Todays Find - Stove

[Loader]

My wife and I were wandering around a local antique mall, and she found me a new stove, a Model 523. Looks like it needs a coat of paint but the tank holds pressure, so couldn't let it go by for $8.50!

Any idea where to find the data on this thing? Is this one of the military medical stoves?

[campmaster-k]

Oh you lucky dog! Those are never cheap. Great find.

[DragonFire]

That's cool!

Perfect for the CI griddle with sourdough pancakes!

Lucky dog indeed!!

Great find!

[Lazybones]

Nice find!
It is a military stove used to sterilize surgical instruments. it should have a pan that is usually stainless steel. Did it come with it?

[Loader]

Nice find!
It is a military stove used to sterilize surgical instruments. it should have a pan that is usually stainless steel. Did it come with it?

Thanks. No, didn't get the pan. I did see a few pics on the web of them. It did have a small tube clipped under the top part of the frame with some small spare parts. There were spots for two of these kits.

[rainjer]

There should be a date on the direct bar near the Coleman logo.

Jeremy

[Loader]

There should be a date on the direct bar near the Coleman logo.

Jeremy

Thanks Jeremy, I'll take a closer look.

[DragonFire]

that is amazing..I'm really curious about the year. I guess boiling instruments was better than nothing. And if you are looking at dying from wounds or having surgery with questionably sterile instruments, then you would be willing to take the chance.

I'd love to have one of these. Yes, I'd be cooking my sourdough on it. No, I would not use it at work instead of the autoclave.

I love militaria..this would be an awesome find. Makes me wonder if they were still using this type of sterilization during Vietnam..I worked with a dentist who was in the Navy and attached to a Marine unit in the back of beyond. He had amazing stories. And being the only one with any type of medical training whatsoever, he had to put the men back together the best he could when they came back to camp. Horrendous wounds, very primative conditions, no anesthetic. I just hope he at least had one of these stoves. He did his best, but boy did it haunt him. He was way in over his head with some of those surgeries and he knew it. But he did his best to try to save lives. I know there were many out there that did the same.

[campmaster-k]

I saw a real nice one at Denios. The guy wanted 40 for it . I passed on it and should have bought it.

[DragonFire]

Tooled around the net for a bit and found some that looked like yours that were from 1945.

And answered my own question...yes, they did still use these, or models very similar, in Vietnam.

Please post pictures on your resto!

[Loader]

Tooled around the net for a bit and found some that looked like yours that were from 1945.

And answered my own question...yes, they did still use these, or models very similar, in Vietnam.

Please post pictures on your resto!

That's what I was thinking too, mid 40s or 50s version. Some differences I found included the marking on the frame. Some say Coleman then the date then Model 523 and others say Coleman then Model 523 then U.S.A. M.D. Going to,take a bit of digging to learn about this stove.

I'll post plenty of pics, that is the next one up for rehab since I managed to get my other 200A (not the wife's lantern) fired up today.

[DragonFire]

something I noticed about yours was that it says 'MD' on it. I also found one that was stored in a metal box...it was on ebay..and it was an earlier version..same stove, said MD, but didn't have a visible date or wind screens or the stainless pan. I'm wondering if yours is one of those but without the metal case. The later ones didn't seem to say MD, and it looks like they did put the year on that plate much later.

Really cool find anyway. Good piece for the collection!