Hank Roberts Mini Stove, Mark III, Review

Good Grief! I haven't seen one of those stoves since my last exploration of my own garage collection. I still have some of the special butane canisters.

–B.G.–

lol. They're actually really good little stoves, and they're capable of operating in liquid feed mode.

HJ

Liquid feed mode? With the normal hardware and the normal butane canister?

I used mine some in the timeframe of 1980-1982, but then the canisters got difficult to find. Since I was doing more group trips and cooking for six or eight people, a white gas stove became much more effective.

–B.G.–

Read the post!

HJ

I did read your post. It starts with "This post is a gear post," and I responded to it.

–B.G.–

Maybe I’m misunderstanding your question. Did you click through to the underlying blog post?

You need an adapter, here’s a photo of mine, to connect a Hank Roberts type stove to a modern canister.

In addition to that adapter, I used a spare fuel tube that I bought on eBay.

Everything connects like this:

Once I hooked it all up, I lit the stove, let it warm up, and then inverted the canister. Once you’ve used the adapter and fuel hose to connect to a modern canister, you’re set. There are no modifications needed to the stove itself.

I think this should make sense if one stops to think about it: The original Hank Roberts canisters were side laying and had a wick inside. The wick conducted liquefied gas into the burner assembly. If the original operation was with liquefied gas, then it shouldn’t be too surprising that we can run it on liquefied gas with today’s canisters.

Things are spelled out in more detail with higher res photos in the blog post.

Hope that helps,

HJ

I have one of those stoves, except I think mine is re-branded as Gerry. I haven't seen it in a while because it's buried in a box in my garage. I believe I have a couple of old cartridges for it also. I remember coming across it about 5 years ago and attaching the cartridge and lighting it up!

I had one of these stoves picked it up around 1992 . If I remember correctly they took the stove off the market because it would over heat the side mounted canister underneath the burner when you had a large pot and wind screen and a explosion could happen.
Terry

Is the adapter still made? I saw in the blog you lost touch with Hendrik.

I have one too. I'm curious what would be wrong with bypassing the needle and tapping into the stove directly?

I also have one in mint condition. Haven't used it since 1983. I can't believe it made it through about 5 moves.

I unsuccessfully tried to find Hendrik a few months ago. If anybody finds him please let me know. I want one of those adapters.

The Hank Roberts type stove was made by EFI and sold under at least the following names: Hank Roberts, Browning, EFI, and Gerry. I've seen other names on them as well.

Even though you can't get the canisters anymore, there are still a lot of them around which is a testament to their popularity. They were a darned good stove for their day and age although they're a little heavy by our standards today.

Yes, there were some cases of explosion. Usually, those were cases (from what I've read) where people used a windscreen which trapped heat, particularly if they were using a wide pot/pan. Really, the very same thing could happen with a canister stove today. Perhaps the Hank Roberts type explodes more easily? I don't know. I know that at one time fuel canisters for this type of stove were available from Hank Roberts, Optimus, Coleman, and Thermos (yes, Thermos used to be in the stove business), but they all discontinued them around the same time. Nothing like the threat of lawsuits to shut things down.

I wish I could find Henrik. I have several of his adapters for my old stoves. Every one of them is brilliantly designed and manufactured. But he is no longer selling on eBay nor is he posting on the forum where I met him originally.

Regarding the specific adapter Henrik made for my Hank Roberts stove, yes, an adapter that directly threads into the burner column would be better. In this case I have a Gerry infrared stove and a conventional Hank Roberts stove. Henrik wasn't sure that a single threaded adapter would fit both stoves, so he made me a universal adapter that will fit any stove with a Hank Roberts type needle.

HJ

Jim,

I just aquired a Gerry stove (similar to Hank Roberts) in mint condition. I was browsing the web looking for adapters & found this: http://www.spiritburner.com/fusion/showtopic.php?tid/1562

Any opinions on that adapter?

-Steve

Has anyone tried refilling an empty old style canister? I am thinking, If you put the empty in the freezer to lowewr any residual gas pressure, then use a butane lighter refill can with the right adapter to open the valve and fill as much fuel as it will accept. It won't take as much fuel as a new canister, but it might hold enogh for a meal or two.

Bob,

You are just a classic….always good for a laugh.

You might possibly be the smartest man on this entire forum because you always have something to say or to comment on the various post here.

Have you considered submitting an article to BPL for publication?

It seems a shame that your vast knowlege gets lost in the pages of these forum post when they could be put into an article and be easily accessible by others for years to come.

Plus, I think that BPL pays a little money to the authors.

Might as well use that big brain of yours to make a little spending money.

Topics that I might suggest:

* comparitive benefits and pitfalls of using poncho tarps vs. tarp and bivy

* history and evolution of UL/Lightweight backpacking from 1965 to present

* ten tips for selecting and setting up campsites for efficiency and speed

* natural materials best found and used in the field for fueling your wood stove

-Tony

"It seems a shame that your vast knowlege gets lost in the pages of these forum post when they could be put into an article and be easily accessible by others for years to come."

What makes you think that BPL will be around for years to come?

–B.G.–

I bought a Hank Roberts Mini-Mark III back in the 80's and have been struggling to find canisters. I have since figured out how to re-fill them but my last one died. They are a GREAT stove. I have used it in the Bear Tooths, the Trinity Alps, The Rocky's in CO, and all over the Cascades here in Oregon. I would love to fill canisters if i could get a couple to keep. People may joke about it in other forums but this stove woks great in all conditions.

Shoot me a note if I can help! My re-fill adapter cost about 10 bucks.

I was thinking about the explosion part of the canisters verses the new canister we use.

The Hank Roberts Mini Stove, Mark III canister was just a push on the needle type canister with the fitting made out of rubber so basically if it heated up enough to melt the rubber nozzle all the gas would escape rapidly and the canister could turn in to a flaming projectile or missile .

The new canisters screw on and the rubber the needle goes in to is surrounded by steel and the valve fitting when screwed on . Less chance of explosion and and turning in to a projectile.

Terry

Joseph:

> Has anyone tried refilling an empty old style canister?

I do it all the time

> I am thinking, If you put the empty in the freezer to lower any residual gas pressure

Exactly how to do it, then have a liquid feed from your fuel source.

> then use a butane lighter refill can with the right adapter to open the valve and fill as much fuel as it will accept.

"the right adapter" being the operative term

Except a small container like a lighter refiller is usually more expensive than a larger container. Table-top butane stove canisters, often sold in Asian markets for table-top cooking can be a cheaper source of butane – cheaper than BPing canisters and can work if you don't need low-temperature performance.

> It won't take as much fuel as a new canister, but it might hold enogh for a meal or two.

Well, the big problem is actually the opposite. A cold container can hold MORE fuel than is safe. Liquid hydrocarbon fuels expand and contract with temperature changes MUCH more than water does. If you get too much fuel in the canister and then it warms in a car trunk, the sun, etc, while still quite full, the pressure is no longer limited by its vapor pressure and the canister will rupture. This is why I record a full weight on every canister type/make/model I use so I never refill beyond that limit. e.g. if it came with 8 ounces of butane and weighed 13 ounces full, I always reweigh it after filling and burn off or vent off any excess fuel.

Refilling / transferring between canisters is pretty tricky to do safely. I'm cool with Jim doing it. He doesn't worry about me. But there's a lot of engineering, plumbing, and chemical concepts to factor in and I admit to learning some things during exciting moments that lasted a fraction of a second.

I dug up this old thread because I recently found my mini mark in a box in the garage. Jim, did you ever find anyone who could machine an adaptor to convert this stove to modern canisters?

Dave

Oh, now this is going to get confusing. I see "Hank Roberts Mini Stove. . . " as updated 2 hours ago apparently by me and while I remembered the thread, I also knew I hadn't posted to it for a long, long time.

It look like you go by Dave. Great, I'm always David.

I know, right?

I dig up an old thread about some obscure stove from several decades ago, and the last guy to post to it shares my name.

What are the odds? Pretty good apparently.