I found this Primus No 890 soldering iron at an auction. Cannot find any information on it like date of manufacture. It has the Primus stamped copper soldering tip and looks complete. Will attempt a fire-up tomorrow. Assumes it uses URP and not kerosene
@Pdebruyn You may get better answers over at Classic Camp Stoves or one of the blow lamp forums. Cheers Tony
URP is what I assumed the correct abbreviation is of "Unleaded Regular Petrol", thank you for the confirmation. I have successfully started the soldering iron, it runs beautifully. Still no info on date however
Well, it is presented in both a catalogue from 1937 and another from 1949 that I have copies of, but it is also seen as late as 1958 in a price list posted at Classic Camp Stoves. The 890 is also seen in another catalogue from 1934 presented at Classic Camp Stoves, but that one has a totally different look, so yours is probably not from that early stage. But somtime after 1937 (possibly earlier, but not as early as 1934) and atleast as late as 1958. My guess would be the later period because from the look of the illustrations, the preheating cup is a bit higher mounted on the iron from 1958, just like yours. The other has it positioned very low. So you probably got a 50's iron, or even a bit in to the 60's if they still made them until Optimus took over in 1962.
If the valve wheel design follows the same pattern as the lamps, then it must be from 1950 or after. The wheel had twice as many 'knobs' before 1950.
