Getting An Old Blowlamp Started.

So, I've done a little bit of perusing today and in an antiques shop i found an old blowlamp, or what i think is one.

It's made of brass and marked "Vespa FJ Paris" , it appears to have an air regulating screw with a small needle on the head, and a port for filling up with fuel.

But i was totally puzzled by why this model has no pump, it's just totally absent. Then i noticed a small well around the head of the blow lamp with blackening around it from flames, so i presume i fill this with meths and burn off the meths to get it warm enough to start the torch.

I've read about "atmospheric ambient" style lamps which have no pump.

I liked it the moment i saw it so i bought it, but would like to try giving it a run. I just haven't used these old style ones before i wondered if anyone knows why this has no pump mechanism and what sort of fuel/procedures i need to know to get it up and running, i have no photo at the moment but will get one later.Heres a link to a similar one. **LINK**

Michael W

Is that a small pump on the filler cap?

Hi KWIL,

Yeah i've now noticed that this one has a port the other side, whereas mine has just one cap with a brass wing nut.

If it has no pump it may be intended for use with petrol. Please be careful I don't want to lose any subscribers!

Neil

Michael,

I dont collect blow lamps but I do collect campingstoves, 135 and counting, first of all you need to make sure the jet is clean, the adjusting screw acts like a tap to increase or decrease the flow of paraffin, inside the heat sheild is there a coil, coming and returning to the tank. Unscrew the filler cap and check to see if there is some lead blocking a small hole, this is the fusible plug which melts if the temperature is to high, this needs to be intact.

As you have said there is a well this is where you put meths to heat the coil, using the heat paraffin is drawn up and vapourised once its nice and hot open the valve vapourised paraffin is allowed to leave and be ignited by the meths which when the meths runs out the vapourisation is kept running by the paraffin.

Martin P

There are some single port ones on ebay.fr .

Alcohol / petrol type. Heat transfer is enough to create pressure. see video

Edited By Bazyle on 03/09/2016 18:38:17

I did think about that bazyle, as the cap has a steel nut on it, but it's hexagon edges are completely smoothed over, indicating that it is atleast an old assembly, maybe someone retro fitted it for a compressor?

I intend to have a gander at the innards with a small torch.

Michael W

Ha, i have heard on a youtube vid that the older ones used leaded petrol, and a stern american said "i aint gonna give ya no warning bout saftey and what nots because if you're old enough to be doin this stuff, you're old enough to care of yerself" They can be quite volatile,

I'll try to avoid drinking the denatured alcohol too, i'm not that desperate yet though.

Thanks for the warning,

Michael W

Michael,

Your lamp maybe a Monitor No 43 A petrol lamp, you may find this site useful http://blowlamp.co.uk/

Martin P

Edited By martin perman on 03/09/2016 18:57:33

I have a sievert blowlamp that runs of Benzoline. It works with petrol though and it doesn't have any pump or a spot where a pump could have been added. The heat of the starting meths fire is enough to build up the pressure.

Don't get me started...

Martin.

Here is the "Vera Icona" or true image, of the lamp.

There is some writing on it but it isn't anything i haven't already said.

Michael W

Very drole! Bravo.

Michael W

I have a very small petrol primus stove. This does not have a pump. Just put hand round tank to warm it up, the little trough fills with petrol, throw a match at it, couple of minutes later boiling water for cuppa. Elf and safety would have complained but in wet weather have even lit it in the drivers footwell of the car. The flame is not very big at all. The other option is to use a fire starter jelly that comes in a small tube.. A small squirt into the trough, light it and a few moments later away you go. I also have a selection of old paraffin blow torches. These all have a trough which fill with meths. The old Tilley lamps are similar but in some cases they have a small clamp with a felt pad which is soaked in meths or paraffin and then lit to warm up the lamp assembly prior to pumping up the pressure. Always need to make sure the jet is pricked to ensure clean flow of fuel.

Colin

I'v got a Sievert lamp (was my Plumber Grandfather's), it's like Rainbow's one, it will run on petrol or white spirits.

To start it, after filling the tank, pour some meths in the little trough on top, close the valve, light the meths, and when the flame is near finished open the jet. This lamp is the reason I went over to a gas torch, one day I was at the garage door way when the flame blew back through a leak in the control valve spindel, I dropped the lamp on my toe, and kicked it across the back yard, I don't know if it was the trip through the air, or the sudden stop, but the flame went out. It's been repared, and it sits on the shelf.

Ian S C

Yeah, i suspect mine is the same, thanks for the advice, i'm sure they are all nice things to look at even if you don't use them. I just like to have an alternative if nothing else is available, if i want to do any real work i just use propane gas.

Michael W

Thank heavens, I was beginning to think you had a death wish.

In the sixties we had a couple of these in the ARP hangars at Weyhill and used to do the daily brews on them. Filled with petrol and pumped up they used to roar disconcertingly when boiling the water for our brews. They frequently erupted in flames and the first time I saw it and panicked the staff sergeant said "leave it alone, it’ll burn of in a bit” – and it always did.

Rik

**LINK**

Edited By Rik Shaw on 04/09/2016 13:38:03