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WW II U.S. Army No. 5 Range


Brian Keith
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I had posted this in the "latest finds" section, but am moving it here so it stays up.post-1549-0-98751600-1441634246.jpg

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

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Cobra 6 Actual

Very cool stove, sir. I have a non-military one that was my grandmother's. It was made circa 1880's: if you ever use your's I think you'll find that it puts out an amazing amount of heat.

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Cobra 6 Actual

I'm sure your right Cobra! I can't imagine the heat cooking over that at Ft. Benning in the summer!

BKW

Ah, but in the winter I bet ol' Cookie had a million 'friends'!

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