What Is This Thing?

 
rberq
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Post by rberq » Thu. Apr. 13, 2017 3:20 pm

Does anybody know that this is? This isn’t a quiz where I’m going to tell you whether you’re right or not, because I don’t know the answer. It has been in the loft of my garage since long before we bought the house. I’m guessing it is World War II vintage. Overall size is about 24 inches high, 19 wide, 10 deep. My best guess is some kind of heater that runs on gasoline but it must be specialized because the heat-radiating piece appears to be six “propeller” blades.

Bottom view: There is an air valve, a fuel valve, and a “flame” valve with an air shutter that moves independently of the flame valve. Also pressure gauge up to 60 psi, and a petcock that I think is for attaching an external fuel line.
generator 001.JPG
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Back view: I think the large tanks on left and right are air pressure tanks. The two smaller rusty cylinders appear to be spare “generators?”, just hanging in brackets and not attached by any tubing.
generator 002.JPG
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Front view: The curved black plates with printing on them appear to be heat shields around the large tanks. The propeller-looking thing doesn’t spin but rotates about 1/8 turn by pulling the rod at left. The propeller feels like cast iron and is attached to a large hub behind it. The hub is supported by a (cast iron?) tube whose mounting flange (rusty) you can see bolted to the base. I think the mounting flange contains a burner. The narrow cylinder in front of the propeller has an air supply at top and fuel supply at bottom, or vice versa; and a short tube connects the base of the cylinder to the flange supporting the propeller hub. This cylinder sits very close to the "propeller" but is not attached to it in any way.
generator 003.JPG
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Instructions:
generator 004.JPG
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generator 005.JPG
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rberq
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Post by rberq » Thu. Apr. 13, 2017 4:00 pm

On closer examination, those lines on the "propeller" blades are actually slots just wide enough to slip paper in edgewise. So the propeller must be a burner, and the whole unit would sit horizontally. What I have been calling the front is really the top. Which would place the long cylinder (called a "generator"?) directly above the burner while in operation. Still confused... :?

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Thu. Apr. 13, 2017 4:06 pm

Looks like a huge Kero burner.

 
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Post by Sunny Boy » Thu. Apr. 13, 2017 4:41 pm

It's like a massive Coleman gas stove burner. If you've ever used a Coleman gasoline ("Coleman fuel" or white gas) stove you'll recognize how many of the parts work. And as it says in the operating instructions, It's designed to burn gasoline, not kerosene.

The gasoline tanks get pressurized with air- usually by hand pump - to push raw gasoline through the fuel valve to the generator.

The "generator" is a tube leading to the burners that is heated by the flames from the burners. The raw gasoline flows into the generator and is turned into (generates) a hot gas vapor.

By using burner heat to preheat and vaporize the gasoline, it gives much hotter, cleaner burning flames than by just burning raw gasoline.

Might be for a large Army field kitchen ? But with that many burners, that size, whatever it was meant to heat sure was a big pot !!!! :o

Paul

 
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Post by coaledsweat » Thu. Apr. 13, 2017 5:59 pm

It is a very strange beast.

 
rberq
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Post by rberq » Thu. Apr. 13, 2017 6:42 pm

Sunny Boy wrote:It's like a massive Coleman gas stove burner ....
Might be for a large Army field kitchen ? But with that many burners, that size, whatever it was meant to heat sure was a big pot !!!! :o
I think you have it right, SB. Apparently it’s something like this; an older version of the M59 military field stove. Once lighted it slides into a cabinet under a cooktop. The guy in this thread also refers to it generating its own pressure once it is started, but I don’t know how. One of the tanks on mine is probably for gasoline and the other for air. The fact that the burner rotates would allow sort of a crude adjustment of the generator tube temperature.

It's condition is too good to send to the dump. Now I have to find a military collector who would like to have it.

http://www.colemancollectorsforum.com/post/help-me-id-this-military-stove-5652677

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&sour ... qXGz2rUYFM:

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Thu. Apr. 13, 2017 6:50 pm

I bet it is all business when lit. :yes:


 
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Post by samhill » Thu. Apr. 13, 2017 7:41 pm

Might be something to keep the power dry, just thinking because it says to get the ordinance maint. for problems. Usually Army stuff has all kinds of PNN names & #s.

 
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Post by KLook » Thu. Apr. 13, 2017 9:03 pm

I have seen one or two of those. There used to be a place in Meddybemps Maine that became a superfund site and then his son started another one a mile or so away. They took in incredible amounts of gov surplus....then they threw him in jail for paying the gov to take it..... :baby: :what:

Kevin

 
rberq
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Post by rberq » Thu. Apr. 13, 2017 9:10 pm

samhill wrote:Might be something to keep the power dry, just thinking because it says to get the ordnance maint. for problems. Usually Army stuff has all kinds of PNN names & #s.
Yes, I always use open flame to keep my powder dry. :baby:
I thought the same thing about numbers and such, but I couldn't find a name or number or ID plate on it anywhere.

 
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Post by samhill » Fri. Apr. 14, 2017 7:02 am

RB, if you put something too close your correct but connect to duct work or something else it works pretty well. Just a guess because of the instructions, never saw one & never went into our ammo bunkers more than what I had to but I do recall them as warm & dry during monsoon season.

 
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Post by Sunny Boy » Fri. Apr. 14, 2017 8:44 am

Yeah, not having a mil number is the puzzle. The military loves to put numbers on everything !!!! :o

Maybe it's a civilian version of GI mess hall stove ? Possibly the company that made the GI version made a post war version for civilian use, such as Red Cross emergency, or large catering services ? Lots of companies tried to stay in business after wars by modifying some of their products for Civilian use.

Paul.

 
rberq
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Post by rberq » Fri. Apr. 14, 2017 8:18 pm

Sunny Boy wrote:Maybe it's a civilian version of GI mess hall stove ?
That makes sense. No names or numbers anywhere, just that comment to get assistance from the "ordnance maintenance crew" if it doesn't work. My wife thinks I should get rid of it quick, in case it contains the ghost of some 70-year-old gasoline that might explode. :roll: It's a heavy sucker, probably 50 or 60 pounds.

 
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Post by cokehead » Sat. Apr. 15, 2017 4:02 pm


 
rberq
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Post by rberq » Thu. Apr. 20, 2017 4:54 pm

cokehead wrote:Answers here,
www.colemancollectorsforum
Yes, thanks, even more answers appeared after I posted it on the Coleman forum:
http://www.colemancollectorsforum.com/post/military-field-stove-8484430?pid=1295458629


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