To prevent smoking up the cylinder you are recommended to use alcohol (denatured or wood) in generating cups; light and allow to burn out, then turn on gasoline and light at the perforated cone at top of burner; turn low.
If you are not used to gasoline burners, get some one who knows how to show you.
Directions for Gas Fuel.
It is essential to have an uninterrupted and sufficient supply of gas.
Do not use a rubber tube to carry gas to the popper if you can connect the popper directly by pipe. The tubing greatly reduces the pressure. Run a three-quarter-inch pipe to a small sized Popper; and an inch pipe to the large sized Poppers. See that the gas comes to this through no smaller pipe.
Light the burner and turn low.
The distance the pop-corn cylinder is away from the burner is very important. If your cylinder is too near the burner, your corn will be really under the heat and not in it. If the cylinder is too far away from the burner, the corn will be too far away from the hottest part of your fire. This will show by your corn being roasted instead of popped and by your popped kernels being small. The distance between cylinder and the burner should be about 1 inch. This does not mean ¼ inch or ½ inch, neither does it mean 1¼ inch or 1½ inch. The pressure of the gas may require that you make a new adjustment of the burner up or down to get absolutely the best results with the gas you must use.
To Pop the Pop-Corn.
Make yourself thoroughly familiar with the motions of operating the popper with raw corn without fire before trying to pop corn.
A power-driven machine should have the power turned on before the burner is lighted. This prevents the liability of your forgetting to keep the cylinder revolving over the fire. If the cylinder is not in motion, the fire will burn a hole in it or get it out of shape.