Bought at auction on a hunch. Silver plated with the adjustable spirit burner/stand. Probably from a very up market picnic set as the kettle is to small for a domestic use? There is no markings on the kettle handle to indicate how many pints it holds but about 2 to 3 pints . I think the disc around the burner with moles in maybe what remains of a mesh windshield ? I have no idea what the small wire sticking out vertically is? The knurled knob to one side adjusts the wick and flame nozzle up and down. There appears to be another pad of wick at the base of the burner tube on the base of the tank. The ceramic knob from the lid of the kettle has gone. Rattan handle cover has seen better days andI am going to have a go at replacing that.
Very nice @nmp... very classy as you say. But very likely to be a clone rather than a genuine Thompson Ritchie product, otherwise their lettering and a size in pints would be stamped beneath the spout.
@Blackdog The name Thompson Ritchie Buckingham gate is under the spout as expected so confirms it as the real deal.
Oh gosh @nmp, so it is a genuine model.... and therefore yet another variant, as this example has a fixed handle whereas I believe all others which have surfaced so far are folders....
Indeed, silver plated, rare fixed handle on the kettle; and also some interesting features on the burner unit. The handles on the burner unit also speak of a special bespoke item. Everything else on the burner suggests it is a French made ('G.M.') unit. Those are frequently the base with which Thompson Ritchie kettles were coupled. Normally, however, they have a single horizontal tubular handle, less frequently twin folding wire handles. This is first posted with the type of handles shown above. There is a good set of photos, and a valuable user discussion of the operation of this type of burner, here.
@igh371 Ian thanks so much for that link about the burner taking me to Johns ( @presscall ) original post. The burner is as you say identical and seems to operate in the manner described, i can turn up the priming sock and get the small pilot holes n the tip to light on their own but have not had much luck getting the lower holes to ignite when the sock is lowered. more experimentation with fuel levels etc is needed I think? I think the sock is too tight on the burner tube so does not move down with its sleeve when that lowered? As a point of interest the ornate handles on the fuel tank are fixed and do not fold inwards. The fuel tank when empty is very heavy at 1.3 kg! or best part of 3lbs!! Any Idea what the wire beside the burner is for?
The joint round the spout was leaking so I have soldered it up which I was very reticent to do ! It was leaking badly and made the kettle unfunctional in my opinion, there was evidence of a previous lumpy repair in the same area so I am not the first to try and sort it. my repair worked but was a compromise on the aesthetic front! This led to me having to clean the area around the spout to get the solder to take, which then looked odd against the tarnished areas so I have had to polish the whole thing up including the base to match the kettle. (I was very gentle!0 I can hear the howls of anguish but I really had no choice! Knowing silver it will soon tarnish up again.
I have checked both of those I still have here to be sure, there should only be one sock between the burner tube and the adjustable shroud. That sock should be fitted tight on the burner tube. Even with the outer wick sock fitted the burner tube should be really quite slack inside the shroud sleeve. The sock shouldn't be high enough up the tube to interfere with the main burner holes. The top of the clean silver section of the burner tube in your photo is correct for how high the sock should be positioned.
Yes, that disc would have been the base for a mesh cone draught shield as seen in this thread. The adjacent bent vertical wire is a puzzle. It appears to have been soldered into the open vent hole which is at that exact spot on my examples. Why would anyone do that?
@igh371 the only other possibility is that all other examples of the wire have become detached and left a hole? Unlikely ! From your description of the primer wick mine seems to be working as it should. If I remove the burner tube I can see some more wick material in the base of the fuel tank is yours the same?
