Do any of you stovies know anything about the Sirram Company? I just bought a "Volcano Kettle" made by Sirram. I can't seem to find out anything about them on the net. There is plenty of info on "Volcano" type kettles in general, including the fact that the kiwis used a varity in WWII. I would like to find out if they made any accessories like is made today for the Kelly Kettle. Here is the eBay page: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5135472690&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT Tis may be a bit off topic but all help is appreciated. Thanks. Gordon
Gorden I have a Kelly kettle and they are superb at doing only one thing. Boiling water, for what ever reason, tea, coffee, or pregnant women etc. They work so well on a small amount of fuel because of the 'chimney' effect and the large surface area of the chimney which 'captures' the normally waste heat. Remove this chimney and you have a stupid little fire that is of little use. So I would recommend saving your money. H
Most of the stuff made my Marris Ltd were alcohol stoves & picnic sets. They also did a line of kettles designed to run off the cig. lighter in your car. I haven't seen any modern product by them & don't know if they still exist. Sirram is Marris backwards! http://
Hi there, my mate was absolutley gutted to lose that auction These kettles are fetching stiff money aren't they? Everyone I;ve met who has one says that they are great, but I can't add any more than that. GC
They are absolutly brilliant. They'll burn anything from twigs to yak dung and once you get a small fire going they'll boil water faster than an electric kettle. I've timed mine (you sad git) 2 pints of water in as many minutes, beat that Mr Russell Hobbs H
By the way the fire box of the Sirram Volcano Kettle is made of steel. I guess it might be possible to melt aluminum with a descent little fire. The little combustibles fire would probably not be enough to support any serious cooking. I wonder if a Trangia or Svea 123 might surfice for the heat source and be as efficient as the twigs, etc. in heating the water. If so, the a little ring tubed shaped verticle extender to fit into the burner box groove designed to hold the kettle with a small pot holder to fit over the extender top might be just the thing to really complete the rig. Of course the trick would be to fit all of this into the space formed by the inverted fire box after all is set for transporting. This would have to be with the Trangia only heat source tohave any chance of fitting. I may have a little experimenting ahead. '8)'
actualy, yeah. A trangia or a Svea NC 76 wld do wonders w/ a setup like that. A friend of mine was x perimenting w/ a "chimney type wind screen" for his Svea NC76; he was allarmed at how fast the water boiled.(was checking his pans for a week) The burner being steel IS a major point as well. This same friend and I were playing w/ the wind screen/pot stand that comes w/ the Swede military set and Svea NC76, it seemed REALY strong, so we figured it was steel and used it as a wood burner; worked great-3 times- then we noticed we could squash it w/ our hands. Aluminum aneals VERY easily. Congratz on your find.
Marris's Ltd diversified from producing brass fern pots and bedstead knobs to picnic ware in 1906 (sales £3,000pa) using the brand name Sirram. I don't have any product details as to when aluminium was used instead of brass for the methylated spirit stoves. The burner itself was always brass. Leatherette covered Picnic outfits were developed soon after WW1 as a fashionable accessory to the motor cars of that era and remained in production until the early 1970's. Father was shown a brazed copper Volcano kettle in the early 1930's by, I think, a New Zealander. He quickly saw the merit of the design and after a lot of experimentation made it in aluminium and patented it. The body and the liner were spun from discs of sheet aluminium. There were only two craftsmen in the Birmingham factory who could do this and only one of those who could put the two parts together without them leaking! The other problem at that time was obtaining aluminium without any inclusions, which would only manifest themselves when the stove was used in the form of pin prick holes. Ireland was a big market for them. They were advertised as boiling three pints in three minutes using one copy of the Times, which was a great deal smaller in those days. Halfords were the largest customer for all the stoves. Production of all the Sirram stoves finished about 1970 when the French Bluet stove arrived with its little blue gas cylinders.
Dear, E. Marris, Thank you, very much, for posting the wonderful information about your Dad's company!!! It is quite a treat to read such "inside" information, and I know that all of us thank you for sharing it with us!! Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc Mark
E. Marris: Thanks so much for your most informative comments. I have the form fitting water flask that fits up inside the kettle chimney. It has its own stopper. Were they produced and sold as a set? I have not seen very many of these kettles and I have seen only the one flask. It appears that the set has never been used. Do you know if there was a small accessory grill that fit on top of the burner section that would allow it to perform in the capacity of a traditional stove with a small pan, albeit fueled with a little Trangia/Svea brass spirit stove or grass, paper, pine cones, etc. Thanks again. Gordon
Gordon, Most of the Volcano kettles were sold with the spare carrier, although we did offer it without. No there was no accessory to enable the base burner to be used in any other way. To boil a pan you should have bought one of the meths stoves! It seems a pity not to use an unused one but they inevitalby get sooty when used. However it is fun to see it in use. Edward
Edward: I may put it to use but with a Borde Bomb or other blue flame source of heat. Hope to avoid soot buildup that way. I want to avoid excess heat or it might impact the integrety of the aluminum kettle. Thanks again for all the info. Gordon
As long as there's water in the kettle the temperature cannot go high enough to melt aluminum. Allow it to boil dry, and it's another matter. I have some hand made soldered tinplate cookware I use in my Mountain Man camps. Solder melts at a much lower temperature than aluminum. My coffee pot is a "certified" antique having been made before 1830. It's in good working condition and I use it to brew coffee frequently. As long as it's wet inside, no problems. Soot is very easily removed with any high flash petroleum based solvent such as acetone, toluol, lacquer thinner, or even Coleman fuel. The leakage problem seems to have been addressed successfully by Kelly in their kettles by the use of a sealant of some kind. The instruction sheet accompanying mine mentioned that my kettle would likely leak a few drops until it had been "fired" a time or two and the sealant activated. That's exactly what happened. Gerry
Aluminium melts at 1100 deg F. and aluminium oxide at about 6300 deg. F.. The aluminium will melt and you will still think it is safe to lift from the heat then the aluminium oxide which is much thinner will be unable to hold the weight of the aluminium and the whole thing comes crashing down drowening your fire and spilling hot aluminium on your shoes. OUCH. This is the true reason for the thin steel heat defuser in the Coleman model 530 "GI" pocket stoves. It is to protet the aluminium pots from dry fire. Lead based solder melts at about 450 deg. F. This depends on the amount of tin and other alloying materials but it only ranges from about 400 to 600 deg. F. and most in the 450 to 500 deg F. temp range. lance
Good morning all: Some months back I was lucky enough to nail a Volcano Kettle (Sirram made). I posted the score on the forum and received many helpful comments. I was also informed by CG "Onepot" (see below) that I "gutted" his mate who had designs on the item also. Well, ever since then I have felt a bit guilty of depriviing Onepot's mate of this beautiful device. Today is my day of deliverance as I have come across some modern versions by Kelly Kettle. See: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZez2endoQQhtZ-1 Onepot, pass this on to your buddy. Gordon
Sweetness and light! ! ! EIGHTY DOLLARS ? ? ? I got mine for less than forty ! ! There's a Canadian outfit called Lee Valley And Veritas who sell high end tools, gardening gear and exceedingly cheap (As in thrifty) toys and novelties. They also have the best prices globally for the Kelly Kettle. Even better prices at around Christmastime. http://www.leevalley.com/gifts/page.aspx?c=2&p=43901&cat=4,104,53221&ap=1 Gerry
Nice score Gerry I said before, they are brilliant at doing one thing, boiling water, a task they do very very quickly. An added bonus is the fire and smoke of course
Henry, your using naptha, and a kelly kettle, your just one small step from using a Trangia You may not want one now, but the thought is in your head 8)
I have thought about about it but i really don't need one. My idea of light weight camping is not taking the caravan. If I do use a tent that's the smallest item that i take. gather up all the large pots and pans from the kitchen, tables and chairs and bung it in the back of the Landy. that's why i have a big truck like that.
"I have thought about about it but i really don't need one. " What's need got to do with any of this, did I miss something?
