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 uses are in the food service industry for buffet heating and in the home for fondue and as a chafing fuel for heating chafing dishes. Other uses are for camp stoves and as an emergency heat source. It is also a popular fuel for use with toy and model steam and other external combustion engines. Sterno cans were sometimes taken on trips and used to heat pressing and curling irons and hot combs, for hairstyling, when travelers were staying at hotels and not located near salons which offered certain services that required these styling tools.

The Sterno brand and trademark is owned by the Sterno Group LLC, a subsidiary of Candle Lamp Company LLC, a portfolio company of Westar Capital LLC. The brand was purchased from Blyth, Inc. in late 2012. Blyth had acquired the business from Colgate-Palmolive in 1997.

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 since 1893. It had previously applied the name to its "Sterno-Inferno" alcohol burner. In 1918, it promoted its Sterno Stove as being a perfect gift for a soldier going overseas. In his book With the Old Breed, E. B. Sledge describes its use on the battlefields of the Pacific Theatre in 1944 and 1945.

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. The methanol is added to denature the product, which is intended to make it too toxic for consumption. Designed to be odorless, a 7 oz (198 g) can will burn for up to two hours. It was discovered while producing nitrocellulose during the manufacturing process.

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