Vent anomaly

[Jocool]

I'm not sure if I have discovered something of any importance, but I noted some anomalies between a J and P coded vent today. More specifically, the stamping of the vents in the lids themselves.

The J coded vent holes seem to be stamped flat with no lip. The pictures should explain.





Whereas the P coded vent holes seemed to have a chamfered or raised lip around the stamping of the vent holes.





Has this been previously noted? Does it seem right that on a newer kettle they would make it in such a way that would make it more expensive to manufacture? Or is there a design idea behind it?

I also noted that a K coded lid vent has the flat holes with no chamfer.

[Craig]

I don't think this has been brought up before. Good catch! My EO and EE red 22's have this as well. They must have done this between '88 and the early 90s. On another note, the 4 lid vent holes are smaller on the older kettles than they are on later ones. Example. My 1979 red 22 has smaller vent holes than my 1995 red 22. It appears your J vent holes are smaller than the ones on the P vent? Those two changes must have coincided?

[Jocool]

I'm not sure if they are actually smaller. Next time out there, I'll grab the micrometer.

[truckertrash]

 I like the krooked J. I dont know why but the krooked code stamps are appealing.

[1buckie]

I noticed that before but didn't slow down to figure out years & stuff....

There's differences in the stamping.....







Suppose we could somehow determine where these happened.....might be enough kettles around to get a cross-section going.....

[Craig]

I noticed that before but didn't slow down to figure out years & stuff....

There's differences in the stamping.....







Suppose we could somehow determine where these happened.....might be enough kettles around to get a cross-section going.....

Ive noticed that too. Seems Weber went back and forth with this..

[pbe gummi bear]

It's possible that the tooling needed to be resurfaced once it wore out, leading to a slightly different dimension.

[Troy]

It's possible that the tooling needed to be resurfaced once it wore out, leading to a slightly different dimension.

i'm assuming the vent holes were punched, yes?

i worked at a ballast factory for about 6 months and one of the line jobs was press punching the mounting holes in the ballasts.
if the metal plates weren't properly seated, the holes wouldn't punch perfectly flat, they'd end up with some recessing.

could these slightly recessed, or downward facing vent holes simply be manufacturing flaws that weren't significant enough for QA to reject?

[Jocool]

I don't think so Troy. The few older grills I have, all have been consistent with having flat punched holes. Yet the later coded ones, O and newer, all seem to have the chamfered or lipped vent holes.

This leads me to believe it was an intentional design change. But for what reason? Does it perhaps give a better flow of smoke and heat? Or is it to stop condensation of some sort?

Mysteries of the beautiful world we live in!