Magnatex US Jerrycans British assembly

Manufacturers, production numbers, configurations, etc.
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Re: Magnatex US Jerrycans British assembly

Post by Silly's MB » Tue May 08, 2018 12:13 pm

IMG_2812.JPG
Can base is tested in water bath at 10lb
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IMG_2813.JPG
Visual inspection of interior with torch
IMG_2813.JPG (77.07 KiB) Viewed 2804 times
IMG_2814.JPG
cans are placed upside down on rotating jig for spraying interior.
IMG_2814.JPG (82.58 KiB) Viewed 2804 times
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Re: Magnatex US Jerrycans British assembly

Post by Silly's MB » Tue May 08, 2018 12:18 pm

IMG_2816.JPG
Cans have a temporary plug fitted and are sprayed with "brick red" primer.
IMG_2816.JPG (93.19 KiB) Viewed 2803 times
IMG_2817.JPG
The plug is removed and a final touch up
IMG_2817.JPG (84.07 KiB) Viewed 2803 times
IMG_2818.JPG
After baking fumes are sucked out from inside the can.
IMG_2818.JPG (83.75 KiB) Viewed 2803 times
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Empty vessels make the most noise .......

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Re: Magnatex US Jerrycans British assembly

Post by Silly's MB » Tue May 08, 2018 12:19 pm

IMG_2820.JPG
A visual inspection of the interior
IMG_2820.JPG (74.8 KiB) Viewed 2803 times
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Empty vessels make the most noise .......

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Re: Magnatex US Jerrycans British assembly

Post by Silly's MB » Tue May 08, 2018 12:23 pm

IMG_2822.JPG
The cap and chain are fitted with air powered pliers
IMG_2822.JPG (74.42 KiB) Viewed 2803 times
IMG_2823.JPG
cap is screwed in
IMG_2823.JPG (72.18 KiB) Viewed 2803 times
IMG_2825.JPG
Into the OD paint
IMG_2825.JPG (87.68 KiB) Viewed 2803 times
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Empty vessels make the most noise .......

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Re: Magnatex US Jerrycans British assembly

Post by Silly's MB » Tue May 08, 2018 12:25 pm

IMG_2825.JPG
Paint
IMG_2825.JPG (87.68 KiB) Viewed 2803 times
IMG_2827.JPG
More Paint
IMG_2827.JPG (84.14 KiB) Viewed 2803 times
IMG_2828.JPG
Even more paint
IMG_2828.JPG (87.75 KiB) Viewed 2803 times
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1942 August Willys MB
Complete MVMTS 100% sourced in the ETO

Empty vessels make the most noise .......

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Re: Magnatex US Jerrycans British assembly

Post by Silly's MB » Tue May 08, 2018 12:28 pm

IMG_2830.JPG
After baking the cans are again visually inspected and a stamp is placed near the spout.
IMG_2830.JPG (78.86 KiB) Viewed 2803 times
IMG_2831.JPG
Stacked in a truck
IMG_2831.JPG (83.55 KiB) Viewed 2803 times
IMG_2832.JPG
Off to the railway station.
IMG_2832.JPG (71.88 KiB) Viewed 2803 times
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Empty vessels make the most noise .......

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Re: Magnatex US Jerrycans British assembly

Post by Silly's MB » Tue May 08, 2018 12:32 pm

IMG_2834.JPG
The finished product
IMG_2834.JPG (70.93 KiB) Viewed 2803 times
Well I hope that gives you some insight into the British production of Ameri-cans and I guess the American system was similar. I learned a lot as I had no idea how they were made. I missed out showing several more inspections but you get the idea.

Approximately 700 per hour were produced.
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Re: Magnatex US Jerrycans British assembly

Post by gerrykan » Tue May 08, 2018 6:01 pm

We are deeply indebted to you for taking the time to post the screenshots.
Thank you!
Roy

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Re: Magnatex US Jerrycans British assembly

Post by YLG80 » Tue May 08, 2018 11:16 pm

Yes thanks a lot for that huge work.
It's documented like in a technology transfer file.
I take the orders for a new production batch :D :D !
I'm familiar with the manufacturing processes and these pictures are very interesting in terms of safey and ergonomy.
The layout is (too) compact as usual at that time.
No safety glasses for the woman at the can welding station. :x
And the other woman handling cans above the level of her shoulders... :x

This is really an important contribution to the war effort that is shown in that movie.
Thanks again.
Yves
Ford GPW 1943 - Louisville - DoD 12-7-43
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Re: Magnatex US Jerrycans British assembly

Post by Silly's MB » Wed May 09, 2018 1:17 am

I am glad you guys appreciated it, obviously it is no real compensation for not seeing the video but it goes someway towards it.

Yves, as you say health and safety is very limited and no masks for the spraying of the red primer in a very confined area !
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Re: Magnatex US Jerrycans British assembly

Post by YLG80 » Wed May 09, 2018 3:54 am

This portion of the book "ETO Logistical Support of Armies : Sept 1944 to May 1944" by Roland G. Ruppenthal shows the critical importance of that ameri-can facility in the UK during the invasion in Europe.
The number of produced jerrycan is amazing.
[Gasoline distribution problem]
The entire distribution problem was severely aggravated in October by a growing shortage of 5-gallon cans. The lowly "jerrican," so named by the British, who, followed by the Americans, had copied the German container after discovering its superior merits, had a role in gasoline supply hardly suggested by its size. Gasoline might be shipped from the port via pipeline, tank car, or tank truck; but it had to be delivered in packaged form to the ultimate consumer. In the last analysis, therefore, the retail distribution of gasoline depended in large part on an adequate supply of 5-gallon cans.
U.S. forces had built up a stock of about 12,000,000 cans before the Normandy invasion. But this number was expected to suffice only for the initial stages of continental operations.
Quartermaster planners subsequently concluded that about 800,000 new cans per month would be required to cover losses (estimated at 5 percent per month after D plus 60) and to maintain a can population commensurate with the troop build-up.
The chief quartermaster accordingly placed an order with the British War Office for nearly 4,500,000 cans to be supplied from U.K. manufacture by the end of 1944. Nearly 2,000,000 of them were intended for the air forces with the understanding that they would be turned over to the ground forces after their first trip in accordance with the practice of using them only once for aviation fuel. A large portion of U.S. can requirements had already been met by British production, in part through the shipment of an American plant to England early in 1943.
Tactical developments in the first three months were largely responsible for upsetting
the chief quartermaster's plans for supplying an adequate number of jerricans.
The rapid advance, in addition to increasing the consumption of POL, had, by placing Allied forces far beyond planned phase lines, resulted in a much longer turnaround time--that is, the time required to fill, forward, and return cans--than that on which the required supply of cans had been based.
The loss of cans had also been much higher than expected. Retail distribution of gasoline in the early phases had been based on the principle of exchanging a full can for an empty one. Units were permitted to draw 100 full cans only by turning in an equal number of empties. This simple but essentially sound SOP was widely disregarded in the heat of the pursuit, resulting in a trail of abandoned or discarded jerricans stretching from Normandy to the West Wall. Hundreds of thousands lay in abandoned dumps and bivouacs; thousands more had been used to build sidewalks in the mud, or as chairs, and for hundreds of other purposes not intended; others had found their way into French homes.

By mid-October the chief quartermaster noted that 3,500,000 could not be accounted for.
Meanwhile two of the sources of supply showed signs of drying up.
The air forces had given notice that they could not ensure the return of their quota of cans, stating that they were needed for static reserves because of the depletion of current working stocks.
As for procurement in the United Kingdom, which U.S. forces had counted on as their main source after D Day, the British War Office first advised that it could allocate only 221,000 cans per month to the Americans against the request for 500,000, and subsequently expressed a desire to retain the entire U.K. output for British forces. In mid-September the chief quartermaster therefore reluctantly turned to the War Department to meet the theater's needs, placing a requisition for 7,000,000 cans. The War Department offered to provide only 5,400,000 of this number.
All but two can-producing plants in the United States had been closed down, it explained, and it did not favor reopening idle plants and drawing labor away from other urgent production.
It would be much more economical, the War Department suggested, to increase going production in the United Kingdom.

Can production was one of the several fields in which the United States and Britain eventually found it necessary to collaborate closely. Early in the fall, when it became apparent that requirements were outrunning production facilities, British and U.S. officials in Washington agreed to set up an Allied Container Advisory Committee to co-ordinate more closely the collection of information on requirements and potential sources of supply and to allocate production. Late in November, apparently as a result of the committee's initial deliberations, the British agreed to provide about 550,000 cans per month to American forces.
Also the chief quartermaster had begun to explore the possibilities of meeting a portion of U.S. needs from another source--local procurement on the Continent. Negotiations during the fall produced agreements with the French for the manufacture of 9,000,000 cans and with the Belgians for 2,000,000.
Both programs were dependent on imports of sheet steel from the United States. Production was scheduled to get under way in February in Belgium and in April in France.
Early in January the chief quartermaster re-estimated U.S. requirements and, on the basis of maintenance and turnaround factors developed during operations thus far, concluded that U.S. forces would need about 1,300,000 new cans per month in 1945 to maintain a workable can population for the gradually increasing troop strength. U.S. and British officials agreed then that approximately 550,000 of these should be provided from British production, and that the rest should come from U.S. and continental production, the zone of interior contribution depending on progress in getting French and Belgian production under way.
The local procurement programs failed to make a significant contribution to U.S. requirements before the end of hostilities, largely because of difficulties in getting sheet steel from the United States. As of V-E Day the French had manufactured only a token number of the original commitment. Shortly before the end of hostilities the chief quartermaster estimated that U.S. forces needed a can population of 19,000,000 to support the current troop strength.
But the target was not met.
What the actual count was in the last month is not known.
The theater also had initiated a vigorous campaign to recover some of the lost cans. With the help of the Allied and U.S. Information Services, and employing The Stars and Stripes, the French and Belgian press, and the radio and newsreels, it widely publicized the importance of the jerrican's role in winning the war, and made an unprecedented appeal to civilians and soldiers alike to search for the wayward containers and return them to the supply stream. Through the French Ministry of Education a special appeal was made to French children to round up cans, offering prizes and certificates for the best efforts. In this way approximately 1,000,000 cans were recovered.
At the end of November 2,500,000 were still "AWOL."
[\quote]

About 75 jerrycans were left here (full) at home by USAAF observers ! :mrgreen:
Ford GPW 1943 - Louisville - DoD 12-7-43
serial 164794

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Re: Magnatex US Jerrycans British assembly

Post by Silly's MB » Thu May 10, 2018 12:57 am

The British supplied many Millions of the British/German style Jerri-cans to US forces but the issue was the Donkey Dick Truncated funnel did not fit so the British designed a Truncated funnel which was either able to screw on or be used as a funnel.
This was designated the 'M1 truncated funnel'.I have never seen one of these funnels although 46,185 were supplied.
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Re: Magnatex US Jerrycans British assembly

Post by Chuck Lutz » Thu May 10, 2018 11:44 am

Hmm...wonder where they got the info that only two plants in the US were in production during their Sept 1944 - May 1944 time frame. (Is that a typo? Was it Sept 44 to May 45?

Anyway, only TWO plants in production in the USA in that timeframe?
We have examples posted here and I know the Jerrycan Bible does also, but I have these listed:
Bennett 1944
Cavalier 1945
Cavalier water 1944
Conco 1944
Lawson 1944
Monarch water 1945
Nesco 1945
Rheem 1945
Samco 1945
USSPCB 1945
Wheeling 1944
Wheeling 1945

Are they only counting new contracts and these represent old contracts that continued to be filled?
Chuck Lutz

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Re: Magnatex US Jerrycans British assembly

Post by Silly's MB » Thu May 10, 2018 12:16 pm

Could they not of been made in the 9 months to September 1944 and the 7 months after May 1945 ?
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Re: Magnatex US Jerrycans British assembly

Post by YLG80 » Thu May 10, 2018 11:38 pm

@Chuck.
Yes it's hard to believe that most of the mfg plants were shutdown.
It could be that QM orders for the ETO were cancelled mainly due to the transportation cost across the Atlantic.

It's a matter of fact that the vast majority of the jerry cans in the continent are of the German/British type.
It's reflected in the much higher price for a US jerrycan type in the militaria market.

Among the 70-75 jerrycans left here by the USAAF observers, only 3, plus one water can are of the "ameri-can" type.
The rest are British jerry cans of various colors.
I've a picture of a USAAF observer sitting on one of the US type jerry can used as a chair:)!

That's good, because the US type can does not resist overtime.
The recessed bottom is really a design flaw as it forms a closed chamber favorable to condensation.
Many of the WWII US cans are found with the bottom part completely rusty and pierced.
To correctly store the US jerry cans for a long time, you need to put them across two pieces of wood.

Most of the German/Britsh type are still being used regularly in the farm, here.

Perhaps the US can industry has continued to produce "ameri-cans" for the US market and for the PTO.
I've read somewhere that a few US mfg plants had even converted "ameri-cans" to the German/British type by changing the mouth.
Yves
Ford GPW 1943 - Louisville - DoD 12-7-43
serial 164794


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