Jerrycan
The development of the jerrycan was a significant improvement on earlier designs, which required tools and funnels to use, and it contained many innovative features for convenience of use and robustness.
Today similar designs are used worldwide for fuel and water containers, in both military and civilian contexts.
Among others, the Wehrmacht had specified that a soldier should be able to carry either two full containers or four empty ones, which is the reason the triple handles were fitted.
To achieve the required filling and draining speed, it was fitted with a large spout and flip top closure.
The indentations ensured a full can would not be severely damaged when falling from a vehicle, while a dip coat of paint on the inside protected it from corrosion.
Motorised troops were issued the cans with lengths of rubber hose in order to siphon fuel from any available source, a way to aid their rapid invasion of Poland at the start of the Second World War.
[6] In 1939, American engineer Paul Pleiss had built a vehicle to journey to India with his German colleague.
[6] Pleiss continued on to Calcutta, put his car in storage, and flew back to Philadelphia, where he told American military officials about the can.
The new design retained the handles, size and shape, but is most easily distinguishable from the German original by the simplified 'X' - stiffening indentations in the sides of the can.
In all overseas theaters, fuel and other petroleum products represented about 50% of all supply needs, measured by weight.
[7] US logisticians requested over 1.3 million per month to replace losses; these cans were provided by US and British manufacturers, but supply could not keep up with demand.
Manufactured primarily in Egypt, the 4-gallon containers were plentiful and inexpensive, but they had a tendency to leak after minor damage.
[7] Though adequate for transport along European roads, the four-gallon containers proved extremely unsatisfactory during the North African Campaign.
The crimped or soldered seams easily split during transport, especially off-road over the rock-strewn deserts of North Africa.
When the British Army first saw the German fuel cans during the Norwegian Campaign in 1940, they immediately saw the advantages of the superior design.
[11] Rather than a screw cap, the containers used a cam lever release mechanism with a short spout secured with a snap closure and an air-pipe to the air pocket which enabled smooth pouring (which was omitted in some copies).
The interior was also lined with an impervious plastic, first developed for steel beer barrels, that would allow the can to be used for either water or petrol.
[15] The German design jerrycan is still a standard container for fuel and other liquids in the armies of the NATO countries.
[citation needed] In the United States, the jerrycan is defined by the Code of Federal Regulation, 49 CFR 171.8 as "a metal or plastic packaging of rectangular or polygonal cross-section".
