I received today what the Deutsche Optik described as a French Army Sterilizer new old stock (still available at their website) which is quite cheap including S&H. First off, I noticed that the materials used is of high quality aluminum - polished on the outside and flat aluminum on the inside. The thickness of the aluminum is .0.52 of an inch. The widest section of the cup is 4 & 5/16 of an inch in diameter and stands 2 & 3/4 inch tall. The burner and windscreen nests nicely inside the cup Here shows all the parts of the kit. The burner goes into the windscreens bottom and nests itself securely. And the pot also slides into the top of the windscreen securely. Notice the swing out pot handles which are quite thick. Removing the cover of the burner reveals a familiar brass alcohol burner with a wick collar wrapped around the stem. I then pulled out the burner and checked out the inner workings of this particular burner. The round wick extends to the bottom of the burner stem and sits a bit loosely at the base of the burner. There is some cotton type material which is stuffed on the sides of the burner to hold the alcohol. The cap is also heavy for its design and notice that although this is new old stock, the rubber seal is cracked. So I lighted her up to do a tea test for 1 measuring cup of water. It took 12 minutes to get to a rolling boil. Then it dawned on me to check if the windscreen will accept a Swedish Military burner and the wincreen just sat on the lip of the burner as seen here And for the commercially available Trangia burner obviously smaller than the military version goes into the windscreen with around 2~4 mm gap between the burner lip and the windscreen I will try to test out if the military or the Trangia could do a better job of boiling water later. I did notice that the alcohol did not totally soak the wick inside the burner and that toward the end of the boil, the flames grew larger much like the flames generated by the military and Trangia burners and I pressume a good soaking of the wich (which was never soaked before) is required to get optimum flame results. And the generously thick cup holder was too hot to handle and required me to use a towel to remove from the windscreen. I also need to put down on my "to buy" list a new seal for the burner cap. Thanks for looking. Ron
Hi Ron, I remember having admired one years ago at the military show at Beltring, UK thinking it would be handy to use when going out on my motorcycle. Never bought it though, but it still looks as handsome as it did back then! Enjoy your new toy, regards, Wim
this is a fabulous piece of kit, and something i'd jump on lickety-split if spied at a local flea market! nice find!
Didn't find it on their website. They do have another type of French sterilizer, but not that one, that I could find. Bob
I was wrong. It is still available so be quick if you want one. Here is the link: French Army Sterilizer Ron
Ron that is an interesting sterilizer I wonder what other armies use for field sterilizing does anybody have different ones that we could see and compare ? Saludos
Hi Vega, am not really sure. They said it was a sterilizer my guess would be because the alcohol burner looks very much like the old style used for sterilizing. Its good though for making a cup of coffee. I got it new so am sure it was not used to sterilize anything so I use it for heating coffee. The closest one would be the META which Hikin Jim owns that has a cup and solid fuel burner. Ron
received my 'French Army Sterilizer' today via post in a small, cube box - fast shipping! - these are definitely NOS, although there are no markings... nice polish on the lid and outside... as with Ron's the washer for the burner cap is old and cracked - fortunately i have quite a collection of nitrile o-rings on hand, so a replacement is simple (or i could just duck down to Ace hardware and peruse the plumbing shelves)... however, whereas Ron's burner was stuffed with some form of cotton, mine was definitely packed with some form of animal (most likely horse) hair! mmm... steak tartare w/diced onion, salt and pepper on Westphalian pumpernickel - a boyhood memory this is a nice little piece of kit... i'll still need a circle of windscreen (cut from an oven liner), but the 'sterilizer' looks like a workmanlike little outing stove for the bicycle... thanks, Ron!
