U.S. Army No. 5 Range

[Brian Keith]

I just acquired this coal burning U.S. Army No. 5 Range. It is in near excellent condition and doesn’t seem to have been used much at all. It came with the grate wrench and what appears to be the original ash shovel also. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the manufacturer’s data plate that should have been on the right side is missing, but it does have another “US Army Range” cast iron plate like on the front. The top has also been modified with the removal of the original four panel, eight hole top with this one piece top. It is not known if this was an Army modification or a civilian one. It is well done and has reinforcing bars welded on, but probably done post US Government ownership. The only other one I’ve seen is at the Infantry Museum at Ft. Benning in the reconstructed WW II company area.

The verbal provenance is that it came from a WW II era US Army rail road kitchen car that was stored at the Erie RR Rail Yard in Huntington, IN. sometime pre-2005; it was removed from the RR car and was acquired by the vendor I purchased it from. It was one of two army stoves in the car and apparently the other was broken up in the removal. There is a small piece of the other stove I found in mine. The train car may still exist in a RR Museum in New Haven, IN, I’ll have to look into that.

I’ve been trying to find a down loadable manual but haven’t found one yet.

These stoves were discussed previously in 2009 here: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/45754-wood-cookstove/

We’re making an Army Kitchen display around it. It is one of those odd ball items that most were probably scrapped out. My daughter says we need to get some coal so we can use it in case of the Zombie Apocalypse.

Thanks for looking,

 

BKW

[bryang]

Well there's something you don't see every day!

 

Cool - and practical - item to have.

[Brian Keith]

Thanks for your comments bryang,

I do seem to acquire some unusual items.

BKW

[Stephen Werneth]

Wonderful find of field equipment. Probably had a couple biscuits made on it!

[Rogerdean]

this is really cool piece of the US army history !! never seen these in France !

graet find

[Brian Keith]

Glad you liked it Rogerdean. These were made for large permanent bases and camps, I suspect not many were shipped overseas, at least during WW II. These were used into the 1950's I've read somewhere. We have accessorized it a bit now, I think I posted some other photos somewhere.

BKW

[phantomfixer]

I have to assume it is a wood burner too? That would be great in my garage...I dig it...fire it up and use for heat and cooking....great piece of functional history...have seen several US Army pot bellied stoves for heating...but never the cooking stove.

 

nice...hopefully it is still burning...

[Brian Keith]

I suppose you could burn wood in it, but it wouldn't be very efficient. Coal and wood burn very differently. The firebox is the one with US on it, it isn't very big. The bottom drawer is for ash. The doors that say ARMY RANGE and NO 5 are the ovens. I would love to find a US potbellied stove! There were several in a recreational cabin at Camp Atterbury that had been converted to propane. I understand the cabin was torn down, I hope some one saved the stoves. The last time I was at the cabin was over 15 years ago, we had a company party and two Sergeants reenlisted there. Later in Afghanistan, one of them took a sniper's bullet under the arm into his heart. No doubt the shooter was a trained sniper to shoot where there was no vest. RIP Mac.

BKW