Solving Da Gasser Code

[Hogsy]

Started to restore the old kettle gasser I bought a couple of weeks ago today
Remember these kettles had no lid vents , so working out the age of them isn't easy
I pulled the whole thing apart, and while cleaning part of the internal ignition I noticed a letter stamped into it beneath the rust

I then pulled the same part out that Brian sent me and noticed it had a different letter stamped into it

Could this be the date code for the kettle gasser?
The manual that ED posted had all the parts labelled with numbers , so i don't  think its a part number and this is the only part I could find with a letter stamp
Anyone else out there care to take a look at theirs?

[reillyranch]

Hogsy

is that the Venturi or burner tube?  I will take a look at mine and let you know. 

[Hogsy]

Pretty sure it's the Venturi stack or part no 22 on the schematics list you posted on another thread

[Craig]

I am not for certain, but I would think that would be the Gas Kettle's date code. I thought Weber dated all their grills, charcoal or gas (kettle and genesis etc)

Craig

[reillyranch]

I think the date coding started in 1979.  Weber gassers were built as earily as 1971.  It is that 8 year period that is in question. 

[Craig]

The only thing I can think of on dating a '71-'78 gasser is by the vent tabs, maybe?  Still puzzles me that the gas kettles didn't appear in the catalogs in the early '70s.

Craig

[reillyranch]

The Weber time line introduces the 22.5 gas kettle in 1971.  But they don't appear in the Weber catalogs until 1974 or 1975. 

The 1973 catalog has a young Mike Kempster lifting a cover off what appears to be a gas kettle, kind of like a teaser. 

The earily gas kettles (pre 1979) had model numbers beginning with "GK" (gas kettle) and serial numbers "GG" (?).  Weber made the gas kettles until mid 80's, maybe 1985 when the Genesis came out.  So, the question is did Weber use date codes on gas kettles prior to 1979.  If so, how are they deciphered.  They could have been just serial numbers without any direct corresponding date codes, just a chronology sequence pattern. 

[zavod44]

I don't care what anyone says there is not a forum that has the kind of knowledge or collections that this site has....


Brian

[Craig]

I don't care what anyone says there is not a forum that has the kind of knowledge or collections that this site has....


Brian

I concur, Brian.  And it gets better and better each and every day. 

Craig

[Hogsy]

Beginning to think its not a date stamp
Here's another pic of a Venturi tube out of my other gas kettle

Ok to clarify
The first photo is a part from a kettle that Brian sent over to me .Stamped A
Second photo is the same part from a gas kettle with metal handles and no lid vent. Stamped B.
Third photo , same part from a gas kettle with wooden handles and 4 vents in the lid. Stamped A
This is doing my head in, 2nd photo is the older kettle therefore should have the A stamp not B
I was thinking maybe the A part might have been for the US, and the B part for OZ , because of the different gas certifications but why then would I have 2 kettles one with A stamped and one with B stamp
The mystery continues.......

[reillyranch]

Hogsy, I did not get to the gas kettle this weekend.  This week the weather looks better.

I am real courious how mine are stamped now.  I really thought you were on to something with the A and B.  I see another number printed on the last picture you posted.  Do the first two pictures of the Venturi tubes have any numbers printed on them?

[Hogsy]

Hogsy, I did not get to the gas kettle this weekend.  This week the weather looks better.

I am real courious how mine are stamped now.  I really thought you were on to something with the A and B.  I see another number printed on the last picture you posted.  Do the first two pictures of the Venturi tubes have any numbers printed on them?

Unfortunately they don't

[Hogsy]

I'm posting this for Golly who was kind enough to share
Thanks Cobber

[Hogsy]

Golly also sent me these photos of two different gas kettle instruction labels
Both kettles are the 'Deluxe' model featuring the igniter and tank scale and the only difference between the two is one is green and the other chocolate. The instruction labels are also different
If you look at the serial No. the first letter is the same.
But the numbers are different?
The Green Kettle

The Chocolate Kettle

And the serial numbers from my two chocolate gas kettles
The first from the kettle with brackets attached to the lid and metal handles

And this , from my gas kettle with timber handles and vents in the lid
I think this model was the base model , there's no igniter and no tank scale

Interesting that both Golly's Gassers have the same first letter in the serial No.'s and there different colors. And my two have the same first letter, are the same color , but have different lids and one has metal bowl handles and the other timber.

[Hogsy]

Here's some pics from the 1981 Weber catalog