Oak Transit case
 

greetings, I have had this case for years and not, as yet, been able to identify it's purpose?

Beautifully crafted with cast bronze hardware.

the 2x hinges & clasp are stamped R^L

there are 3 instances of hard wood inserts that have been stamped, one with the Broad Arrow.
The one at the rear appears to have a name O.BROWN. which I found weird.
HM and a serial number.

The inside of the lid has a round relief bored in which leads me to think, Artillery Sight?

10" x 15" x 21" high

any insights appreciated.

cheers,
Brent.

Oak Transit case
 

and the stamping in the hinges.

Nice piece. I wish I could be more helpful with the identification.

The hasps and swivel keepers resemble a pre-WW2 style which was used in particular on No.15 Sniper Rifle Chests and transported to Canada for CNo.7 .22cal rifles. Steel not brass. I have several dozen of CNo.7 chests waiting to be stripped - hardware in one pile, rotten wood in another.

R /|\ L is/was Royal Laboratories, i.e. Woolwich Arsenal, if that's any help.

Chris.

R /!\ L (Royal Laboratories)
 

cheers Chris, so possibly not a military transit case at all.

I guess that could/would explain it being named to one person.....one mad scientists' experimental flubber enhancing machine.

Brent

Er, Royal Laboratories was pretty much the government armament R&D and (early on) manufacturing plant.

I've fired a lot of .455 Webley ammunition with R/|\L headstamps over the years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Arsenal

Your case could well have housed some test equipment manufactured and used there.

Chris.

excellent, back on track thankyou.

I see the letters RCD beneath the R/l\L. That was the marking for Royal Carriage Department, who produced the limbers and artillery pieces. I see lots of markings and stampings......all or many may have significance.

RCD (Royal Carriage Department)
 

that's great Rob, yes some of it appears to be overstamped so difficult to discern.

I know of some chaps here in NZ who are heavily into horse drawn Artillery so i'll contact them to see if its of interest to them.

Royal Artillery Museum
 

an update for any interested parties.
I received this reply from the Royal Artillery Museum today.
Fascinating insights.

"The box is an oak ammunition box dated 1891. It was manufactured in the Royal Laboratory, one of the departments of the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich in south east London. An ammunition laboratory (ie. Workshop) was established within the Warren, the original site of the Arsenal, in 1695. It was originally controlled by the Board of Ordnance, hence the broad arrow mark of the Board of Ordnance forming part of the impressed ‘RL’ stamp on the edge of the lid and on the box clasp. The Royal Arsenal came under the control of the War Office in 1855.

The Royal Laboratory manufactured all natures of ammunition, including shell, shot, shrapnel, bullets, fuzes and percussion caps both for the Royal Navy and the Royal Artillery which used common types of guns at this stage. The box could therefore have been used by either Service. Without the dimensions, it is difficult to identify which type of ammunition it contained.

The box would originally have had a tin-plate liner with lid. The recesses on the upper edges of the box sides were for the lip of the tin liner and the circular recess on the underside of the box lid was for the lifting handle of the liner. The clasp and hinges should be of bronze (to prevent the possibility of sparks). The rope handles are not original and would have been of woven copper wire with leather sewn grips (again, to prevent sparks)."

:doh:

Of course it is! Now that's been pointed out I remember having a WW2 wooden ammunition box with exactly that kind of liner. (The lip of the box was a 'U' channel and the edges of the lid were rolled over to fit into that so that when the box was filled, the channel was filled with a putty-like sealant and the lid pressed into that to make it airtight and waterproof. The lifting handle was fixed to the lid by a soldered on strip of tinplate like a rather flat pipe saddle clip.)

Chris.

close enough ...
 

having got that brilliant info from the Royal Artillery Museum I contacted a local mil Historian who sent me this image and these insights.

" Interesting item. The main field artillery we had in the 1890s were 9-pounder Armstrong RBLs. We got 18 in, second hand, on refurbished carriages probably originally made for Rifled Muzzle-loading guns. It was a 3-inch weapon. Most of their ammunition stowage thought as on the carriage or its limber.
But we also had Quick Firing guns, 3- and 6-pounder (Hotchkiss and Nordenfelt), in the forts which would have similar cases (see attached pic, from an 1893 Treatise). "

Brent.