Primus AB is a manufacturer of portable cooking devices and outdoor stoves based in Stockholm, Sweden. On 28 April 2023, Fenix Outdoor International AG announced that it had sold Primus AB to Silva Group.[1]
History
The firm was founded in 1892 by Frans Wilhelm Lindqvist and Johan Viktor Svenson. They were the developers of its initial product, the Primus stove, the first portable and soot-free kerosene stove. The first units were sold mainly to women who operated street market shops (stallholders) in Stockholm.
Explorers then discovered the value in having a portable stove for their expeditions. For example, on Salomon August Andrée’s 1897 North Pole expedition, he cooked on a Primus. Roald Amundsen carried a Primus stove with him on his venture to the South Pole in 1911. On 5 July 1928, a Junkers trimotor dropped a Primus stove to the survivors of Umberto Nobile’s airship "Italia", who were camped on the pack ice of the North Pole. The testimony of engineer Felice Troiani, in charge of the kitchen of the "red tent", illustrates how much this product improved the lives of the survivors awaiting rescue:[2]