I visited our local tin smith (Amish) last night. Apparently he's not the tin smith any more, but he still had a shear. I told him the metal he was cutting was for a pressure lamp, and he asked me if I knew something about gas stoves. Maybe. It's a very big gas stove! I got information from the web, printed it, and mailed it to him with a return postcard. Much cheaper than driving back to hopefully catch him at home. He'd tried to fire it up with kerosene, but that did not work well.
It has a handle to carry it around. Thats different. I do not know much so I maybe putting my foot in my mouth but is possible this is a lantern? or heater?
It's a plumbers furnace similar to the one in this YouTube video: [media=youtube]LufR3sqlrrM[/media] They were used to heat a crucible situated on top of the unit (missing in your photo and the video). The crucible would contain lead based solder. Pipe ends could be dipped in the solder to tin them in preparation for assembly using a blowtorch elsewhere on the job site. Thousands of these were made in the USA. Common brands are Clayton & Lambert, Bernz and Turner. There are others. They turn up frequently on eBay. Most American units are gasoline fueled. Cheers, Gary
