Hello Community, I have always had the sincerest respect for these pressure lamps and only used them briefly when doing my Swedish Army service in 1985. A while back i helped my brother-in-law to get a nice Optimus 1550 working. I.e. the pressure valve was leaking so I never could see the result when he lit it. But from that day I knew that I must have one of my own. So last week I actually got two (my wife still only knows about one). The first, an Optimus 1200 M, is in very good condition and I will post images once I have it lighting. However, the second one may require this forum's brain-force (that I have already seen is substantial). My guess is a Petromax (sort of....) since it is imprinted on the inner chimmney part - also that the tank and glas stand resembles those I have seen on Petromax Rapid. But is has a number of elements that are Optimus for sure. I suspect its life involved repairing with available parts. I would be thrilled to hear your thoughts. Please let me know if I should image specific leading details for better identification. As I said initially, I am new to this so I don't want to risk making things worse by ad-hoc dismantling. Pictures provided are from the auction seller. See them as temporary until I can take better ones myself. Regards, Johan
@Johan Bjärås It’ll be interesting, Johan, to discover whether the manufacturer’s identity appears on the fuel tank, perhaps very faintly. I don’t see it as Petromax with swapped components, but purely Optimus. The reason I say this is because the quick-lighter is an Optimus design incompatible with a Petromax fuel tank, so that’s much of the lantern’s identity accounted for. See my post HERE on a Primus Trading Co. era re-badged Optimus for more on the lighter and lantern. John
Thanks Jeff, for the welcoming words. @presscall And thanks John for your valuable thoughts and refered posts. I hope to spend some "enlightning" time with cleaning and tinkering this lamp soon - searching for more details. The quick-lighter is indeed same as in your post. Meantime I have two additional pictures here. The Petromax stamp clearly visible on the top, guess this part has been replaced at least. And not so clear in the previous picture the number 1128 is stamped in the base. Johan
Thanks BigStevie! I have now dismantled everything except for the vapourizer assembly that is stuck hard. Nipple, cleaning needle and its conducting rod was easily removed though. All small parts were cleaned in my ultra sonic cleaner. Tank and top polished, before/after pictures below. Result is very satisfying. @presscall I have been looking carefully for manufacturer clues and I found a few interesting details that I will share. Tank resembles Optimus 1550 but the shape of the seating area for quick-heater is quite different from the 1550 in your post. The tank base has the numbers 1128 stamped. Did Optimus/Primus really stamp like this? The tank is free from any other marks, however, there is an odd horisontal linear feature, very faint, at the waist under the spindle. It runs about 12 cm. Could this have been some brand markings that has worn away? The tin label is riveted on the glass stand base and ti is badly worn/polished, I thought it was completely blank. However, in the picture there is faintly visible numbers that I didn't notice when looking. It is possible to dechifer "500" in the top row, perhaps there is a "/" in front of it and just maybe two rounded characters after it. Also paint spots around the rivets appears to be black. So far it could lean towards Optimus 1550/500 CP. I will investigate this further to see if there are more faint remains to dechifer from the label. The glass stand base sports nine rectangular holes all around near its bottom. And there are six horisontal ridges that run around the base above those windows. This is a design that I have seen on e.g. Petromax 828. Spindle is red and has Made in Sweden imprinted, the quick lighter lever is imprinted Sweden. This is clearly an Optimus' design. The inner top has "Original Petromax", "Patent" and "Made in Germany" stamped on it. Outer top has five oval-rectangular holes above and fifty small holes at the bottom. The nipple on the vapourizer has "350" stamped on the side. However, this is a frequently replaced item. I hope this can shed some light on its brand, date and number. At least for ordering spares. I still believe it is somewhat of a hybrid. There is still some dry grit in the tank I must rinse out somehow before assembly and test run. The nozzle Potentially I need a new pump leather. Likewise the o-ring seal for the quick heater may need replacement. Does anyone know the correct o-ring dimensions?
I wonder if the tank, globe cage and top could be Santrax. I wouldn't think you could polish the Petromax name out of the tank of a 1960s lamp and still have enough metal left to hold pressure. It has obviously been fitted with a complete Optimus burner and quick starter and a Px inner top at some point in time.
@Johan Bjärås Thanks for the update. A hybrid you say, which in a biological context would be a cross of two sources. More a mongrel then, on definition alone! To be more charitable though, it looks well and capable of working.
Thank you for your comments. And I will try to keep myself within the right nuance of language going forward. Santrax, hmm interesting. Mystery getting deeper. But I will share what else I may find. Then, would the "1128" stamped in its bottom mean "week 11 1982", if following @Reinhard date codes for Petromax and its clones? @presscall Why is the Optimus quick lighter incompatible with Px tank? Different threads? Then wouldn't the same issue relate to Px clones? The size of the pump tube is slightly larger than on my Optimus 1200M, would 22mm then be the correct leather diameter for a new? And still I am not sure about the o-ring for quick lighter. Sorry for all questions, but this is an all new world for me. And I am already liking it.
This is not something I have found. I have fitted a Px quick starter to an Optimus 1350 tank before. It's a long time ago, but I don't remember any problems. I would have expected the pump size to be similar to most of the other Px clones at about 18mm. A new O ring for the quick starter should be easy to find. I can't remember the size, but it's a fairly standard size. Fogas should have them.
I only noticed that the pump assembly from the Op 1200 didn't fit to this tank - Op 1200 pump being slightly smaller so threaded cap didn't fit and pump leather didn't touch the tube this week. Lamps being in the cottage I can't measure the tube, hence asking. Will check Fogas, thanks for the tip. In Reservdelar Fotogenlampor, Stormlampor / kök, Reservdelar they display 14mm, 22mm and 25mm. Probably I just need to wait and measure before ordering.
Definitely visit Fogas. They often have things that aren't listed on the website. Conny is always pleasant to talk to.
Optimus pump tubes are typically 17.5mm Dia. Petromax and Primus are 17mm Dia. 22mm is huge for a pressure lamp pump. The biggest standard size for lanterns I know of is Coleman at 20mm dia. You may find a Coleman leather will expand enough to work OK in your slightly wider tube. ::Neil::
@Mackburner Excellent information. Thanks! I now realize I need to carefully measure the tube. Since the lamp is not here I better need to wait until next week when I go to my cottage. Johan
I went to Fogas, met Conny and told him Nils recommended me. Got myself a candy-pack of necessary items and a pleasant, long conversation. Indeed, the 18mm leather was correct for the pump and it now pumps pressure well. Conny encouraged me to bring the lantern for assessment at some point. Polished and assembled it really looks stunning. Even the dirt specks on the work bench reflects nicely. However, when trying to light it for the first time the nozzle sprayed kerosene because the shut off valve didn't seal properly. So I had to abort mission and plan for another Fogas visit for a new shut off valve.
That type of lantern does not have a shut off valve, that knob only operates the pricker rod and the lantern has to be pre heated with meths/alcohol and the link below shows the instructions. https://classicpressurelamps.com/threads/optimus-100-200-300-1938.12898/
Hi Johan, A very nice lantern you're having there. Most of these Petromax/Optimus lanterns have nickel-plated constructions. The lantern in the pictures appears to me like bare brass. I've seen some that had been polished down to bare brass but not to the extent of completely erasing the brand name stamped letters on the fount. There should be some stamped letters on the top cap of the outer hood too if its a Petromax. The features appear to be similar to the 1960s Petromax. The attachments are certainly Optimus parts. Anyway, you might have to dis-assemble the vaporizer from the fount if you find kerosene spraying from the jet/nipple/gas tip(which you mentioned as the nozzle). Once dis-assembled, it should look similar to this:- The circled parts could be responsible for the current problem. Normally, its due the foot-valve's rubber or cork pip that had hardened, missing, crumbled and not sealing sufficiently. These parts are available from Fogas, Fettlebox and many other sources. As for the pip, you can even make one yourself with a sheet of Viton/nitrile rubber or cork and a suitably-sized hole-punch. Once this has been sorted out, it should seal reasonably well although not expected to be as reliable as a real shut-off (metal-to-metal type) needle valve.
Since its very similar to the Petromax 828 or 829, the following illustration is useful if you're going to dis-assemble the internals: Be very careful about the relative positions of the cleaning needle, pricker control eccentric, the pricker's conducting rod and the footvalve. All this must be re-assembled correctly in order for the lantern to function properly.
@MYN Selamat Pagi dan terima kasih! Yes, the lantern is bare brass in all components. And it was indeed the foot-valve I was refering to as the shut off valve in my post. I can see that the rubber has gotten hard and not providing a proper seal. Luckily Fogas has this inexpensive part available. However, not so luckily, when unthreading the foot-valve from the vaporizer lower tube, I misjudged and the tube snapped clean off, just above the threaded nipple. The tube is really thin. I might try soldering it together, but probably I have to face fact in sourcing also that lower part from Fogas. Hence a few more days until I can try lighting it again. And, yes, the nipple is the correct part that was spraying kerosene. Disassembled, it looks exactly like your numbered picture. I think I will greatly benefit from the Petromax parts diagram too. As can be seen from the pictures in my Apr 5th post above the cage, inner and outer top are likely Px, the vaporizer and quick-lighter are OP. The outer top is not stamped but it has the 5 oval larger holes, seen on Px and clones. However, I was still unsure of the tank, even if it is stamped 1128, @Nils Stephenson suggested Santrax, but I have not found any more clues that lead to a definite answer. The label plate, that has been almost clean polished, show some markings that certain camera angles managed to faintly display. I will enhance and compile these pictures here for your valued assessments. @JEFF JOHNSON Thanks for these details and your explanation. However, I had already come past that step and know how the pricker rod works for controlling the flow - and how preheating works.
@Johan Bjärås It is unfortunate that the tube/foot valve got snapped off. If you are unable to find a complete, new or donor lower vaporizer assembly, you can always make a new one from brass. That's provided you have access to a local machine shop and the right threading die. Otherwise, it is also not too difficult to fix it back using solder.
