As I understand it, the earliest experiments were with more volatile fuels which required only very simple stove designs. The big breakthrough was after experiments in the vaporisation of paraffin/kero, which allowed the fuel of preference to burn cleanly compared to the wick stoves of the time.
From the Primus Stove wiki article: The Primus stove was the first pressurized-burner kerosene (paraffin) stove, developed in 1892 by Frans Wilhelm Lindqvist, a factory mechanic in Stockholm. The stove was based on the design of the hand-held blowtorch; Lindqvist's patent covered the burner, which was turned upward on the stove instead of outward as on the blowtorch
@Rich_S you opened this post re suitcase and 1 burner P70. all petrol. US suit case category might be worthy to separate out? (far & away different and later than earliest European 1 burner petrol stoves. What might be the earliest US suitcase (1910s) has not yet been mentioned in this post, here's a bit to consider: =================== 1870s Assurans was a *petrol stove, possibly the earliest known of this type. I join categorizing these as *petrol stoves, but not "petrol" as we know it today. Re 1870/1880 "petrol" had apparatus using a more volatile liquid fuel (not whale oil, not paraffin). Development of this category of fuel is a difficult history to nail down. Fuel developed constantly i happen to recall significant improvements occurred late 1870s and again c1910. Re c1910: availability of improved fuel likely was part of inspiration for earliest US suitcase stoves (US stoves were a different development track than Europe however & noteworthy: blowtorches US/Europe developed fairly lockstep as i recall).
So, to recap - the kerosene blowtorch was first, and then re-purposed for stoves. Sven the assembly line worker probably used the blowtorch to re-heat his coffee, someone had an “Aha!” moment, and the rest, as they say, is history. But this still doesn’t answer the original question. What was the very first single burner gasoline stove?
This is an interesting point I hadn't considered. According to Wikipedia, modern "petrol" was first introduced during the 1870s but as a solvent not a fuel. The first petrol engine was the Benz Patent-Motorwagen in 1886, but only 25 were produced over the next 8 years. Gasoline production really didn't start to ramp up until the early 1900s. History of gasoline - Wikipedia That last sentence really echoes your point.
Prentis Wabers still seems to be the winner for single burner white gas stove. At least for outdoor camping or auto-touring. Searching here the #4 PW pop ups and on the Terrence Marsh website. Also on Marsh's website is an AGM cooker used for outdoor vendors.
Hm, the AGM 20 clocks in roughly 4 years earlier ~ 1918, which roughly coincides with the widespread adoption of gasoline as motor fuel. Any gasoline burners older than this?
Petrol/gasoline was pretty commonplace long before 1918. Cars running on the stuff were losing their novelty in the first few years of the 20th century. British farmers were using imported US built petrol engines from 1903 onwards.
Well, maybe, but of course the point here being the discussion is the earliest gasoline single burner? So far the AGM 20 seems to be in the running, that’s all.
Not maybe, it's fact regards the widespread use and distribution networks of gasoline/petrol by the earliest years of the 20th century, whereas your statement of 1918 is way off the mark. As mentioned before, the Assurans of the 1870s is a single burner stove which burned gasoline from a time before gasoline was even really defined, as it had no large scale commercial uses and was seen as a dangerous more highly volatile by-product of refining paraffin/kerosene. Therefore as far as we know the Assurans was the first petrol stove, they were produced in reasonable numbers, and run cleanly on what has since been labelled petrol/gasoline, nearly half a century before the AGM 20. As an aside, given that naphtha flare lamps have been around since the late 1840s, I wonder if some of the early experiments with stoves such as the Assurans were made with coal-derived naphtha, which would be very similar to early oil derived petrol/gasoline....
And a fascinating tangent from Saveock Water Archaeology, several pages here discussing experiments with potential bronze age blowlamps- technically wick lamps but with clever chimney work to intensify the flame. I wouldn't be suprised if a pure blue flame could be achieved with the correct setup, as in the Monitor Regal and Tilley preheaters... Animal fat and beeswax used for fuel in experiments, but olive oil would have been viable around the Med... were the first liquid fueled blowlamps bronze age?
Well, OK - I’m grateful it only took 27 posts to get that cleared up. The Assurans is an interesting looking device I must say.
The answer was in post #17, and would have been found in the Stove Reference Library on this site (the largest collection of stove information anywhere, surely?). It also depends upon how one interprets the original question- the first ever stove burning petrol/gasoline, the first outdoors/sports stove, etc. And the answer which incorporates the early evolution of petrol stoves hasn't really been spelled out on here before I don't think. Unless further discoveries or information come to life, it goes roughly like this, corrections/tweaks welcomed: -Petrol/gasoline was an easy fuel to design a stove around due to the very simple vaporisation needs. The Assurans is likely the first successful stove of this type, and was produced in reasonable numbers. However, petrol/gasoline was not widely distributed at the time and there was likely some stigma regarding safety, so it was soon eclipsed once paraffin/kero vaporisation was perfected. -Petrol remained popular for blowlamps, and development ran along similar lines in Europe and the US. I haven't a clue about US stoves but it seems petrol/gasoline made a comeback for outdoor use there first- @cottage hill bill and @Daryl give dates of 1914 and around then for the Gates and AGM. Around the same time in Britain (1913) John Shaw & Sons were developing their own petrol blowlamps to compete with the Swedish dominance, and by 1923 had produced a small petrol stove which appears to be the common ancestor for all the following sports/outdoor models of the type (Radius No.42, Primus No.70/71, Optimus No.80, Svea No.123/123r, German and Soviet models et al.). Larger 'suitcase' petrol/gasoline stoves never really caught on in most of in Europe (where paraffin was king) but become the norm in Canada/US and some extent Australia.
