Story of the Jerry can

Expedition Exchange has a great write up on the history of the Jerry Can. Here are a few of the pictures:

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And the awesome Scepter Red plastic "Jerry Cans" are on sale at Costco right now :)

Though not the three handle version.

Can still get the good one from Princess Auto:

http://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/20-litre-military-style-fuel-can/A-p8451411e

The Princess Auto version (three handle) made by Scepter are terrific cans. Also available from DS Tactical. You can get different coloured cap bands to identify the contents (RED = Gas, YELLOW = Diesel).

Cheers!
B
 
Princess Auto has been in the jerrycan business for a long time. Farmers used to buy the metal army surplus ones to refuel their tractors, swathers and combines in the field. The machines were a lot smaller and took less fuel than the big monsters you see tooling around the fields today. We always had a dozen or so jerrycans on the farm and I well remember hoisting them up to refuel the old Massey 44 and IHC WD9 tractors when I was a young sprog. I got to practice a lot of jerrycan refueling long before I got to do it in the army.
 
The Princes Auto steel jerrycans are very good
A bit expensive now but I got mine on sale a couple of years ago for $25 each. Spout sold separately.
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they come in red too
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Thanks for the link, interesting read. After my grandparents passed away in Greece, my father was cleaning out their barn and found an authentic German Jerry can.
The only reason it had'nt rusted to bits was the fact that grandma used it to store punky olive oil she used to make soap with. Took up the better part of a suitcase but my old man surprised me with it when he brought it back to Canada for me. IIRC it's a 1941 model, manufactured by Brose, the outside paint is faded and full of surface rust in sections but it's still leakproof. I was toying with repainting it but I think I'll just leave the "rustic" original patina and rust on.

 
Thanks for the link, interesting read. After my grandparents passed away in Greece, my father was cleaning out their barn and found an authentic German Jerry can.
The only reason it had'nt rusted to bits was the fact that grandma used it to store punky olive oil she used to make soap with. Took up the better part of a suitcase but my old man surprised me with it when he brought it back to Canada for me. IIRC it's a 1941 model, manufactured by Brose, the outside paint is faded and full of surface rust in sections but it's still leakproof. I was toying with repainting it but I think I'll just leave the "rustic" original patina and rust on.


Please don't repaint it. If you really want a shiny new looking can I will buy you 3 of them if you send me that old one :)
 
Last time I was at the farm I saw one old metal can in the barn. Next time I am home I will have to pull it out and take pictures. I think it was American made.
 
great read thanks! ive lugged around a few hundred of those. it was great when they went to using a FAR (forward area refueler) and T-FAR (trailer, that most guys just call a FAR-T). Spent most of my time driving a wrecker. HLVW is 400L of fuel per tank. We always had at least 2 full cans.

The funny thing is when guys are using the rubber sealed horsecock with the lock lever and they dont pay attention to where the little vent hole is.. if you put it on 180 deg out, it drips. i lost count of how many times i saw that happening.
 
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