Thermette, Benghazi Boiler, Storm-Kettle, Ghillie, 'Kelly' - and VOLCANO .. A Gem by any Name.

 I like quality old stuff - I really enjoyed reading the 1977 HANDGUNNER Magazine that Greg Ellifritz posted in his Weekend Knowledge Dump .. those old articles were well detailed in their content.  

- I recently bought another old 'Thermette' that seems to be an early heavy tinned model that cost three times as much as the 'Standard Model' back in 1929 New Zealand.

Guaranteed to rapidly boil enough water for 14 cups of tea - the standard copper unit sold for 8 Shillings & 9 pence while the Tinned Model was 27/6d. - I guess families were bigger back then and the kids couldn't refuse hot drinks by saying they only drank sugar syrup & phosphoric-acid cola ..

A short kiwi history to be found here: https://teara.govt.nz/en/zoomify/41838/thermette

This efficient design was patented in New Zealand in 1929 .. but the Kelley family of western Ireland have also built them for generations there - and the design was made and used by gypsy traveling tinsmiths there since the 1800's - and similar styled SAMOVARS are widely known in Russia and Asia going back for perhaps 4,000 years of tea brewing.

Volcanoes.

Auckland City and Harbor sits upon a volcanic field

 of approx 53 VOLCANOES .. Currently dormant.

I'm getting a bit of a collection of these fellers as I really like copper metal and enjoy the outdoors plus I like the idea of having a cuppa when I survive the next big earthquake eh.

You can get a cooking grill or ring to mount above the chimney making a multi-purpose unit .. but you'd need to be careful about stability when putting heavy pans on top.

I get the impression that some designs may have been made at the railway workshops in the old days - plus the odd plumber may have been a little creative on his quite times ..

- New units are running at nz$200 plus nowadays .. wow I got a bargain with my latest buy. 

 The recent pronouncement that there is a 75% risk here of the Southern Alpine Fault letting-go with a huge EARTHQUAKE in the next 50 years makes a strong argument for prepping to cope with serious disruption to normal life:

 SHELTER FOOD WATER & SAFETY.

Marty K.