It's an early stove in the manufacturing run, because it has the air breather valve on the tank end, so that makes it in the '23 group. At this point, none of their stuff had any patent numbers on it as it was all new turf.
The generator on the older (like pre'30) Colemans, don't have a spring in them, but instead a series of 7 steel rods that go around the generator needle. This stove had a problem in that the key to operate the generator was just spinning. After about 4 hours in the carb cleaner and some picking...I got the gennie apart, it was packed full of crud. The needle had separated from the threaded portion of the needle body. I was able to get it back into position and then crimped it using the key and the taper in the cleaned generator.
Some elbow grease and soaking in vinegar brought the brass back to life.
The fuel tank on it has a number of dents. They can't be reached from the inside to push them out as there is a inner sleeve on the filler. I had to do some bondo...still in process.
The rest of the stove, especially the box, was bead blasted. For the plate that the grates rest on, since it gets hot, I'm planning on using engine enamel, good to 500F. Spray it on, sand some off then spray more. That's the only way I see to fill the rust pits in it and make it temp. resistant. Primer will fill it....but won't hold up to the heat. The box can be primed as it doesn't get all that hot. Doug
Danny
