Workshop — Boatworks

I finally got some time to fettle with Primus 1001. It came covered with black goo all around, also inside the tank. That probably made it quite cheap to buy.

This lantern is marked S29 so it comes from year 1928.

After acetone bath and some elbow grease it cleaned nicely but it took me quite some time to remove all "fixes" someone did to it.

People's ingenuity amazes me - toilet paper, if you didn't know, can substitute almost any sealer... my lamp even had it instead of graphite box seal (I suppose you should not try that on Coleman petrol lamp!).

The lamp has original mica globe - my first such globe.

Seeing how someone "fettled" with toilet paper I was worried that mica delaminations in few places were fixed with scotch tape.
Luckily not!

I could not wait for double-tied mantles from Fogas so I modified Optimus 350 single-tie mantle to fit.

Pricker needle and jet are the same as used on Primus 1020.
I very much like this system. Very easy to fettle and one can save burned-in mantle if jet needs to be replaced etc.
Below is the heart of the system. Primus changed the burner on these lamps in 30’s to slightly more efficient construction. Mine here is the first version.

The lamp started OK and is going stable.

Mica globe has seen better days.
I plan to make my own mica reproduction if I don't find a glass globe fitting this huge lamp.

Generic shade from Fogas fits this lamp nicely, making it even more magnificent.

I took Nils' advice here and fettled more with Primus 1001. My experience with replacement jets is that their quality can vary quite much from piece to piece.
When fettling with Optimus'es I've learned to order 2x more jets than I really need. It turnes out that minor differences in jet hole size can be significant for some lanterns.

As Nils says - 1001 is sensitive to worn jets so I investigated that further.

Replacing brand-new jet with old, Primus 1020's jet laying in spare parts box has proven to make huge difference.

The lantern is much brighter (with the same mantle, home-made) and I could pump it pretty much as much as I wanted without fireballs.
It is now proudly lighting my workshop!

Hi, I’m Lukas and I’m addicted to kerosene.
Pressurised kerosene lamps in principle… Swedish “stormlyktor” in particular.

It started by accident - I spotted old, brass lamp in good condition for small money on Blocket. I’ve read about them when I was a kid - and remember their mixed reputation as being beautiful but quite fussy and dangerous in operation.
I bought it - and fell in love with this technology!

I guess what locked me is their beauty and initial challenge to operate them. When I started with my first lamp it was unknown territory for me - how it works, how you start it, what fuel to use etc.

There is a variety of types on the market but it seams that the biggest part of vintage lamps existing today are Optimus lamps, produced in Sweden, in Upplands Väsby. Since I used to live there for few years I feel a bit attached to that so I’ve decided to limit my addiction only to Optimus lamps and only to brass versions.

Originally Optimus lamps dedicated for civil market were all nickel-plated while Swedish military and Civil Defence were receiving pure brass versions. Probably to save costs and to skip flaking chrome when lamps were used in the field. Later also brass lamps were sold, in small batches, on civilian market.

After Civilförsvaret was released/ceased operation lots of these lamps found their way to Swedish homes through surplus shops ÖoB (Överskottsbolaget). These are Optimus 200 and Optimus 1200 - which is in principle the same lamp, just improved and with some additional pre-heating features.

So much for the history.

Now - how does it work?
These lamps use kerosene (lysfotogen) which is a fuel simillar to lamp oil (lampolja) but differs in some key features - the most important is ignition temperature. Typical lamp oil can be ignited at room temperature by simple match. Kerosene is more like diesel - you can dope a burning match in it and it will not ignite. Safety feature I would say.

Using lamp oil in kerosene lamp is not a good idea. Some people claim doing it with success but I’ve tried doing it on my “experimental” Optimus few times and it always ended with fire balls around the lamp and destroyed (sotted) mantle. Not worth it while kerosene costs the same (or less) and is readily available in Sweden.
Pressurised kerosene lamps (stormlyktor) use technology invented by Australian John Charles Preston. The key component is s.c. Preston loop - brass tubing through which the kerosene is flowing at high pressure and is being vaporised on its way to a mantle where it burns.

Mantle used to contain thorium as a key component. Nowadays there are substitutes instead - to mitigate health risks and high cost of thorium.

I struggled to find the proper way to ignite the lamp. Different ways shown on Youtube or web forums were not working for me or seamed far too cumbersome to be the proper way. Finally I found an easy and proper way, on Swedish-speaking part of the Net. Procedure is simple:

1. Fill the small tray inside the lamp with denatured alcohol

Easiest done with a bottle having bent tube. I happen to have original Optimus bottle for that.

2. Make sure the system is not air-tight now: open air-screw and turn the knob so that it’s indicator is pointing down.

Having the knob turned down is moving the cleaning rod out from the nozzle (0,18 mm diameter hole in Optimus 200). One can leave it up while pre-heating but I found it works better to have it down already now so no need to remember about this when pumping up the lamp upon firing.
Air screw is opened to make sure we don’t build up any pressure yet in the system while it’s being pre-heated. This should prevent unheated kerosene leaking into the mantle, causing it then to sot and develop dark patches on the surface.

3. Light the alcohol through lamp opening and watch it burn until there is not much left in the tray

This is pre-heating the mantle and Preston-loop. If ambient temperature is well below zero one can do this step more than once - until brass tubing is well hot.

4. While there is still some alcohol left burning in the tray close the air screw and start pumping the lamp. According to manual, when the lamp is fully filled with fuel, it is enough to pump 25-30 times. I’ve found out that with brand new mantle it’s best to take it easy and pump less in the beginning - so that the mantle can form itself in the flame within first 20 seconds - and then add more pumps to build up pressure.

By this time the alcohol will burn out completely and the task of pre-heating the kerosene is done by glowing mantle. Lamp should now be bright and sounding steady “hiss”. No flames should be present outside of the mantle. If so - there is a leak in the system or the lamp is getting too much fuel. I think I had all sorts of problems already with my lamps so I’ll post Troubleshooting tips later.

Once lamp is on and pumped initially it will go by itself for very long. Pressure drop in the tank, caused by expended fuel, is mostly compensated by the tank going up in temperature. At some point - after one or two hours, it may be needed to add few pump strokes to bring the pressure back.

Turning off the lamp is by releasing pressure - on most lamps by simple opening the air screw. That extinguishes the mantle instantly.

Properly adjusted lamp should not smell kerosene at all during operation. Only a bit of smell will appear when the lamp is being turned off but if extinguishing is done quickly and the lamp is hot there will be no smell at all.

I use my lamps every evening now. Working in a workshop heated and lighted by them is cosy during these dark and cold autumn evenings.