1935 Primus 210 stove has turned up with the later rising tube and other fittings so the changes occurred in 1935 not the 1936 that I suggested. These are the parts that were used from 1935 to 1962 The captive airscrew tank lid was also introduced to other models at the same time Regards Bryan
