I'm intrigued by this stove. The company that made them is a medical supply company based in Slovakia. When it was still Czechoslovakia, they had plants in Stara Tura, Prague and Brno and were called Prensna Mechanika. It was sold as an ex military stove(Yeah, I know) and they claim it is from the seventies.It does seem to have been in storage for a while but it could be a repro. These do date from the sixties and seventies but would have come in the usual eastern bloc cardboard box with paper stickers. Were they issued for medical use? The earliest I have found online was in a cardboard box and the seller listed it as 1962. Original boxes would have been date stamped or had a date stamped document inside. The wooden box is a bit of a mystery but it is well made and was made specifically to fit this stove. Also, there are a large number of stoves in these boxes for sale. There are also examples of other Prema products such as a mechanical spirit level...in a wooden box with a sliding top. Anyway here are some pictures. Any info would be greatly appreciated. It is a beast with that chimney on it. It boiled 300 ml of water in under 5 minutes. Weighs under 170gms and is a nice piece of kit. There is no simmer ring or snuffer. I use a lid off a small aluminium jar to snuff it out. It is too strong to cook on but for boiling water it is ideal. I like it. It also fits the Firemaple G2 and G3 HX pots which is a bonus.
@ewen I can’t add anything about the stove, which is new to me, but you’ve unearthed some interesting details yourself. I wonder if the equivalent of a Trangia’s simmer ring would tane the ‘beast’ you speak of?
A Trangia simmer ring is too large to fit between the pot stands. A 30ml tin lid does fit so a simmer ring could be dremelled out of that. For backpacking where only water boiling is needed for dehydrated food and for drinks it is ideal. I think the flame is too focused for general cooking, even with a simmer ring. It works more like a pocket rocket. I do find it a very interesting stove.
Ah, thanks. I thought it was probably a medical burner either sterilisation or dentistry given the state concern that manufactured it. Good to hear that it was army issue. Too many vendors call things army issue that I usually take it with a pinch of salt. It makes a good wee water boiler. Do you know if the box is original?
I have come across needle sterilizers that were military issue so I presume this is the same. The US WW2 MD pioneer comes to mind. The Prema is certainly powerful and boils water for a long time on a tank of alcohol. It would be interesting to source the full kit.
