CartDorset
Active Member
Can anyone help
in identifying the purpose of this nice example of wartime recycling? The box is a fairly standard looking wooden crate with metal reinforcement around the base and top corners. Lift handles on the end and the type branded in the base. I think this is E26 over I for an E26 Mk1. The bottom arm of the E isn't 100% clear, so it could be F26.
The lid is missing but was clearly designed to be held in place by the pivoting metal arms with split pins through the centre of the arms, box lid and securing into the metal plate on the end of the box.
What is unusual is that this is a clearly recycled box. While there are no visible markings on the outside, there are plenty inside, listed below. They are all in green, so I presume come from the same crate or group of crates originally. Although the top of the letters are cut off, I think the end shows "PICRITE" in large letters, above "WELLAND CHEMICAL WORKS" in a smaller letters and then "LIMITED" centred below in smaller letters again.
One side is made from a panel with contract and lot details, dated Feb 1942. The end of the box has an impressed ?K over 43, presumably the latter being year of manufacture.
DEMAND NUMBER SPLY/X/17/40
CONTRACT NO. 1676
NET WEIGHT 20 .....
DATE 2-42 ..............
LOT NO
The base is made of 4 strips with the following inside;
"HIGH EXPLOSIVE - DANGEROUS" (2 of these the same)
C.R.C. 14 (in outline box)
And the final one has the top of the Demand Number panel with same contract number
The Welland Chemical Works was Canadian, built in Welland, Ontario in 1940 as a Government munitions factory, converting not long after the war to fertiliser manufacture for Cyanamide.
http://www.nflibrary.ca/nfplindex/show.asp?id=94555&b=1
It would be nice to think that this contained some Picrite loaded munition, though it may just be an example of thorough wartime recycling.
If anyone happens to know the purpose of this box, I'd be most interested. I'll make up a lid and use it for transporting stuff.
in identifying the purpose of this nice example of wartime recycling? The box is a fairly standard looking wooden crate with metal reinforcement around the base and top corners. Lift handles on the end and the type branded in the base. I think this is E26 over I for an E26 Mk1. The bottom arm of the E isn't 100% clear, so it could be F26.The lid is missing but was clearly designed to be held in place by the pivoting metal arms with split pins through the centre of the arms, box lid and securing into the metal plate on the end of the box.
What is unusual is that this is a clearly recycled box. While there are no visible markings on the outside, there are plenty inside, listed below. They are all in green, so I presume come from the same crate or group of crates originally. Although the top of the letters are cut off, I think the end shows "PICRITE" in large letters, above "WELLAND CHEMICAL WORKS" in a smaller letters and then "LIMITED" centred below in smaller letters again.
One side is made from a panel with contract and lot details, dated Feb 1942. The end of the box has an impressed ?K over 43, presumably the latter being year of manufacture.
DEMAND NUMBER SPLY/X/17/40
CONTRACT NO. 1676
NET WEIGHT 20 .....
DATE 2-42 ..............
LOT NO
The base is made of 4 strips with the following inside;
"HIGH EXPLOSIVE - DANGEROUS" (2 of these the same)
C.R.C. 14 (in outline box)
And the final one has the top of the Demand Number panel with same contract number
The Welland Chemical Works was Canadian, built in Welland, Ontario in 1940 as a Government munitions factory, converting not long after the war to fertiliser manufacture for Cyanamide.
http://www.nflibrary.ca/nfplindex/show.asp?id=94555&b=1
It would be nice to think that this contained some Picrite loaded munition, though it may just be an example of thorough wartime recycling.
If anyone happens to know the purpose of this box, I'd be most interested. I'll make up a lid and use it for transporting stuff.