Frans Wilhelm Lindqvist (1862-1931) was a Swedish inventor. He designed the first sootless kerosene stove, operated by compressed air. He started a company, Primus, to manufacture and sell the Primus stove. Russian kerosene lamp Kerosene (In the United States) or paraffin (not the same as the waxy solid of that name) (In the British Commonwealth of Nations) is a colorless flammable hydrocarbon liquid. ... A stove is a heat-producing device. ... Pneumatics, from the Greek πνευματικός (pneumatikos, coming from the wind) is the use of pressurized air in science and technology. ...

Lindqvist was born in Västergötland, and lived in Gothenburg for a few years before moving to Stockholm, where he started to work in the AB Separator factory. Inspired by a workmate, he and his brother were able to design a new kind of burner for kerosene stoves. By vaporising the kerosene before it reached the burner, their construction had a sootless, smokeless, hot flame.   Västergötland?, (Westrogothia in English), one of the historical provinces of Sweden (landskap), lies in the southwest of Sweden. ... Gothenburg viewed from Liseberg amusement park Gothenburg (Swedish:   Göteborg?) is a city and a municipality on the western coast of Sweden, in the County of Västra Götaland. ...   Stockholm? is the capital of Sweden, located on the east coast at the entrance of lake Mälaren. ...

Lindqvist started selling his stove on a small-scale basis, but the business soon grew. The product and the company were dubbed Primus. Together with a companion, Johan Victor Svensson, Lindqvist started industrial production in 1892. With the help of marketing firm B.A. Hjort & Co sales grew, and soon the Primus stove was exported abroad. In the 1910s, more than half a million stoves were made annually. In 1930, more than 500 people worked at the Primus factory, on the Stockholm island Lilla Essingen. Among them were Per Albin Hansson, future Prime Minister of Sweden. // Events and trends Technology Gideon Sundback patents the first modern zipper Harry Brearley invents stainless steel Charles P. Strite invents first pop-up bread toaster Science Einsteins theory of general relativity Max von Laue discovers the diffraction of x-rays by crystals Alfred Wegener puts forward his theory of...   Stockholm? is the capital of Sweden, located on the east coast at the entrance of lake Mälaren. ... Lilla Essingen is a small island of Stockholm. ... Per Albin Hansson Per Albin Hansson (1885-1946), leader of the Swedish Social Democrats, was Prime Minister in four governments between 1932 and 1946, including the coalition government which was formed during World War II, and included all major parties except the communists. ... The Prime Minister or Statsminister is the head of Government in Sweden. ...

In 1984, the Primus stove was depicted on a Swedish stamp, commemorating the one hundredth anniversary of the Swedish patent system.

External links

• Primus company history on Primus' official home page
• Swedish inventions and discoveries - Swedish Institute fact sheet
• 1829 Primus product catalog at the Swedish Museum of Technology web site