1962 Petromax 829 Unserviceable NRV

Alex, well the problem is solved, but the mystery of the small NRV remains unsolved.... Fun, ain't it?
Just think of all the worth while things we could be fixing/solving, and we choose to get "wrapped around the axel" with this!
lol
I wouldn't have it any other way!

 

George, I wouldn't either. Haven't been doing this for more than 6 months, and the bug has bit!

 

Well looks like she gives light well.
Good fettle.

 

Nice job Alex, still not got around to doing anymore on mine yet!

 

Thanks @MG

 

@MG here is the before shot of my second 1962 829. Although the outer looks bad, it is straight, all the right bits have the "made in Germany" stamps etc. The internals are a lot cleaner than my last 62 829, which is a good start Having stripped it down tonight, I'm hoping to get cracking on it in the next couple of weeks.

Have you managed to make any progress on yours? I am looking forwards to seeing photo's of all three, once fettled.

 

@Alex Smith

That should clean up well, mine is in a similar sort of condition (i gave it a citric acid bath to start with to make it easier to polish as it was quite rough) but has one fair sized dent, sadly no further along as yet, i've been quite busy lately plus i've been trying to find two decent Vapalux vapourisers in the spares dept for a Bialaddin bowl fire and a Vapalux 300X lantern which i can't get to run quite right, i've got around seven new ones but i am loath to use them.

 

At last, now the Fetting "time bandit" has departed, I've had chance to sort out my Jun 1962, 829/500cp Short NRV lantern. I've not fired it yet, one minor fault to iron out, but it is looking in much better shape. I refitted the original "short NRV" that it came with.

Pre-Fettle:



Post fettle:

 

The hood in the last picture does not belong to a 1962 model, @Alex Smith .
I think it belonged to a much earlier model, probably from the 30s(with the two screws securing to the inner part).

 

@MYN it would lovely if it was a 30s hood. It is a trick of the light, that makes it look like it has two screws at the top, unfortunately.

 

It's not a 30ties lantern as far as I can see. The monogram G is from the 1950ties.
Also the rapid is off a later date.

 

@WimVe It is a early 1960's 829 complete with "Made in Germany" and the G monogram on the fount. The inner hood and hood are all stamped Made in Germany as well. The Rapid Pre-Heater of a corresponding age. The base of the fount is stamped 0625.

 

Yeah, my mistake. I glanced too quickly. So its original to the 60s unit.

 

That is the date code.

 

At some point someone must have changed the rapid lighter. Since the lantern was made in 1962, and this style flipper wasn't even patented until 1964.
Well saved!

 

@george, that is the whole problem with these parts. If a new gadget came on the market why not equip the old girl with it ?
Or what when the old rapid broke down ?

My idea is that glass, gauge or rapid where extras.
To sell the lantern as cheap as possible.

Like buying a car. Stock is cheap, the one you want isn't.

 

@WimVe Right you are! The plastic ones do crack and break and you have nothing to really replace it with but a new metal one! I like the plastic ones!

 

@george if I have understood you correctly the blue backed rapid pre-heater wasn't patented until 1964? If that is the case, here is where it gets interesting. I have two of these early 1960's 829's (date stamped 0625 and 0722), and @MG has one (date stamped 0723). All three of them have the blue plastic backed rapid pre-heater flip switch. All three of them also have the short NRV. Here are photos of 0625 and 0722 together (@MG's appears earlier in the post):

 

This has always been a mystery to me... I have a NOS Aida 1250, never been used and dated 1961; however, it has the metal flipper patented sometime in 1964! The box had never been opened. The seller is a very good friend and he was the first to open the box for me just to determine if all parts were there. Nothing missing, nothing out of place - except the metal flipper. When we realized the lantern was made in 1961, we both just scratched out heads... I could see where someone might have replaced the flipper if it was "not" NOS, they do break, but a brand new lantern, never been out of the box! Hard to get my head around that one!

 

Kinda reinforces my suspicions about the veracity of that date code interpretation. Always did seem too complex for me.

The patent is DE1228575 Applied for 22 October 1964 and granted 17 November 1966. It is unlikely but perhaps just possible that the new patented rocker valve was in production before the application. It may also be possible that the tanks were made and dated two years before the lamps were finally assembled and left the factory. Both seem unlikely to me which brings us back to that date code. ::Neil::

 

Looks like anything could be possible with actual production units. Again, only speculations without hard proofs.
Petromax lanterns could have been made by the hundreds of thousands, perhaps into the millions by the 60s. Particularly those for export to Asia including the Far East. Competition had been rather stiff and there was a need to economize certain aspects of the manufacturing processes. Actual parts could have also been made as buffer stock well before the filing of the respective patents, but not necessarily sold yet. By the time the patents were granted, the products would quickly flood the market with sufficiently low prices to seriously compete with any other European manufacturers and perhaps even against the clones made in the East.

 

@george I feel for you, expecting a certain configuration and receiving another, "scratching of heads" is nicely understated for your puzzlement on finding the metal flipper. on a 1961 NOS lantern

@Mackburner @MYN thank you for your thoughts/insight I find it very interesting. Like most antiques I feel we are guessing as much on the feel/look of the item as the "fixtures and fittings" attached to them. Rough dates of production rather than exact dates seem the order of the day. The date stamps on the fount of these 3 do not fit the patent for the flippers, and the flippers seem not to have been retro-fitted after leaving the factory (that would be too much of a coincidence). I've other Petromax's that fit this pattern.

 

I finally got around to finishing the fettle on my second 1962 Px 829 so I could light her up. Here is the "money shot" of both of them (it was a bit dark by the time I'd finished). Both run nicely:

 

off coarse they run nice, they are Petromax lanterns !

 

@WimVe

 

I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to say a quick thank you as this pesky NRV has been annoying me for about half an hour.

Found on an 829 Rapid, stamped 2203 on the bottom. Original glass with an ‘E’ in the logo.

Cheers,
Adrian

 

Just while this thread is resurrected, does anyone recommend a good source of petromax, hipolito spares who ship to the UK?
I am working on a hipolito which lost its hat, and one of the little brass studs which the bail nuts screw onto has sheared, I did wonder about buying new ones and put them on a fairly nice Pmax one I have then put the Pmax ones onto the hipolito to make a decent working lamp.

 

@Buckaroo
2203 means 22nd week 1970 Wednesday.The valve shown is a one-way valve. They were build into the Petromax, Pico Star, Day Lite in the early seventies. I would swap it for a normal Petromax valve.
Regards Reinhard

 

@Alex Smith
That is the real age of the 3 Petromax 829 :
0625=6th week 1972 Friday
0722=7th week 1972 Tuesday
0723=7th week 1972 Wednesday

You can see it clearly on the rapid lever and what is even more important on the substructure of the Rapid lever.

Regards Reinhard

 

@Buckaroo - yes my 1968 vintage example Px also had the non-rebuildable NRV valve. Others have commented on these in the past. And as Reinhardt says - the "proper" one will drop in.