ARMY #7 BURNER HEIGHT/PHOTO QUESTION

Excellent stuff Bryan !

I don't have many of these style of stoves, but I certainly have the necessary information to tell them apart.

CCS University indeed !

Keith

 

There was 3 variants of the E set up. It was available for the later 70 & both tank sizes of the 71. There was also a D unit available with the 70 - just the windshield but no pans.
One I have never seen in the flesh is the K version - this had 2 pans - anyone got one?

Bryan - I may pop around & get some photo's of the later PTC stuff for my 70/71 article - for that later period I've only catalogues & one physical example.

 

Hi, Bryan,

As always, you are a veritable cornucopia of information!!! Thank you, very much! Quite interesting, how things can swap on one direction, but not the other! I believe I will leave my little short-tanked Primus 71 just as it came to me. It fits into the Army #7 case, perfectly, and the top of the burner head is just about where I think it ought to be, to give good performance. So, for this project, no swapping of burners/tanks/cases for me, Lads! I'm sticking with OEM and calling it good! "If the stove fits, then I must use-IT!!!" (Think back to the OJ trial, and Johnny Cochoran's comments about the infamous glove.....! )Take care, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc Mark

 

I don't know which came first; I would guess the small Primus 71 in the panset, but at some stage it would seem that the 'hybrid' became an individual stove in its own right.
Otherwise why did they produce a case to fit? Surely if they were destined solely for panset kits the pans would provide a case of sorts.

 

The smaller tanked 71 was the first generation & as Ian's pic's show the earlier tins on the 71L where shorter. Once the tank height was increased the tins were increased accordingly.

The first 71's were available in a tin like shown in Ian's other post about the 70:
http://www.
After this they used the silver tin we are more familier with.

The 71E with pans was available at the same time.

 

I don't know which came first; I would guess the small Primus 71 in the panset, but at some stage it would seem that the 'hybrid' became an individual stove in its own right.
Otherwise why did they produce a case to fit? Surely if they were destined solely for panset kits the pans would provide a case of sorts.

Hi Ian, Ross

Thanks for the information. I should have emphasised that my statements were OPINIONS based on the information that I have, not provable facts, and should be treated with reservations. I am always grateful for any information ESPECIALLY information which corrects my views.

It makes a lot more sense that the different height stoves were used in in the L AND E versions rather than the L version. It seemed an expensive idea to produce a version solely for the E version.

Next problem. I think that I got my 71E and separate short 71 stove from America. Were the short versions solely for America or were they also available in the UK? Logically they should have been universally available but stove marketing was not always logical. I have two unusual Optimus 8s. One has a plated steel case and was bought in the UK. The other has an aluminium case and was bought from France so may be a continental version or even a version solely for the French market. I have not seen either in any brochure.

I write to an American collector who says that the stoves often come up without a case. I was not aware that petrol stoves could be bought without the case. You could buy cases separately because I had to replace two of the three cases for my Optimus 80 stoves because the tops rust through rapidly if the stoves have a lot of use.

Has anyone got any information about the loose stoves?

Regards Bryan

 

Hi Bryan,
I've not noticed the 80 available without a tin (i'll have a browse through my archive) but the Primus 70 & 71 certainly were. The 71 sans tin was the 71A. There was also a version of 71E that came without the pan & lid & had just the 2 part windshield. This was the 71D.

The small tank 71 was available in all markets as far as I'm aware. I have catalogues etc in various languages that show it & I've certainly found plenty in the UK.

Not sure about the 8. I've certainly got one that looks like it may be aluminium although I've not had a magnet on it. This one was swapped from it's German owner. At this stage I've not researched the model in depth so I although I have a rough idea of the chronology I can't say yet where the alu model comes in. Possibly early post-war?

Not so convinced it may be market specific. As far as this goes I've only come across evidence for specific models being made for or absent from a range in a particular country rather than a variant - certainly with the big Swedish makers anyway.

 

Hi Ross

Thanks for the information. At the risk of appearing totatally stupid what do you do with a 71 without a tin? The fact that they were listed suggests that there was a market for them rather than them being ordered as a "special". However I would have thought that the incidence of damaged stoves would be relativelly small. Usually it would be a blocked burner which could be rectified by replacing the burner.

I doubt whether an 80 stove was available without the tin. The weaknesses on the stove were the burner and the tin. The burners were readily available in this country but the tins were special order and took ages. I think that I waited three months for my replacements and actually bought another 80 to keep me going until the tins arrived. It was a drawn out buying procedure. I ordered from a Black's agent in Sunderland. He ordered from Blacks. They ordered from Alde International who ordered from Optimus. The parts came in the reverse direction. Each time the order went through a staging post there was a delay whilst a decent order or delivery built up. It was really frustrating. At one time I was ordering replacement burners when I picked my previous order up!

Eventually I was using three stoves. One was on the shelf either having been repaired or awaiting repair. The other two were in use until the next one took a holiday when it was put on the shelf for repair.

I eventually I found out how to clean the burners so I had a couple of restored burners or burners awaiting restoration on the shelf as well.

Before anyone questions my sanity in continuing to use such unreliable stoves I should explain that in the middle of my use I bought a motorcycle which used the same fuel as the stove. In theory I could not run out of fuel for either. I always had petrol in a bottle for the stove which could be put in the motorcycle tank if I ran out of petrol for it. I had the petrol in the motorcycle tank if my stove bottle became empty. In practice neither happened and I eventually reverted to paraffin which was much more reliable.

Regards Bryan

 

All of which goodwife attests to the fact "there is no accounting for stovies and their stoves."


lance

 

Bryan asks

I think I'm going to make you wait until I've done the article on the model

All will be revealed!

 

Hey, Ross,

(Keeps 'em in their seats, don't it??)

Doc

 

Hi Ross

I once used three tent pegs to cook on when an 80 tin failed in the field. This may be alright as a temporary measure but there is no windshield so the loss in heat makes cooking take a lot longer.

It would be no use as a permanent method of using a stove

Regards Bryan

 

Hi Ian

I am not certain what I am checking out. I have checked ebay and come up with three 71s. One of those was a PTC 71 One was a date coded 71 and other is a tall 71L made between 55 and 62 inclusive.

My American collector correspondent has already produced 71s which are date coded from 51 to 54 which means that the 71s appear to have been date coded in at least those years and may have been date coded for a short while before that. I have never come across or heard of a Bahco date coded 71 so it appears that the custom of date coding the 71s stopped in 1955 possibly when the maker changed their name

Regards Bryan

 

I had the impression you were after the stove the link led to. I wasn't referring to every similar stove on ebay, otherwise I would have posted the links to them.

 

Hi Ian

Thanks.I have not seen a link in that form before. I thought that it was simply a reference to ebay and did a search on ebay.

I have several of the 7 tins which includes a made up stove consisting of an Optimus 80 tank and an unused 123R burner,. The only thing wrong with the outfit is the missing stickers and information on the tank. The outfit may not be original but it is authentic.

I am really looking for post 1962 80s, 71s and lhe 123R stoves to combine to fill my 7 tins so that I can resell them. Again the outfits will not be original but the combinations will be authentic and the stove descriptions will state that.

Thanks again and sorry for the confusion caused by my ignorance

Regards Bryan

 

I am the one who should be apologising ; for not making the link more obvious. I've now done what I should have done first time around and given it a label.

 

:Bryan i have a couple of unused 123 founts and am looking for a #7 type outfit if the one memtioned above is avaiable even without the stickers i'd be willing to swap with you.

lance