Posted by John Wilson on January 13, 2001 at 15:02:46 from 203.96.26.105:
In Reply to: Re: Oil Stoves posted by Alan Hakim on January 01, 2001 at 19:38:21:
To add something new, if possible, on oilstoves (well, everyone else has tried!):
In WD the Goblin had a two-burner stove which “broke into a cheerful roar” (ch 6) so it must have been a pressurised rather than a wick type. And it doesn’t run out of fuel, unlike the engine and the riding lights. While in port (Flushing) the Walkers nearly get their engine tank filled with paraffin (kerosene/kerosine) instead of petrol (gasoline) because of the different names for fuel in the Netherlands. Ted (ch 23) asked for petrol for the “Handy Billy” engine, but it is bright blue not clear. He sniffs it and says that this is paraffin (OK for the navigation lights) not petrol. The pilot laughed and said “what you call petrol we in Holland call benzine”.
Primus (Swedish trademark) portable kerosene (paraffin) stoves were pumped up to pressurise the fuel and came with a small pricker to clean the small hole that the jet of fuel squirted out of. My parent’s camping one (1950s) had a ring round the jet for methylated spirits (meths) to heat/ignite the jet of kerosene when starting it from cold. The houseboat had a Primus which Captain Flint was relieved to find that Susan not Nancy had been using it (WH, also PM).
LPG is a mixture of propane and butane which can liquefy under pressure at room temperature. Natural gas is a mixture of methane and ethane (CNG when compressed - but still a gas, used for a few cars in NZ). White Spirit(s) is filtered/pure petrol (gasoline) for lamps/cleaning, and in Britain can also mean a turpentine substitute.