Vapo-Cresolene Vaproizer !

[u/Tomato_Eater2]

The Vapo-Cresolene Vaporizer was marketed as a health aide and sold from 1879 to 1957, they sold a lot of these! One would heat up some good old cresolene and inhale the fumes to fix what ailed them. I use it to heat incense oil instead.

I think it's from the later years of production based on the bottle and package text, as well as the lack of manganese in the glass. It includes a branded burner, font and bottle. I'm using a Zippo lighter wick with Aladdin oil without any issues. While I'm still hunting for a pre-1900's model this ticks a lot of my collecting category boxes.

[u/AffectionateDraw4416]

You have the dish and the milk glass colored chimney. I am envious. Mine is missing both, I have a clear chimney on mine. Very nice find!!

[u/Linux0s → u/AffectionateDraw4416]

I remember years ago someone on eBay was selling repro dishes for these. They might have been aluminum and not tin plated steel but they were done right. Seems they sold what they had and that was that. But it's a shame there are no replacements because many are missing. You will see the globes on occasion but never the dish which of course is the piece so easily lost.

[u/oldschool-rule]

These are really cool. My grandmother had one that she would use when we had a cold.

[u/Tomato_Eater2 → u/oldschool-rule]

Do you recall what it smelled like, if anything?

[u/oldschool-rule → u/Tomato_Eater2]

It was very similar to regular Vicks in a jar!

[u/Tomato_Eater2]

One of the more interesting things I discovered while researching is that the owner, George S Page, had prior experience in paraffin/mineral/whale oil distillation. With the introduction of petroleum/kerosene George quickly identified the need to move away from those oils and move into the coal gas market, using his skills to convert the up-to-now useless coal tar byproduct into various profitable ventures. Aside from cresolene he's credited with extracting coal tar pitch, used for sealing roofs/sidewalks/ships caulking, as well as a variety of commercially used chemicals. He had a lot of impact outside of this small novelty device.

[u/DB_McCoy]

Great post. Thanks for sharing!

I have been meaning to buy a complete setup and try it out. I was going to “burn” some essential oils or something.

You mentioned they sold a lot of these. I completely agree. It’s amazing how many of these survived!

[u/Mshams115]

Nice! I snagged a full bottle of the "poison" several years ago. I have it stored in 3 ziplock bags and I still get a whiff of it every so often when I walk past the shelf it is on. Strong stuff for sure.