Hello to everyone! I have just registered and am a collector of Coleman gas & kerosene lamps and lanterns. Lucky for me I have several Petromax, an Aida,Colemax, Radius, Optimus, Tilley, and now a Primus 1020. I love kerosene!! My question is about the Primus 1020 I now have. First off how do I know what year it is? Secondly I need an alcohol cup for it, and the knob that goes on the shaft for the pricker. I can provide pictures if necessary. I am in the northern, middle USA, so parts are non existent here! Thank You all for any help you can provide. Bulletmaker
Welcome to the forum. On the bottom of the 1020 is a small circle with one or two letters and one or two numbers. The letter(s) are the year code and a chart with the corresponding years can be found in the reference gallery under Primus. The numbers are still a mystery, but have been suggested to refer to a machine station or quality control station (among others). An alcohol cup is a challenge. This was probably the one poor design feature of the 1020. A loose alcohol cup is bound to get lost. I'm sure most Primus collectors have more lamps than they have alcohol cups. NOS spares are very rare. A knob is probably not too difficult. There were three types, so it depends on the date. We love pictures, so whether we need them or not bring them on.
Got it!! 1952,so it is not an "old" one. I can make an alcohol cup, no problem but what kind of knob belongs on it now that I know the year??
You can see a picture in the gallery of a 1020 with the correct type of knob here: 1956 Primus 1020 . Basically there were three types of knobs used. A solid metal one from 1931 to 1937. A small bakelite knob from 1938 to about 1947. A large bakelite knob from about 1947 to 1956. The changeover years can be a bit fuzzy as they obviously used up stock before going over to the new one, so it didn't happen exactly at the year change.
Hello, Well the 1020 is up and running! I fashioned an alcohol cup that is stable and doesn't flop around, and have a knob that works. It was fun figuring it all out and now I have a Primus that works....not all original parts, but the main thing is that it works!! I am attaching three pics so you can see the knob and the alcohol cup.
Good to see you got it working and I like your ingenuity. The mantle looks to be filling well. How is the alcohol cup to fill? It looks like it might be a bit high, making it difficult to get the spout of the alcohol can up to it.
Thank you for your positive comments. The spirit cup farthest away is fashioned so I can reach it with my "universal spirit cup bottle"! I can reach the second cup by going between the air intake tube and the generator. I light the first cup, and after a bit the second one will light itself from the first one so that they are both burning. I attached pictures of the bottle and the cups burning. The cups were fashioned from 1/2inch copper pipe caps and are held together with #6 copper ground wire which I silver soldered to them. The third cap is squeezed a bit so that it will "snap" into place over the hex nut in the middle of the lantern. This holds it all in place very nicely. The spirit bottle hold .295 litres of spirits and does not have to be filled very often. I realize that this is all "home made", but when you are on this side of the Atlantic, one has to be resourceful! Bulletmaker
Original is always nice, but failing that it's good to have things working. What you've done is a very good job of getting it working. I've often wondered if there is a half moon shaped dish available that could be modified into an alcohol cup. I'm thinking maybe some sort of kitchen utensil or the like. The lack of alcohol cups for Primus lanterns is annoying, so an alternative to get them useable would be good.
I'm not over-familiar with Primus lanterns, although I've got a couple. What was the idea with the loose cup? Was it meant to rattle around inside the globe cage or were you supposed to remove it and replace it for priming. Either way seems a bit daft if you ask me. Maybe a pair of Tilley tongs could be used. The handles often seem to break on mine and rather than throw the two parts away, perhaps they could be somehow wired together around the vapouriser. Just a thought and maybe worth a try...
Loose is probably the wrong word. When I said loose, I meant that it wasn't screwed to the lamp (like a Petromax etc.). The alcohol cup clips onto the vapouriser with two small brass tabs on the edge of the cup. It is meant to stay in place unless the lamp needs to be disassmebled. They do come loose though with rough treatment and therefore can be lost. I havn't seen a NOS Primus alcohol cup in a long time.
A simple solution to the missing Primus meths cups, would be to drill a small hole in the base plate of the Primus lantern's cage and to fit a Petromax type of meths cup. Jeff.
Hello David, I always rewire my Tilley torches, the simplest way to do that is to use springy wire. Cut a piece to twice the required length and then sharpen both ends to a point and then bend the wire in half. Then take a bradle and make holes in the metal torch case, one hole at each end of both halves. Then shove the pointed ends into the two parts of the Tilley torch and shove them until they come through the opposite ends, the points can then be snipped off. Then bend part of each half of the wire around the ends of the torch case to secure the wire handle. To make sure that the torch clamps, grip each of the torch halves and cross them over each other in opposite directions. It's easier to do the rewiring than to describe the process. It's a fiddley job, but one gets the hang of it, Jeff.
From memory, mine don't clip on so perhaps they're worn or something. I'll have a look next time as get anywhere near the lanterns...
" The handles often seem to break on mine and rather than throw the two parts away, perhaps they could be somehow wired together around the vapouriser. Just a thought and maybe worth a try..." David this is a very good idea!! I have aTilley preheater, so I have to study it and see what I can come up with. It would look more "natural" with those kidney shaped cups!
