That doesn't sound like the "water machine" described by Mantz that condensed moisture from a person's breath. But if she had solar stills like they had during WW2 then it wouldn't make any sense to leave then behind on an over ocean flight with two more legs to go, totaling 6500 miles, since that is what solar stills were designed for. And they weighed about one pound each and took up very little space, See prior post here.
gl
I agree. I think the newspaper misquoted Mantz. For example, he may have said something along the lines of "vapor from air", and the reporter may have mistakingly thought "vapor from breath". It is interesting to note that other newspapers refer to the 'water machine' as being capable of producing fresh water from the sea or ocean. So, it would appear that a 'water machine' of some sort (likely a water still), truly did exist and was carried by Earhart for some portion (if not all) of her journey.
I have been doing some more research and I now doubt that solar stills existed as early as 1937, I found this:
"No item was more vital to the airman in a raft than a supply of drinking water; this was especially true in the hot reaches of the Pacific. After tests in December 1942, Arnold ordered the immediate procurement of the Delano Sunstill, "not something Materiel Command thinks is better."27 This still, weighing only two and one-half pounds and simple to operate, could produce under proper conditions about one pint of water per day. Unfortunately, deliveries were delayed for a whole year. Meanwhile, Materiel Command tried to incorporate into one unit the best features of all known solar stills but failed because of the reluctance of civilian manufacturers to share trade secrets. In December 1944 the U.S. government secured the patent rights to the Gallowhun Sunstill, and, in January, Wright Field invited bids on 350,000 units built to Gallowhun specifications. However, subsequent tests showed that the Higgins Sunstill could produce twice as much drinking water as the Gallowhun type, and efforts were made to standardize the Higgins still. Because of this series of delays, which Arnold's curt remark seems to have foreseen, sun stills did not come into general use until near the end of the war. Progress had been made earlier in the development of a desalting kit, and by September 1944 they were being issued. These kits took most of the salts from sea water by chemical precipitation and filtering, but the materials in the kit were subject to deterioration.28"
So it appears that they were not perfected until December 1942 and even then they weren't available until quite a bit later,
see Unbroken.
The "Delano sunstill" was invented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt's cousin.
The solar stills that I have, and that I
posted a description of before, are the "Higgins" type but they did not go into production until the end of the war pursuant to a production contract of June 21, 1945, calling for 172,678 solar stills.
gl