An Optimus No. 1 S, circa 1930's, brass, roarer with dimpled spirit cup. Tin is in rough shape due to rust build-up but stove in decent condition and complete. Burner marked 'OPTIMUS', with Russian(?) and Arabic stampings. Flame spreader stamped 'OPTIMUS' and 'SWEDEN' Fuel cap and vent screw marked 'OPTIMUS'. Fuel cap with 'SWEDEN' and vent screw with 'STOCKHOLM' on their reverse side. Tank markings include 'MADE IN SWEDEN' Tin in rough condition but holds shape. Front panel with loop handle and clasp for top lid. Side markings: Backside with stove and torch images: Came with spirit tin (with dark blue Optimus sticker) and 1 piece slotted and key-holed steel draughtshield. 3 Optimus-labelled prickers, unlabelled single-ended spanner. Spirit tin lid with cork gasket. 3 'clawed' feet with pot-support sleeves. Verdigris found so the stove was cleaned and polished. Roarer burner with dimpled spirit cup. Dimple acts to pool/concentrate the last few ml of alcohol which acts as a form of pilot light (flame reaches top of burner for a few seconds). Works great when in windless conditions. 'OPTIMUS No. 1 S' stamping. Pump rod knurled, center fount cap screws onto end of pump rod when not needed, pump rod is steel. Side stamping includes Optimus globe logo and the Trademark information in 7 languages: Underside stamping: 'MADE IN SWEDEN', 'A.B.OPTIMUS STOCKHOLM' and what looks like a number '7' offset to the right. Stove cleaned/polished Center fount cap, NRV PIP (original cork) and fuel cap gaskets all dried out, no longer held pressure and were replaced with ones cut from viton. No washer on NRV to pump tube connection, tight to unscrew, sat in liquid wrench 4 hours and it came out without trouble (Stu's great tool). Added new washer when replacing NRV back into pump tube. Pump leather was fine but dried, a little dunking in sewing machine oil brought her back supple. Priming (in the wind) Lit and running properly. Handsome classic 'regal' stove, fairly common, and works typical of any Optimus camping roarer with the larger burner, added fuel capacity and ability to support larger pots. Sadly I have no history from her previous owner, purchased privately for $25 Cdn and judging by the washers and the rich lovely scent she gave off when fired had not been used in at least 40 years.
Stephen, Absolutely LOVELY!! Well done, and hearty congratulations on this fine old stove!! God Bless! Every Good Wish, Mark
Hi Gideon, was the old style Russian changed in 1917 or thereabouts, after the revolution? Hi Steve, very nice find, I particularly like the "claw" feet on these! Great performer too. With the old style Russian on the burner your stove might be a "tad" older than you think... Best regards, Wim
Hi Mark - thank you, I had seen these models before on auction sites and I liked the feet so it was an easy decision to get her. Thanks Gideon/Wim - I assumed she was from the 30's because of the dimpled cup and other similar models of that time. I'll do a bit more research and see if I can come up with a more specific/accurate date.
Hi Stephen, I will stick my neck out and propose that you were correct with your first assessment of the 1930s as a likely date for this stove. Your stove features a reserve cap which fits onto the pump knob when not in use as a tank seal. I believe that Optimus first introduced this feature in the mid 1930s. See this catalogue from 1939: https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/125 Earlier Optimus catalogues do not have this style of reserve cap. It is possible that Optimus continued to use the old style of Cyrillic lettering on burners into the 1930s, or that an older burner has been retro-fitted to your stove. Hope this helps. Best Regards, Kerophile,
Hi, Wim. The style of russian writing was changed by new bolshevik's order dated 5th jan 1918y. See also for details http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reforms_of_Russian_orthography
Hi Stephen, I have been intrigued by the lettering on your burner and by Gideon's comments. Today I dug out a couple of my Optimus No.1 stoves and took some photos of the top of their burner heads. The burner of my Op.1 outfit, estimated date 1914/18: https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/15377 and the burner of my Op.1, estimated 1930s build: https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/4881 Both have the same "old-style", pre-1918 Cyrillic lettering, with the "hard" sign (later dropped). I still think my dating estimates are correct and can only think that Optimus did not up-date the Cyrillic lettering they used despite the Bolshevik decision. Regards, Kerophile.
Hi Kerophile, Thanks for checking and posting other old Optimus roarer burners to compare with. Hopefully others can check their old Opti roarers from that period and earlier to get more evidence/information that Optimus kept up the old stamping into the 30's (at least). It's too bad the old catalogues and other reference material (what is posted anyway) of the period are so generic in terms of parts/description and have 'vague' drawings vrs images. Parts are so interchangeable which makes it that much more difficult to narrow down/focus. The flame ring on mine has 'OPTIMUS SWEDEN', one of yours has no markings I can see and the other has SWEDEN x 2. 'OPTIMUS SWEDEN' is quite common, and it shows up on my later Optimus roarer models in the 50's and 60's. I just reviewed your post of your No. 1 S . Are your tin markings the same as the mine? And yours does not seem to have the dimpled spirit cup (from the LUX takeover) - I presume it was just using up parts so it was random which spirit cup they received (assuming manufactured in same plant). The dimple was a good idea, but not very effective in the wind (versus the tubular pilot light which was more immune to wind effects). Ah well, it's not much fun if there was no mystery to it. edit: Yours also seems to have a brass pump rod. From what I've seen, the steel ones indicated an 'older' stove versus the brass which became more popular/common from the 30's outward. As mentioned, parts may have been swapped out as original ones may have become lost, damaged or non-functional, so who knows unless it's a NEW IN BOX one or similar.
The Soviet Russia was one of biggest importers of "Primus" stoves. The analogue of "stove" word in modern Russian is "primus" (примус, примусъ old) means any burner uses liquid fuel.