Wiles Junior Cooker

[Ron King]

The best I can gauge though old pictures and different sources is the end barrel plate on the boiler was painted red when new and then black during their service as retest stamping was carried out on that surface.
Steam pipes were painted red and cold water pipes including the pump painted blue.
Door handles on the ovens were painted red or had a red stripe on them to indicate that they were hot to touch.

[Ron King]

I do have a copy of a service record on the operation time....ie steaming hours and repairs and inspection history.
It appears every senior cook filled out the log book of time the boiler was steamed and checked that it was still certificate pressure testing wise.
The history log book shows the methods used to preserve the boiler during storage and if any moisture absorbent material had to be move from inside the boiler before use.
The information I am really lacking is the first hand knowledge of how to correctly use the steamer pots for the cooking of steamed meats or soups,to the steaming of peas.
It is a type of cooking not done now, especially in big volumes to feed the troops.
How were fried foods done like chips..............did the small oven top ever get hot enough to allow frying of foods.
I know the ovens knock out the best baked goods,but its the other stuff is lacking information wise.
I do have the operators book, but it is very basic about how to use the steamers correctly...........I need to find a old wiles cooker cook

[Ron King]

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/military-t...or-cooker.html

The above is a thread on another site I started and has some good pics and links to the interesting development of the wiles cookers starting in the great war.

[Ron King]

To cut a long story short.
Cooking with steam is faster and less vitamins are lost in the cooking process.
Cooking can be done on the move .
The by product of steam is hot water which is handy for washing up dishes and troops showers.
The steam can be used to clean the cooker its self.
The cooker uses less fuel than open topped hot plates boiling of food stuffs.
It can run on any fuel.
Most used wood, but train or ships coal has been used so has oil and LP Gas.
Junior units could be parachuted into place.
Stationary units with extra steaming pots and ovens made and a 100 gallon hot water system.
Roasting ovens and boiler had separate fires, but shared each others heat. To help efficiency.
They saved much time,fuel,smoke over the mud ovens, fowler stoves and sawyer stoves they replaced.
They could boil water to make it safe for drinking purposes and clean the water they needed for its own boiler.
They were used on cargo ships that were used as troop ships as the ships kitchens were not big enough.
They were chained down on cargo wagons on troop trains so troops had a warm meal when the train stopped at the stations.
They were made without normal kitchen plating and frills to save materials during the war.
The braking trays were of special design so the fat wouldn't spill out , but go back onto the meat to baste it if the cooker trailer was being towed.

[Mike Cecil]

Gents,

I wrote an article for KVE News a few years ago about the history of the steam cooker (Wiles Type, both 4 wheel and 'Junior') in Australian service.

It was published in the following edition of KVE News. Scroll down to page 16 to find it.

http://corowaswim-in.org/docs/Corowa...ber%202012.pdf

Mike C

[cliff]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

Gents,

I wrote an article for KVE News a few years ago about the history of the steam cooker (Wiles Type, both 4 wheel and 'Junior') in Australian service.

It was published in the following edition of KVE News. Scroll down to page 16 to find it.

http://corowaswim-in.org/docs/Corowa...ber%202012.pdf

Mike C

Mike would you mind sending me a copy of that article for my records please?

[Mike Cecil]

Cliff,

I don't have it as the formatted article you see in the newsletter, as editor Richard Farrant puts it together: I just provide raw text and images.

You can save the newsletter as a pdf file and print it, which I think will give you what you are after.

Just click on the link I provided, and hit 'save'.

Regards

Mike C