I have found a small petrol blowlamp with the following markings. I think it must be a Primus mark, can anyone confirm it? On the top of the 1/3 pint tank it has stamped "Akt Bol. B A Hjorth & Co, Stockholm" and also "The Swedish Lamp". On the side of the lamp it has a trade mark design which is a Sun/Planet with rays/lightning strikes radiating from it, and each side of this a lit blowlamp. In the Centre it has "Trade Mark" "Made in Sweden". Anyone know any history of this mark. If it is Primus, it will be 1928 as there is an "S" stamped in the base. Steve.
Hi Steve nice little blowlamp and working superbly for a small lamp it sure gives a good flame i am not sure it is a Primus it may be a Erickson
Christer has probably got a better idea of the history of the company, but I'm pretty sure that this is from before the Primus name was being used. It's sold under the B.A. Hjorth name so must be Primus or pre-Primus. Just for info. The Akt. Bol. part stands for 'aktie bolaget', which is the Swedish equivalent of Ltd in the UK or Inc in the US etc. A literal translation means 'share company'.
Steve, here is a quotation from the former eminent blowlamp site Blow Lamps Unlimited (Hans Thörnblad). “Together they started the company J. V. Svenssons Fotogenköksfabrik in 1892 and the stoves were sold under the name of Primus. The company B. A. Hjorth & Co. became interested in this product and a contract was signed in 1892 were B. A. Hjorth got the sole global marketing rights. The Primus stove became an enormous success and quite soon the name Primus was spread over the world. Already 1893 a new factory was built. J. V. Svenssons Fotogenköksfabrik also took up production of blow lamps in 1895 in competition with C. R. Nybergs Lampfabrik (the first company producing blow lamps in Sweden). This was quickly followed by Nyberg starting production of stoves. Quite often you can see many similarities between the products in spite of patents applied. Also the blow lamps received the brand name Primus and were marketed by B. A. Hjorth & Co. In 1898 the factory changed name to AB Primus and this company was in 1918 taken over by B. A. Hjorth to become a part of the Bahco group of companies. I reckon you can say that more or less most B.A Hjort blowlamps were “Primus” branded lamps if one follow the info from above, even if they were not stamped with the Primus brand. /Conny
Thanks Nils, Good information. I think that I will keep this little blowlamp as it is very easy to use and when throttled back to a minimum flame it is more gentle heat than a modern butane/propane torch. On a tank of fuel it also runs a lot longer than a gas torch. Steve.
Thanks Conny, What I am now puzzled about is: Did B A Hjorth market this little lamp in 1928? as the "S" stamped into the base may indicate. From your information it would appear to be much earlier than that date, as by then Primus was a well known trade name. Still very much confused - Steve.
Steve , I will leave that to the blowlamp experts to decide, but the round wooden control knob may indicate an early blowlamp. /Conny
That is a Primus trademark - used on furnaces as well. The S may not be a date stamp. Letters were often found elsewhere. By the time they got to S they were always within a circle. I'm pretty sure this logo predates S.
Hah! - now there's a co-incidence. I was given this last week:- It came with a box of other stuff I was going to give away here and over at CCS. It all belonged to my uncle who died recently aged 99 years and 10 months - he would have been 100 on December 1st Anyway , it's got exactly the same markings except it's stamped 'R' underneath. It's still fitted with the adjustable air intake shroud missing on Steve's blowlamp. It has a large nut underneath in the centre of the tank which is actually a filler cap - the base of the tank is concave so it acts as a funnel for filling. I wasn't planning to fire this one up, but since Steve has, and survived, I may well give it a go at some point - we'll see...
I'm fairly certain that the letters are not date marking. This design of blowlamp was made by quite a few different Swedish manufacturers from around 1900 and on. The Primus one developed into the model 851. I have one from 1949 which I use regularly when heating and quenching items. With the angle of the flame it's ideal to stand on the bench so you have both hands free. The shroud does make a difference as I find it works best about half closed.
I was just having another look at the photo of yours David and it looks like it has a filler cap on the top. The nut underneath was also needed to give access to the wick.
Oh, yes - it also has a conventional filler cap on top. I was guided (perhaps wrongly) by a thread we had years ago on CCS - IIRC, the filler cap, or whatever, on the base was an earlier idea which survived for a while after it was superseded by the filler on the top. But perhaps that applied only to stoves and not blowlamps. Or perhaps it was just completely wrong! The cap on the base unscrews and the wick with a metal loop is visible. Also, the cap has a female thread which screws onto a spigot with a male thread protruding from the tank. That means if the concave base was supposed to act as a funnel, it wouldn't work because not all the fuel would be able to drain into the tank - so you're probably correct, Nils...
This blowlamp does not have a filler cap on the top, just the winged nut in the base. I will be trying to make an air restrictor band just to play about with the performance. The "S" is not n a circle so is not a date code; this is very likely much earlier than 1928. The replies to my similar post on CCS back up all the information given here. Thanks everyone - Steve
I've just spent an hour or so [strike]fannying about with[/strike] fettling mine:- After cutting a new seal for the nut thingie in the base (the filler cap seal was fine, oddly enough), I filled it with panel wipe and left it for a while so that the wick could soak thoroughly. A quick prime in the lamp testing facility (a.k.a. greenhouse) and it lit easily enough, although it needed a damn good pricking initially. It's probably not as convincing a performer as Steve's blowlamp, and the yellowish flame suggests the jet is enlarged. Still, not bad for 80/90-odd years old and it's only a display object these days. It's going to a new home in the next couple of days...
That looks brilliant! They do look nice those little blowlamps, Ive got a bigger petrol one but it doesnt really work properly but ill sort it one day. Adam
Well, I sent it off to Adam (Cornish Burner) and here's a clip of it running:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow_dJ2uBjnw&lc=EM03oIrxeo0pv0PeDkl04ODEbn6gjqsPk_96oKIEa_A&context=G2560d2bFAAAAAAAAAAA&feature=g-all-c What larks, Master Davey..!
Strange things blow lamps, or torches if you are American. I have a good friend who obsesses about them and I have displayed at many steam rallies next door to his impressive show. It always annoyed me a little that he consistantly got more interest than I did but the really odd and sad thing was he never fired one up. I met several of his equally obsessed collector friends and they never ran them either. They polish them and do a fair amount of drooling but they don't make them work. Mind you I can see the attraction because you never have fettling problems like over size jets and pumps that don't work. Amused me some that I actually had more experience at running blow lamps than they did. ::Neil::
I totally agree with you Neil. However, not being a blow lamp collector, I do very often fire one up and leave it on tick-over; it comes handy when testing stoves or other blow lamps as I use it instead of meths for the pre-heat. Would never try it on lamps though as mantle or glass damage may happen. I also use the blow lamps for heat & quench type operations on stove burners and lamp vapourisers, if I think neccessary. Without doubt, a useful addition to any tool outfit, and you get much more heat, if required than a gas torch. Steve.
I sort of collect blowlamps, just as stoves. I fire them up quite often. Blowlamps are fun with their raw power. Atleast the big ones. But also necessary in some cases, so no shelf sitters there.
Hi All, Thanks David for posting the video on here, Was going to do it but forgot. Dont worry Al im safe with it......well sometimes haha! I have managed to set fire to the bin (Trash can) once upon a time lol!! Adam
I've got a couple hanging around, Will have to decide what to do with them soon,as it seems a waste just to have them in a dark corner of my garage when someone can enjoy them more than me.
