containers 54 55 in the course of the hinged movement of for example housing section 2 about the axis defined by the hinge pins 48 in the direction of the housing section 1 the spikes 40 through 43 puncture the assigned perforable films or foils 62 58 this ensuring on the one hand depletion of container 54 and on the other perforation of film or foil 58 to the prescribed degree the evaporator device is automatically started by hinging the two housing sections 1 and 2 together the size of the container 55 and the nature of the mixture contained therein are selected so that after some time the contents of the container have evaporated this corresponding to the normal or average operating time of the evaporator described accordingly the user of the evaporator device is thus able to recognize simply by inspecting the container 55 i e the liquid level contained therein whether the evaporator device is still effective or how long it will continue to be effective when the container 55 is fully depleted the user will recognize that the mounting member 3 together with its containers 55 54 need to be replaced by new such means replacing the mounting member 3 is easily done by opening the two housing sections 1 2 in the direction opposite to that described above i e by hinging them apart about the.