Another Camp Stove.

[hairymick]

G'day guys,

Been thinking on light, effecient stoves for a while now and remembered a stove my perents used to use when I was a kid and went camping with them. (a very long time ago)

I asked my Dad about it the other day and he told me that he thought that he still had it somewhere and today, he came round with it. :shock:

I remember these things cooked very hot but were also easy to simmer and were the predesessors to the LPG jobbies so popular now.

We call them a "Primus" but I think that has more to do with a brand than what they actually are. They came with a brass body and burn kerosene under pressure. Are very effecient to run and very clean burning. Very low teck. I like that.

First up, about a thimble full of metholated spirit (de-natured alcohol?) is poured into a little cup under the burner and set alight. this pre-heats the kero and helps in creating a clean burn.

As this starts to burn down, a manual pump on the side of the fuel container is lightly pumped a couple of times to get the kero up into the jets just above the metho burner.

and as what remains of the metho burns away, more pressure is pumped into the fuel container and the flame at the burner gets about as hot as LPG.

I think these stoves are superior in many ways to both the Zip and Trangia in that they can burn hotter than either, are about the same size as a trangia and a little bigger than the zip and a lot more stable on the ground than a Zip.

At the very least, this will be a very good to compliment either of them on a camping trip. 8)

 

[oldsparkey]

Mick...

That little stove qualifies as an antique and since it falls in that category it needs to sign on with southernpaddler... it would fit right in with all of us. :lol: :lol: :lol:

You know .. the reliable ones , that always work when called on. :wink:

Sometimes old is more reliable then new nowadays.
I have a single burner stove here that was made by Winchester Firearms many years ago. It is the one I keep in the little camping trailer for my use , these days.
If memory serves me correctly I think they called it the "Grasshopper"

It has gone on a lot of river trips but today it is in semi retirement and with my recreational and get away item/camper since it is reliable.
Just attach one of the butane bottles (the same one home fixer uppers use for the small gas torches ) then turn it on , add some flame and cook away.

I can't see any reason to take it in a boat since I sure do not want to lose it. Besides the collectors value , just so I will have it for my use. I'm sure after I'm gone the wife will sell it for fifty cents in a garage sale. :twisted:

With any luck I will take the kids camping during Christmas ( if they can make it down here ) and they will know about it so it might be saved/rescued from a garage sale later down the road.

Chuck.

 

[Paddlin'Gator]

Those Optimus Primus kerosene burners were the standard burners used in most marine stoves for decades, regardless of who built the rest of the stove. Eventually, people started going more to propane for the convenience and a lot of boats exploded as a result. CNG was a safer choice than propane, but it's hard to carry enough for an extended voyage. I expect the true long distance sailors are still using kerosene stoves with Primus burners.

 

[Bilgerat]

They have a whole bunch of different Primus stoves on eBay. Old, new and in between. Just search using "primus stove" for your search parameters.......

Mick, there is one that looks very similar to yours. Search eBay for item 110297062239 . Asking $147 US

And an interesting WWII German stove. Search eBay fro item
180226757307 . Probably won't work but interesting nonetheless.

Mike

 

[bearridge]

Friend Mick,

That dont look like somethin' ta break down inta a small package.....like a Zip. It looks like it weighs more. I reckon it will low, high 'n in between? No Zip Stove ever blew up.

I am bearridge 'n I approve this message. :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[tx river rat]

Bear
Come down here and get some of this hill country ceder it will blow up big time.
Ron

 

[bearridge]

Like alcohol? Like propane?

 

[tx river rat]

Maybe not as bad an explosion but more srapnell flying, seen chunks of coals fly thirty feet away.
Ron
It is funny to see a newbe throw one of those logs on a fire just back up and watch the show

 

[oldsparkey]

Ron...

The Cedar we have over here will make a bag of Pop Corn go hide in the closet.

Chuck.

 

[oldyaker]

Burning your cedar sounds like our pine......alot of tents, sleeping bags and other camp equipment from non-savy campers have burns holes in them from shooting pine embers.

 

[BEARS BUDDY]

Fun to watch if your tent isn't in range.

 

[oldsparkey]

Fun to watch if your tent isn't in range.

The wife made a mistake one evening when we had a fire going in the fireplace.
The pup we had then (Beagle , Basset combination) was laying in front of it enjoying the heat and as the fire went down. The wife grabbed a chunk of cedar ( I had it set aside , away from the firewood, to carve gators from it later on ) and put it in the fire.

That pup took out for the bedrooms when it started popping and threw some sparks on him. At the same time the wife thought I had tossed some firecrackers in the fire and was hollering at me. So much for a quiet evening , enjoying a fire and relaxing.

I would of gotten ticked off , wasting a good chunk of carving wood like that if the whole thing was not so funny.

Chuck.

 

[hairymick]

Chuck,

This particular stove is an antique but thanks to my Dad's thriftyness (he never throws anything out) 8) and the way he takes care of his stuff, it is still in perfect working order.

He told me that he has two or three more of them stashed away somewhere, plus the original manufacturer's kit of repair tools ad some spare parts.

I will clean this one up to highlight the brass and hopefuly get a manufacturers brand on it. Dad seems to think that it is English made from about the 1930s.

Bear mate, there used to be thousands of stoves like this one in use here when I was a kid. propane or LPG was allmost unheard of when I was a kid and this type of stove was the standard campers piece of kit. Lots of rural homes also used them before they got connected to electricity. I vaguely remember my Mum cooking on one just like this.

Neither Dad nor I have heard of them exploding. I think in that regard, they are probably safer than the LPG jobs so popular now.

Yes, they are a little bigger and heavier than the Zip., but they burn hotter and cleaner and cook with much less fuss. I love my little zip stove, but the last time I used it was on a cold, wet and miserable trip. There was no dry wood or kindling available apart from the little I allready had and I can tell you with absolute certainty that it is no fun trying to make the first coffee of a morning while badly hungover, and struggling to keep the fire going with wet twigs. :lol:

 

[jimsong]

One of my interests as a boy, was long sea voyages. I read at least two dozen books written by the sailors, themselves.
From the thirties, and from mostly English mariners, the Primus was mentioned as the primary heat source for the sail boat.
Sir Francis Chichester and Robin Knox Johnson gave pretty good descriptions of the device, But I had never seen one, until Mick posted his photos.
It looks exactly like the picture I had in my mind from the descriptions I had read so many years ago.
Thanks, Mick!
Of all the technological problems every one of those adventureres had, and they were many, the Primus was never mentioned.
Winches failed, masts failed, self steerers failed, cabins leaked, hulls leaked, lines parted, blockes failed, but when the worse became the worst, these seaman could heave to, throw out a drogue, go down into the cabin, light a gimmbled Primus, make a hot pot of tea, and sleep warmly, until their strength returned, and they could renew the fight.
It seems, that a dependable source of heat, is paramount in human existance. And the Primus filled the bill for 80 years or so.

 

[bearridge]

Friend Mick,

I tote enuff dry wood ta run my Zip til the sun comes out :wink: but I hope ta paddle/camp with ya someday 'n see how that fine kerosene stove works.....with Chuck's cast iron skillet on top. Mebbe he will bring hiz canvas tent so we kin smell some ole smells......not the Sparkanator, hiz canvas? :mrgreen:

regards
bearridge
paddlin' geezer canoe clud

A man who wouldn't cheat for a poke don't want one bad enough. Gus McCrae

 

[hairymick]

Bear mate,

but I hope ta paddle/camp with ya someday

So do I mate, So do I.