Originally Posted by
Sugarmaker
Well not sure I can help much but will give you my story. Couple things first, because I am old and easily disrtacted!
1. Very interesting on the years built. closed in the 1920s! Humm then I learned to make syrup on one in mid 60's, so it had to be 50 years old at that time.
2. the concept of the Warren has not died it has been tweaked and is back bigger than ever! Not trying to steal any thunder but H2O and Glenn Goodrich have designed a modern day version and Glen is making that old fashioned flavored syrup like his granddad made.
So when I was a kid I first boiled on a small flat pan Dad had set up. My job was poking sticks in the fire while he milked cows.
Dad bought a old Warren in the early 60's. I ken it was old because it looked like it was a hundred years old when he set it up. It was a 3 x 10 wood fired of course, but Dad bricked up a roundish fire box and added a oil burner. The pans wer of English tin material.
The rear pan is the preheating pan with maybe 20 cups hanging down into the arch. about 3 inches x 8 inches long, tapered. The rear pan also had a float system to control the sap flow into the evaporator. It was a large inverted pie plate size tin float. From the right front outside corner of the preheat pan was a large slip fit connection for the long 2 inch sap pipe which went to the first pan on the front of the arch. The 4 pans on the front were flat. 2 feet long x 3 feet wide. They had slip joints along the left side and the all fit together and the slip joints allowed the middile three pans to be lifted to empty the syrup to the left side of the arch. We finshed off on the 4th pan back the one next to the preheater pan. We boiled about 2 inches deep. But in the finish pan it may have bee 4 inches deep then boiled to finished syrup in one 4 gallon batch. There were brass or copper bungs to close off the slip joints. There was a brass bung on each of the side drains on the pans. On the right side of each flat pan were rings that allowed you to attach ropes to pulleys in the ceiling for easy lifting of the pans. Our syrup was always dark and always very good flavor.
We had to replace the small oil burnere with a larger on to get it to boil well I still have the oil unit setting in the vast warehouse. The arch is gone the pans are gone.
Hope that helps a little?
We need pictures of the rig you have and of Bills sample!
Regards,
Chris