History of the portable gas stove

The portable gas stove is a combination of portability and functionality; combining the light weight of a small gas canister with the heat output needed to cook a meal.

The production of the réchaud de gaz de dirigeant (Portable gas stove) was commissioned and begun in the workshop of the industrial designer Jue Lafare (born April 7, 1896) in 1932 after he placed his plan for a portable gas cooker before the French Army two and a half years earlier.

Due to fear of common misuse by soldiers of lower ranks obtaining the cookers without consent, the army requested that all instructional writing be placed upon the cookers in English as only the officers were taught fluency in English.

The majority of the cookers designed by Lafare were melted down into scrap metal when the Germans invaded France in 1940.

The War Memorial Museum in Boulogne, France, paid 390EU for the piece pictured above in their collection some 20 years ago.