My first thought was that this was french military. The cooker fits inside the container and doubles as a boiling pot with removable handle. The inscription says "Rechaud Lang a Flamme Forcee"
@Thecalmcoolcollector Hi, welcome to CCS, I don't know much about French stoves but first thoughts are it looks like a Pigeon lamp, there is an Ultimheat museum of French and Belgian stoves online and a quick search turned up a manufacturer with a brand called Lang who made spirit stoves. It does not give much information but hopefully it's a start. Musee Ultimheat du Chauffage Kind regards Dave
I'm thinking that the cone-shaped piece in the middle is a snuffer that should lift off to reveal a wick. That would mean it's a spirit (alcohol) burner. I doubt it was a military stove, though it could have seen military service by being purchased by a soldier. It's certainly an unusual and attractive piece. ....Arch
“…….a Flamme Forcee" or “forced flame” might indicate something more than a simple wick. If there is no jet in the top of the centre column then there must be something underneath it as @ArchMc suggests but I can’t see a wick control knob. You might find a pre-heat cup under there. I’d love to know when you get it working.
A Google search turned up another document in the Ultimheat museum https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://ultimheat.info/search_pdf/1876%20Lang%20rechaud%2020120401.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiPg670k_eIAxXuSkEAHXGGJwEQFnoECB4QAQ&usg=AOvVaw01mlhjgf-V4IqIn6w1PN1R Apparently the extension is not allowed?
Old French is not something I find easy to read but as far as I can make out the cylindrical wick is contained in a gauze cylinder, a small wick causes a flame at the bottom which heats the vapouriser causing horizontal flames at the top. It is claimed to boil a litre of water in 7 minutes starting from 15C using 26 grams of alcohol whereas a wick stove takes 15 minutes using 39 grams of alcohol.
Franco Googlish but it gets the jist. No big surprises I think. LANG, inventor LALLEMANT FILS AND VAPPEREAU, SUCCESSORS SOLE OWNERS OF THE LANG STOVE. RUE SAINTONGE, B, AND VIEILLE-DU-TEMPE, 110. SUMMARY OF THE REPORT BY MR. H. BOUILHET ON BEHALF OF THE ECONOMIC ARTS COMMITTEE ON MR. LANG'S FORCED FLAME ALCOHOL STOVE This device consists essentially of a wick rolled up on itself, contained in a thin, seamless copper cylinder. and at the upper part, which is pierced only by a row of very small holes, and completely open at the lower part cylinder rests, by the bus, on the bottom of the lamp, and, by the top, it exceeds the orifice of the reservoir by about i centimeters. The wick is covered externally by a second ordinary lamp wick which does not rise and only grazes the reservoir orifice. When this last wick is lit, a very small crown of flame is obtained, the main function of which is to heat the copper cylinder and the wick it contains, to vaporize the alcohol which has filled it by capillarity, and to cause the alcohol vapor to escape through the upper ends of the wick holder in horizontal jets which ignite on contact with the external flame. We have a horizontally expanded hearth, which is the most suitable one could wish for heating various vessels placed above H. BOCIERET found, by experiment, that in minutes, 26 grams of alcohol used in a small apparatus made one liter of water taken at 150, while it would have taken 59 grams of alcohol and 15 minutes if an ordinary lamp had been used. The Committee of Economic Arts proposes to thank Mr. LANG for his communication and to insert the report in the Bulletin, with a healthy ? of the device. These conclusions are approved.
I'm interested in finding out if there's a wick under that cone. I'm wondering if the setup is more like this stove. (See a closeup of the wick arrangement in the 4th photo.) ....Arch
Interpreting the interpretation, I’d say that the central wick is fixed like a Trangia wick. The secondary wick is the pre-heater. Always assuming that the document refers to the OP stove!
Thanks @snwcmpr I was struggling with that. @Pattree the document refers to the Lang ' Flamme forcee ' system and as the OP's stove is engraved with that I assume that is how it works. There is another control which can be seen in pictures 3 & 4 which is possibly for adjusting the wick or burner
Here are some more pictures. There is a perforated (jetted) cylinder under the cap that also has a hand tied wick on it. There may have been a pump or adjustment knob that was damaged or sheered off shown in the pictures. And it almost looks as though it is silver plated. There is a number 1 or an I next to the engraving maybe a model number? Proto type maybe? I was told it was civil war era.
This appears to be the design. I posted some more pictures in earlier reply. Thank you for your research.
Thank you for posting your beautiful and fascinating stove, if you look at the sales invoice I first posted it lists 2 models Rechaud Lang de voyage No1 and Rechaud Lang no 2 so I think the 1 is the model no for your traveling stove. The Ultimheat site has a stove encyclopedia, Encyclopedie Illustree des ancien apparels de chauffage et de cuisson et de leurs combustibles (600pages) and a search of that gives Lang alcohol stove 1867 Pg 20 and Lang Flamme forcee stove 1876 Pg 21 so I think that dates your stove to not before 1876. Further research suggestions are the patent, brevete SGDG is a kind of French patent and the trade fairs that it won medals at, a med de Vermeil is apparently a silver gilt medal.
Sorry for the late response. Here is a couple pictures of the jet and wick setup. I believe this was the first of its kind.
