Unknown (to me) US canteen accessory

[Eagle mtn]

Hello Gents,

Today I picked up a couple nice US canteens. The one on the right is an awesome Baker-Lockwood 1941 cover with 1941 cup and undated canteen. The other one I believed to be a run-of-the-mill canteen set

When I got home, I found that the cup was fused to the cover, no doubt caused by all the rust seepage. With a butter knife, i carefully worked it out and to my surprise, the cup has this odd steel sleeve on it.

What the heck is this thing?
Some sort of rarely seen accessory?

I am confident that the sleeve is “original” to the set seeing as it was essentially glued into the cover and rusted through to the exterior

I haven’t yet managed to get the sleeve off. I will work on that tomorrow when i have the proper tools

[earlymb]

Could be a stove, to heat something in the cup?

[Willmore]

I think earlymb is right!

Military Canteen Cup Stove

[Watchdog]

I think earlymb is right!

Military Canteen Cup Stove

That was my immediate thought even before I read this far.

It looks a lot like the Crusader MkI individual cooking system currently in use by British troops. The MkII is a bit more fancy but the MkI could be a direct descendant and it is used with the steel mug as in the diagram.

I have a MkI so Ill take a pic in daylight.

I never saw one of WWII vintage though. Could it be private purchase or were they issued?

Regards

Mark

Edit

Just took these with my mobile;

[Willmore]

It seems they were first issued during the Second World War. Here’s is some info I found

Canteen cup stove
The Stand, Heating, Cup, Canteen, also known as the “canteen cup stove,” and much later (during the 1980s), as the “Natick stove,” was introduced during World War II, (Pearson U.S. Pat. No. 2386501, 1941). This simple device was made of aluminum, tapered and shaped similar to the canteen cup. The top (narrow end) and bottom were open and there was a square opening on one side at the wider end, and several round vent holes in the side. (There were minor variations in production over the years). It was originally designed for use with wood alcohol heating tablets, but was later used with Hexamine and Trioxane tablets. When in use, the canteen cup would sit securely on the top (narrow end) of the stove. When not, the canteen cup would nest into the wider end of the stove and the two would fit easily into the canteen cover.

https://history.army.mil/html/museum..._Mess_Gear.pdf (Last page)

[Watchdog]

It seems they were first issued during the Second World War. Here’s is some info I found

Canteen cup stove
The Stand, Heating, Cup, Canteen, also known as the “canteen cup stove,” and much later (during the 1980s), as the “Natick stove,” was introduced during World War II, (Pearson U.S. Pat. No. 2386501, 1941). This simple device was made of aluminum, tapered and shaped similar to the canteen cup. The top (narrow end) and bottom were open and there was a square opening on one side at the wider end, and several round vent holes in the side. (There were minor variations in production over the years). It was originally designed for use with wood alcohol heating tablets, but was later used with Hexamine and Trioxane tablets. When in use, the canteen cup would sit securely on the top (narrow end) of the stove. When not, the canteen cup would nest into the wider end of the stove and the two would fit easily into the canteen cover.

https://history.army.mil/html/museum..._Mess_Gear.pdf (Last page)

Now for some reason seeing that clean example has caused a flicker in my memory.

I just added a couple of pics quickly snapped with my mobile of a current British type to my post #4.

Regards

Mark

[Willmore]

Very interesting Mark.

I definitely agree with what you said too “the MkI could be a direct descendant”.

[Eagle mtn]

Thank you gentlemen. This is great!

In almost 20 years of collecting i have never seen or heard of one of these! With a 1941 patent date, you would figure they would show up more often. I suppose they weren’t widely manufactured.

Anyway, with a considerable amount of penetrating oil and elbow grease i was able to clean this one up. Its pitted, but pretty neat

[Willmore]

Thank you for sharing it will us. I must say, that is some amazing work you have done, it looks brilliant!

[Watchdog]

Looks good!

I too was puzzled when I saw your first pics but when I saw the clean one posted by Willmore suddenly the dim light of recognition flickered in my head and I realised I had seen it before. Possibly with one of the US Reenactor groups that are often at the larger shows. They don't seem to pop up very often otherwise and I wonder if, soldiers being soldiers the world over, something like this was perceived as a nuissance when getting the canteen in and out of the pouch and being made of steel was considered excess weight and therefore discarded once in the field?

Personally, I think the two - three ounces is worth it when stacked against the benefits but I also know from experience that soldiers, be they GIs or Toms, Jocks, Landsers or whatever get some very peculiar ideas in their heads and no amount of reason will shake them loose once they have become "field lore". It's like ripping the lining out of a beret to make it easier to shape or removing the lining from a combat suit (common with Brit '68 patt DPM), ludicrous but I could never stop my lads doing it. "it just wore out Boss, I didn't cut it"

Regards

Mark