Great Pics of a makeshift kettle

This is classic. I was measuring this roof in East St. Louis the other day and I thought this was some sort of abandoned unit of some sort. It turned out to be an asphalt kettle. They used a keg for the kettle and a torch mounted undernieth to heat it. I want to know how they started and stopped the flow of asphalt out of the pipe. I cannot believe they didnt burn the place down.

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I can get them all day long.>>>

Those kegs are toast. you can come and get them if you want, they will be in a dumpster in a few days! The amazing part about this "kettle" is that they had the entire contraption sitting on a 4x8 sheet of OSB. From the looks of the galvinized wind break and the angle iron below the beer keg this thing is under 10 years old. I thought you guys would get a kick out of it, but it sounds like you guys have seen crazy stuff like this. >>>

My dad would make his own kettles prior to 1940. As I can recall the inner pot was 16ga. black iron, and the shell surrounding it was a lighter gauge, w/ a firebox at the base which had a door for the kerosene torch that had to be pumped. As the asphalt or pitch melted, it would be ladled into 5 gallon cans w/ sturdy handles to be hoisted to the roof. In later years we used skid kettles for work on hi-risers.>>>

Lets make some money Vaa! Ill send u some kegs, will make a mint! Easier then a tearoff! Right?>>>