Research regarding Cookers, Portable, No. 2

[Colin Alford]

A very brief discussion of Australian production:

I have not purposefully pursued any research on Australian production of Cookers, Portable, No. 2.* In my early research I found some references to them but I didn't save any of the discussion or images.* From the limited data I can recall or can access quickly I believe this is a reasonable summary:

It appears that the A. Simpson & Son of Adelaide, Australia produced cookers based very closely on the British design.* These stoves embossed with Simpson on the lid may have been for a military contract.* Later military stoves have D /l\ D embossed in the same location on the lid.

There was an MLU thread (that I saw recently but I currently cannot find the link) which discussed a modified Australian stove. My recollection of the images showed a stove which retained the original case and detachable fuel tank and substituted an "S"- shaped fuel feed pipe with an attached burner.* This burner appeared very similar to the British design for their Mark 2 stoves. This may have been the Australian solution to the lead problem.

A good set of images of an Australian produced stove can be found here:

https://classiccampstoves.com/thread...y-stove.28594/


If any Australians are interested in contributing to the knowledge base it will be much appreciated.

[Colin Alford]

A selection of links regarding British Cookers, Portable, No. 2

Other MLU threads:

http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=17891

http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=23913

http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=19901

http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...ghlight=cooker


Some images from "Portable Cookers Nos. 1, 2, and 3; Operation and Maintenance; The War Office 1945":

http://hmvf.co.uk/topic/10706-ww2-br...and-equipment/

[Colin Alford]

Canadian Stoves:

As previously stated I was frustrated that I could find no evidence of Canadian produced Cookers, Portable, No. 2 but I have come to believe that the reason I could not find the evidence was because I assumed that the Canadian Cooker would have been based on the British model.* I did not imagine that it would be a substantially different design.

It appears that collectors of Camp Stoves have been aware of these models for some time but the knowledge of them does not seem to be widespread in our Militaria/Military Vehicle community.

Unfortunately I have only been able to find limited evidence online but I believe I have found enough to make a relatively convincing argument to support my claim that the Canadian version of the Cookers, Portable, No. 2 was in fact a Coleman Model 500 Speed Master Stove which was stored inside a cast Aluminum Pot which was based on the British design, and secured by a leather strap which was shorter than the British equivalent.

I will present this evidence in the order that I encountered it:

The first evidence was the April 1943 Stowage Chart for the Ram II tank.* Item number 76 is described as "Cooker Portable No. 2, Pots, Cooking with lid Stove, Strap" but the image only shows the Pot, Cooking with lid and the Strap.* At this point I did not think that Canada might be using something other than the British design stove

The second source of evidence were these 2 images from the Library and Archives of Canada site (copies attached below):

*http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_a...=e010778901-v8

http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_a...=e010778902-v8


I could see that the stove was not a British No 2 but I could not make out exactly what it was.* I still didn't start to think that there might be a "Canadian" stove but that maybe the crew was using a privately purchased stove.

[Colin Alford]

The third piece of evidence that I noticed was the 20th image of original Ram interior photos on this page: http://www.ramtank.ca/ram_interiors.htm* (this image is also in the Ram II Operator's Manual but it is very dark and very small)

Again there is only the pot and strap visible and I thought that maybe the reason why the stowage diagram didn't illustrate the (British) cooker was because there wasn't one available for the artist to draw.* I still did not think that there might be a Canadian cooker.

The kijiji ad was the final piece of the puzzle that caused me to start believing that Canada must have had it's own design of cooker:* (images attached)

I then re-visited all of the previous images and realized that while I thought I was thought seeing a British pot, (Pots cooking, with lid) there is the obvious (once it is pointed out) difference in height.* I also started to think that the reason I could not see a stove in the stowage diagram or stowage picture was that it was actually stowed inside of the pot.

[Colin Alford]

I had a couple of discussions at the fall OMVA meeting about this topic and it was suggested that maybe all that this proved was that a special stove was issued with the Ram Tanks.* This prompted further investigation.

Jordan Baker identified the Model number as a Coleman 500 Speed Master and provided me with these links:

https://classiccampstoves.com/thread...man-500.19419/

http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...&postcount=107


In the above image of B-squadron XII Manitoba Dragoons, 3 of the tall Canadian pots can be seen in the image and one of the Coleman 500 stoves (with bright plated tank) can be seen in the foreground.

Once the model was known,* google searches revealed a number of other Canadian war-time produced examples.* Some still associated with the original pot set.

http://www.colemancollectorsforum.co...ctures-8382572


http://www.colemancollectorsforum.co...estion-8328895


This link provides a good general article on Coleman 500 production with some details about the military models:

https://classiccampstoves.com/attach...ls-pdf.177113/


Another example is presented at this link:* Unfortunately the linked images are missing but the thumbnails are visible in Google and are attached below. This example has a C-Broad Arrow stamped into the base. http://www.fotogenforum.se/fotogen/p...hp?f=21&t=1026

[Colin Alford]

The question still remained:* Was this actually a Canadian Cooker, Portable, No. 2 or did it have some different nomenclature?

I believe this document provides the best evidence that the Canadian Cooker, Portable, No. 2 was in fact a Coleman Model 500 Speed Master.

http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oo...88/372?r=0&s=1 (Complete document attached)

Unfortunately there is no indication of a date and the document's purpose is unknown other than it was obviously some sort of inventory.* When I first looked at it I believed I was looking at evidence that Canada had produced parts for the British stoves.* Upon further study I noticed that the parts for the No. 2 Cooker had part numbers within the description and many of those numbers started with 500.

I then found this document online on Coleman Canada's current website: http://s7d1.scene7.com/is/content/Co...EED_MASTER.pdf

Compare the part names and numbers between the war-time inventory and the Coleman parts list.

The military inventory also seems to indicate that the Canadian No. 3 cookers were also a Coleman product (possibly a model 412) as most of the repair parts listed start with the digits 412.

One more interesting point to note about the Coleman Manual is that it appears to have a Canadian Military Document number "10M-11-54" on the cover page.* If this is a Canadian Military number it would represent November 1954.

[Colin Alford]

Some other supporting documents:

Canada also used the Coleman Model 500 Speed Master as a Dental Stove.* Reports regarding the attempts to modify it to burn on leaded petrol can be found at C-5788 images 301-303, 305-11 and 314

http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oo...88/301?r=0&s=1


Evidence regarding material used for Canadian Pots:

11 February 1943- Issue Order 201427

"Cookers Portable No. 2- Pots Cooking with lids (Cast Aluminium)"

http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oo...4/4311?r=0&s=1 (attached below)