I believe what I have here is a Coleman 460G Handy Gas Plant. This would be the larger brother of the 5"-burnered Coleman 457G. The 1940 Coleman catalog indicates that the stove weighs 24 pounds dry and has a 3 gallon tank for gasoline. It has a 7" diameter burner which will generate 55,000BTU's per hour. In 1940, the suggested retail price was $17.40. This is in as-received condition. I've been afraid to light it for.... well, a good long time. Today, as my reward for hard work, I took the plunge. Fueled it with 1/2 gallon of Coleman fuel and followed the instructions on the knob. It started up brilliantly the first time. After burning yellow and surging for 5 or so minutes, it settled down to the flame patterns you see here. The flame continued improving after these pictures were taken. No Primus 96's were harmed in this photo session. Best, Gary
Hi Gary, a beast of a stove. I know how you feel lighting a stove like that for the first time. I bet your heart was a thumping. (Mine was just reading your post). It looks like it is burning very well.
The power of 11 123r's It should boil the kettle almost as quick as you can get the tea bag in the cup
Hi all, Wow, Gary, impressive - costs just about what the stove costs just to fill these babies up these days . I'm next I guess, been putting mine off too, you know that, but you got me inspired with your success, congrats. BTW the label on your stove , with the yellow and blue , I think is the oldest label for these smelters. Good job - a nice flame for your reward Tom
Hi guys Ron, you know, if I'm reading the old catalogs correctly, the burner part of the stove was also used in a water heater that Coleman marketed at the time. The catalogs I'm referring to can be found by going to the links section here at CCS and finding the link to Old, Dirty Coleman Paper. Great stuff! I downloaded the pdf's so I have them here on my machine. The 460G was offered with an optional steel heater "can" that went on it. Near as I can tell, the whole package was sold to agricultural folks for heating things like henhouses and greenhouses. So, I suppose it's really more of a heater than a stove. Jim, the slitted burners do seem to be popular on the early Coleman stuff and I think you're right about Mike's Coleman #1 having slit-style burners. When fuel was 30 cents a gallon, this thing would probably have been a great heater for a farmer's outbuildings or for boiling up a batch of hot water for the weekly laundry. Best, Gary
Gary, just as I thought for heating bathwater. You can just buy copper tube and coil it and let it pass over the burner connected to a water hose on one end and then a coupling to the hot tap to the bath or faucet. Did not have to think that far as to the capability of that MONSTAH! Ron
Here you are Ron! From the 1940 catalog. I think this is the 5" burner, but same idea. And, look at that copper tubing you mentioned. There's nothing new under the sun as they say. Best, Gary
That's a seriously potent looking bit of kit there Gary.....If you want to flog it John (Presscall) is always on the lookout for a good wok burner!!
Hi all: Jim & Gary; Yes the burner caps of my #1 are slotted, however they are made of thin stamped brass. If memory serves I believe the burner top of the Handy Plant is cast? I have owned and operated the Coleman water heater. It worked very well almost to much so (hard to regulate). Mike...
Beautiful!! I tried to bid on some cast slit burners on "unoware" but was sniped twice. arggh!! Wasn't paying attention and let a pair go with no bids. Had no idea what size they were but was going to try to mount them on one of my coleman suitcase projects. Hope some more pop up now. Love those flames. Like the star burner on a military M2. Mike
