Sent to me from Saxony, this Meva stove hasn't strayed far (until now) from its place of origin in Czechoslovakia in the pre-1989 Eastern bloc era of state manufacture MEVA history - Stove Ref Library I always like to see how a stove's put together - and this is quality engineering The burner array of corrugated and plain washers partially resembles Coleman construction, but whereas the Coleman washers are flat, these are dished Burner assembly - can't fathom why it needs that asbestos washer at the base of the washer stack though ... Burner simply screws onto the control valve and there's a locking nut Control valve is a substantial lump of brass ... ... and plastic The jet nipple has a form of sintered brass filter I've not seen before - the jet orifice isn't as large as it appears in the photo incidentally - the surrounding to the hole is chamfered and that's what you see there Butane cartridge unique to the Meva brand, equipped with a lindal valve but not a 7/16 inch screw fitting. It came to me empty but I devised a way of refilling it Burner installed in the stove frame/pot rest/windshield. You'll notice an aluminium nut equipped with a locking set-screw that acts in Bunsen burner air control fashion to provide an adjustable air intake to optimise the fuel/air ratio for combustion. Once set it doesn't need adjustment With too much air the flame starts to lift off the burner Correctly set, simmering to maximum heat is easily controlled Illustration from the fuel canister with the stove featured and blowtorch/soldering iron and lantern attachments John
Nice one, John, O master of the vintage butane. Reminds me a bit of the Primus Grasshopper. I wonder if the asbestos washer was to prevent excessive thermal feedback which might cause the tank to overpressurize. HJ
John, you da man who can disassemble and assemble with ease. Am wondering about those scalloped design similar to the colemans and the likes. Ron
Ron said, Mmm, I detect the fertile brain of our Ron at work ... ... an alternative to drilling all those holes in a silent burner converter cap modelled on BernieDawg's work perhaps? Producing the 'crinkle' washers might prove an equally daunting task though! Concerning that asbestos washer, thanks for your replies HJ and Sparky. You've hit the nail on the head I'm sure, it's got to be for heat shielding. Having worked on a couple of MSR Fireflies recently (one for a friend, another one I bought for myself) I've noticed how hot the control valve on the stove gets due to heat conduction through the mass of aluminium in the burner body, the design coping with it by having a suitably heat-tolerant compound for the O-ring seal on the control spindle. With the Firefly in mind, I'm thinking that the asbestos washer on the Meva is to thermally isolate the control valve from heat conduction from the burner and prevent the valve seal and plastic knob from being burned, rather than shield the gas cart from radiant heat, the cart being well away from the burner or pot base. On second thoughts, irespective of the control knob and O-ring in the valve, if conducted heat got to that plastic fixing collar on the gas cartridge the connection would soon fail. John