What is this thing?

It looks like it should have fire in it. It has little air inlet and no exhaust. It was made by Dietzgen. They make surveying and drafting equipment.

There's a big steel valve with a lever that controls a flapper in the bottom. A bulge in the tin cover lines up with the word CLOSE on the casting to leave the flapper closed.

It was in a thrift store listed as a hand warmer. I doubt it.

Anybody have a clue?

9

 

With out seeing more of it, I would guess it's a Smudge Pot, but would need to see more of it!

 

Missing the burner/fuel pot?
Or the base is the fuel pot and this thing is as new!

 

Any patent numbers on it?

 

No evidence that anything has ever been burned in it. Also no air inlet or exhaust.
I think folks saw Dietz... and thought "lantern."

Dietzgen makes surveyors equipment. I'm trying to get better pictures to share. Must've hit the video button when I was crawling around trying to get better views of the thing.

 

The top of the tube is just a neatly welded metal cap. No openings or markings. About 36" of tube painted in military green color.

 

No patent numbers.

Geese! My videography skills are sad.

 

Wonder if it's a type of heater like the old heaters they used to have on the side of the road for the road crews ??

 

It'd be a simmer at best. But I like the concept. I'm still searching. The heavy clapper over a Rusty chamber and the recessed area around the outside of the clapper made me think heater. But what fuel with so little air? And no exhaust.

Maybe the base is heated and then the tube goes on?

 

It’s cool. I love old stuff.

 

No pilot light or other internal workings. No fittings clearly visible, although there was something that I couldn't get a good look at in the side of the chamber with the flapper. It could've been a smashed tube that let something into or out of the chamber.

I'm leaning toward water level, surveyors transit base for urban (concrete base) work, or some other construction application. The shiny steel disc pulls off the three pins and has the remains of the same GI green paint as on the tube. Instructions are simple enough. CLOSE is when the bump in the tube is aligned with the flapper arm and in any other position the flapper is open.

(Can I mention how much I've missed having a comma on my keyboard? Phone has gone wonky on me and switched up the keyboard, and now I have no comma on my screen. Insignificant? Try writing a letter without a comma and you'll see what I mean. It's like a punishment. "I sentence you to five years without the use of a comma." NOoooooo!)

 

Doesn't seem to fit the smudge pot principle of operation. Gas perhaps, or even kerosene with the area around the reservoir as a preheat? Possible, but no residue, no evidence of fire, and little to support fire (air inlet/exhaust) has me questioning that theory.

So what does the valve do? Assuming that smashed bit on the side is a fitting, we can let water in there, with the valve closed, and it would run out the gap around the flapper valve lever. rotate the tube to close the valve and the water rises in the tube... but it has no air bleed, so it can't fill it. There's also leakage at the bottom of the tube where it meets the base.

That valve does something, and with the name Dietzgen I suspect it has to do with building/surveying/engineering, but I'm still stumped by this whatsit..

 

So, why was the 7 hole plate removable?

 

Dietzgen
Lots to look at here, but I gotta feed. Enjoy the game!

 

looks like a heater for orchard or vineyard... one of the old ones

 

If it didn't have legs I'd guess it was a bayonet heater mounted on the side of a liquid filled tank. That perf plate sure looks like a diffuser.

 

This is the outer shell for a weather recording device.