Its amazing to see how you have transformed such a "rustbucket" into a goodlooking Optimus again! The steamengine polisher was great
Hey presscall Stove casing looks good in the photo. The transformation is nearly complete! I used to have a donkey-boiler once. I can't remember what happened to it.
Well I allways wanted one, but never got any. I think my brother got one though, and my cousins, so we could play with them anyway. They were fun, but we never had anything extras to them so we didn't actually "use" them for anything. Maybe the "donkey-boilers" woke up my interest for stoves and lanterns?
One of the definitions on the Internet of 'donkey boiler' is "(nautical) an extra boiler (as a ship's boiler that is used while the ship is in port)" But maybe it was Mamod that gave the steam engines the name as I found this on Youtube. Also this.
I think the term "donkey", refers to anything that does work. It's usually heard in the phrase "donkey engine". I sometimes went out on a local sand dredger, where all the extra power for winches etc. came from a large generator on deck. When this was needed, the skipper always said, "start the donk".
Hi all: Donkey engine was the popular term for a stationary steam engine in the U.S. also. Powering a mill, machine shop, generator, water pump, logging high lead etc. The term was not used for nautical purposes in the U.S. unless it was an auxiliary engine. Mike...
Rustbucket - meets an ancestor The final top coat having dried, I was going to work on Rustbucket tonight, intending to adorn the stove case with the 'Rustbucket' moniker. However, this arrived in the post ... Apart from the crude (but ancient) solder repair to the air valve sleeve I was pretty sure I could just see this engraving in the ebay listing photo ... Ok, let's take a look at the base ... whoa! no date letter I'd done some research before bidding (£10.50 hit the spot) and had seen examples of date letter 'A' Primus 100's in the CCS gallery (year 1911, the first year of date lettering). Also, from those examples I could see that by 1911 the model was festooned with patent numbers and a range of language scripts. Mine wasn't, but I looked through the CCC literature on the site and came across this ... https://classiccampstoves.com/posts/97964 ... and took a look at the entry for the Primus 100 and its spare parts pages. Crikey! Mine's one of those, making it of the period of manufacture 1903 to 1911. 100 years old! (or thereabouts) I was determined to fire up the old guy for my CCS buddies this very evening, but beforehand, took a look at a few details and engaged in some modest fettling The burner plate ... The burner assembly ... The filler cap ... The pump retaining cap ... The model number engraving ... The transit cap's been hacked about a bit. Screw thread fits perfectly, don't know what's gone on there ... Ok, countdown to firing. First, make sure the non-return valve's in good shape. It came out of the pump tube effortlessly - I tend to say "You beauty" when one does that. Cork 'pip' was replaced with a nitrile equivalent The cap seal was replaced too of course Extracting the gauze from the lipstick burner was next Gauze chrysalis! I took a look at the pump. On the left, the Primus 100. On the right, a more recent example. No leather, but what the heck's the arrangement for mounting the pump cup? Crisis averted, I realised that I could get a pump cup into place by removing the pump knob and retainer cap first. Nasty gouge in the pump shaft, so it hasn't always had the respect it deserves Drink, my friend, drink deep ... 100 year old stove in its prime ... No surprise, took a while to settle down ... ... it did. Without the cast iron trivet that it would have had from new, the burner's too close to the kettle base Cheers, old fella ...
very nice find,too bad they don't engrave stoves like that now-- and what a fettle!!--it reminds me of that Woody Alan movie where he wakes up 100's of years from now and starts up a Volkswagen on the first try---
Yeah, I remember that movie Dave! Yup, cranked up first go, though the eyebrows nearly went when it flared a bit. I was a bit pushed for time to get the topic posted, so I'll be draining the tank, cleaning it out and maybe tackling the grungy soldering some other time. Cheers, John
Long live the Phoenix. Great fettle! I LOVE the simplicity and effectiveness of these things! Form AND function. Who knows of the K.I.S.S. method? Keep it simple stupid! With as much as I deal with technology and greatly appreciate what it does to improve our daily lives, I also think that it isn't too far fetched to think that one day we will become so technologically advanced that we can't do Sh*# on our own. Perhaps the "frosty malted beverage" talking. Either way, Keep on..... AR
You're so right, AR. Hey, glad you enjoyed your beer. I sipped a chilled Aussie white wine during the fettle and I'm sure it was that that got me relaxed enough to intuitively duck when the burner flared up. All the best, John
Ancestor? That old beauty's makers would have been spitting feathers about Optimus & their copyright infringements in this period. Big rivals with an ironic outcome by the time Rustbucket was born. Can't get exited by 111's but that 100 is the DB's! If they were in 'Toy Story' they'd be beating the crap out of each other when you'd gone to bed! Great to see you got it at a bargain price too! There are bargains on ebay still as I've been happy to discover myself recently. People must be chasing 199, 111's etc!
Hey, John, Now, THAT is a CLASSIC CAMP STOVE!!! I dearly love the Old Timers, and yours is a fine one, indeed! Great job getting it up and running, once again, and what better "lubricant" for the fettler, than a nice chilled glass (or two) of Sauvigion Blanc, from Down Under??!! Huzzah, Sir, on a job well done!! As always, thanks for sharing your good fortune, and fettling successes, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
Hi Ross. Yeah, I know, I took a look at your post on the patent infringements. They were certainly at each other's throats then, for sure. How're you doing, Doc? Looking forward to the stove meet this coming weekend I'll bet. I'll be participating, by proxy, as it were. Meaning, I propose to fire up a selection of Made in the USA stoves and lanterns and rustle up some appropriate grub. I'll post some pics and you can be sure I'll raise a glass (of Bud of course) to you guys. All the best, John
