Sterno

Sterno Canned Heat is a fuel made from denatured and jellied alcohol. It is designed to be burned directly from its can. Its primary use is in the food service industry for buffet heating. Other uses are for camp stoves and as an emergency heat source. Due to Sterno's popularity, the term has become a genericized trademark, often used to refer to many similarly appearing products.

History

The Sterno brand is owned by the Candle Corporation Of America, a subsidiary of Blyth, Inc. The name comes from that of the original manufacturer: S. Sternau & Co. of Brooklyn, New York, a maker of chafing-dishes, coffee percolators and other similar appliances. They had previously applied the name to their "Sterno-Inferno" alcohol burner. In 1918 they promoted their Sterno Stove as being a perfect gift for a soldier going overseas.

Invented around 1900, Sterno is made from ethanol, methanol, water and an amphoteric oxide gelling agent, plus a dye that gives it a characteristic pink color. Designed to be odorless, a 7 oz (198 g) can will burn for up to two hours. The methanol is added to denature the product, which essentially is intended to make it too toxic to be drinkable (see methylated spirit for more information).

In NASCAR racing, it is alleged that sterno was used in Mike Waltrip's #55 racing Toyota Camry as an illegal fuel supplement to increase the power during qualifying for the 2007 Daytona 500. [cite news
url=http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/021207/spr_7944840.shtml
title=Waltrip could face a Sterno penalty
first=Don
last=Coble
date=2007-02-11
work=The Florida Times-Union Jacksonville.com] From the article "At the same time, inspectors will be 'going over the 55 car [Waltrip's] with a fine-tooth comb,' Hunter said after inspectors found a gel-like coating inside the manifold. Several engine builders from other teams said the substance appeared to be Sterno, a bluish gel that could provide a hotter, cleaner burn inside the engine to create more horsepower."

Cocktail

Sterno has long been mixed with water and other liquids to produce a drink called "canned heat", "squeeze" or "pink lady". The product is squeezed through a rag (or in other traditions, a loaf of French bread with ends removed) to extract the alcohol. These alcoholic beverages, primarily used in poorer communities, have been linked to numerous deaths from methanol poisoning, including 31 people in Philadelphia in 1963. [ [http://wings.buffalo.edu/law/bclc/web/pafeinberg.htm Justice Jones's Opinion in "Commonwealth of PA v. Max Feinburg"] ]

terno in popular culture

In 1929 Tommy Johnson recorded "Canned Heat Blues", about an alcoholic who has desperately turned to drinking Sterno. The band Canned Heat later took its name from this song.

In Michael Crichton's 1969 techno-thriller novel "The Andromeda Strain", one of the two survivors of the strain's outbreak, Peter Jackson, is a heavy Sterno user. This later turns out to be of importance in the plot.

See also

*Portable stove
*Beverage-can stove
*EsbitIn the philosophical work "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig (1974) Sterno is also is recommended as useful equipment for long motorcycle trips.

References

External links

* [http://www.sterno.com Official website]
* [http://www.sterno.com/msds.aspx?kwid=1&descid=2&pg=msds.aspx Material Safety Data Sheet]