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Barcalo Army bunk 1934


copdoc
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airborne1968

Went to a local estate sale and found a bedroll mattress and mattress cover for $5! These items make it possible to complete my M1904 bed. I've already sanded and primed the head and foot boards and cross frame. I need to sand blast the springs and paint the bed white. I'll have to get a wood worker to make the wood foot knobs too. I'll post pics when it is complete. Tom

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  • 8 months later...

Check migrant worker camps too....the farmers around Dover AFB must have bought them surplus..in my line of work, I usually run across several a year in the camp buildings...

A guy at Reading WWII Weekend had a truck load he was selling at 10 bones each..no mattress though...

Surplus store in Milford DE has three used as shelves...won't part with them though....

 

Would love to put one in the spare room/war room

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  • 2 months later...
Infantry Grunt

Yep, at my Scout camp we have some grey and some dark green bunks marked US with white and blue striped or solid blue mattresses.

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Quartermaster

Isn't it amazing how true the song lyrics are - "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone!" I had access to an old summer camp and it's storage shed which was full to the brim with these bunks - maybe 200 - 300! One day I sorted through the mass of bunks and selected a dozen or so of the ones that looked the best and had the best mattress supports. From those, I chose two which were the pick of the litter and restored them. At the same time I finally found a set of the extensions used to make two bunks into a bunk bed. Next came two mattresses which fit nicely into the mattress covers that I already had. Period pillows were rooted out and here is the result.

 

IMG_000117.JPG

 

Slowly I got rid of the other bunks but it took longer than I thought it would - size and weight were a problem for shipping and people just didn't seem to appreciate the possibility to set up a bunk display in their "war room." They were dear to one fellow who gladly traded my last couple of bunks for a nice M1941 Mermite can!

 

Here's a bare bunk bed set that a friend got out of storage in the California desert along with pictures of the markings and a closeup of the extensions.

 

DSC08389.JPG

 

DSC08393.JPG

 

DSC08392.JPG

 

 

My better bunk that I haven't figured how I want to display it is the marked wooden Marine Corps barracks bunk. It is a single and cannot be stacked for a bunk bed as far as I can tell. The bed is very interesting but I don't collect USMC so I will have a hard time doing a nice display. Maybe I can dig it out and post photos of that.

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Nice set up. Can you show a close up of the extensions?. Not that I need to see it, since I only have one and if I drag another home I might as well put them in my truck. I will be living in it. LOL

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Quartermaster

Here's the listing for the bunk adaptors (extensions) as in QM 3-3 Quartermaster Supply Catalog List Of Items For Issue To Posts, Camps And Stations - dated June 15, 1944.

 

bunk-adaptor.jpg

 

In reality, four (4) individual adaptors are required to double deck two bunks - one per leg.

 

Basically each is an approximately 24 inch steel tube - 1 1/4 inches outside diameter. The bottom 6 inches is half cut away to allow it to be placed on the rounded corner of the bottom bunk. The leg of the upper bunk fits into the top of the tube. The bottom of the tube rests on the bunk's brace to keep the adaptor in place.

 

I will try to snap a photo of my in the near future if anyone is interested.

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Thanks for posting. I have slept on similar cots in various places but never paid attention to who made them or how they were put together. I thought the pre WWII date (1934) was interesting. It generated a lot more interest than I thought it would.

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RustyCanteen

I used to see a nice complete bunk all the time years ago, had I asked it would probably have been mine. It's probably in a land fill or been melted down by now. They are great for displays, but making room for them is a problem. A great thing about them though, is that you can still lay enough stuff on them to offset some of the displaced space, and the 'cool' factor makes up for the rest.

 

I like your display QM.

 

RC

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RustyCanteen

QM,

 

 

When you say you have the USMC version, does it look like this wooden bunk in use by the Navy?

 

g207704.jpg

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Quartermaster

Hi R/C,

 

No, that is not the same bed.

 

The QM 3-3 catalog lists this bunked bed set as below:

 

wood-bedstead-double-deckin.jpg

 

Here is the Military Blueprint:

 

wood-bedstead-blueprint.jpg

 

 

Actually, growing up I had a military bunk bed exactly like this and on the head and foot boards was carved (routed) USN so I am familiar with the bed set that your photo depicts. The only difference is that, if I remember correctly, there were wooden supports affixed along the side of the bunk's rails to support a mattress set instead of the wire link & spring support for a mattress. Maybe another design or maybe a conversion after it made it to the surplus market --- maybe my dad did it!?!?

 

 

My bunk example is more petite (I know - not the best descriptor for a military item). The wood rails are ~ 2" by ~ 1.25" and the legs are approximately 1.25" square. It has a similar bracing & hinging arrangement to the folding metal cot so it may be folded for storage or transport. At either end of the main frame is a metal plate the entire width of the bed - one side attached to the wooden frame and opposite each side is a series of holes for the springs that support the wire link mattress support..

 

There is no specification on the cot but it's design is like the metal cot design (only wood), it is painted in a dark, semi-gloss OD and there is some sort of stenciling in yellow paint at one end which looks like an identifier or some sort of assignment number. (Very USMC like coloring and marking - in my opinion.) Additionally, this cot/bunk is not listed in any of my QM catalogs nor in my large but probably incomplete QM blueprint collection which furthers my theory that it is either a USN or USMC item.

 

Presently it is sort of buried behind a shelving unit loaded with militaria in a room also rather crowded with militaria. I am not able to initiate a major relocation of my collection at this time but if interested, I will try to dig it out for photos in the near future - hopefully.

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Any info on these? I googled and found out the company was in business in 1896 and made steel beds and tools. I did not find anything about military contracts except for tools.

 

Anyone have any idea why it is stamped for the Philadelphia Ordnance Dept?

 

This one outlasted the 35 year guarantee on the civilian steel beds.

 

army_cot.jpg

 

army_cot_2.jpg

We have a storage room full of these where I work, with mattresses and covers.

Stacked to the ceiling. (No.....I'm not kidding!)

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I know were a couple of dozen are for sale. Are there people looking for these and what do they go for? They would need to be cleaned and repainted. He said he also had some adaptors he had made like the originals.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...
CombatEng44

I found the wooden U.S. marked bunk beds a few years ago and my wife keeps telling me to sell them. I tuned her out, though. Most difficult to hide those dang things!

 

I did manage to get an unopened package of WWII dated pillow cases which I have not opened.

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  • 9 months later...

We have a storage room full of these where I work, with mattresses and covers.

Stacked to the ceiling. (No.....I'm not kidding!)

I am interested in seeing whether any are still available. I am working on a project in Hawaii that needs at least one (or more).

 

Thank you,

 

Craig Lewis

(808) 224-3868

[email protected]

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IKEsaysGO44

I am interested in seeing whether any are still available. I am working on a project in Hawaii that needs at least one (or more).

 

Thank you,

 

Craig Lewis

(808) 224-3868

[email protected]

Craig,

 

Not sure if this fits the bill. Currently on eBay.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Original-WWII-Military-wood-frame-Spring-bed-Cot-1942-Mt-Airy-Mantel-Co-/262408474255?hash=item3d18c38e8f:g:B~sAAOSwJQdXCYfr

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Looks like the legs have been shortened on that one.

I have one of these wood bunks that came from "Camp Como". A POW Camp near Batesville, MS.

Ronnie

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  • 1 year later...

This is a fairly old post, but I was wondering if anyone had found any metal WWII dated bunk beds? A friend of mine has two bunks (4 beds) and they are all dated 40, 41 & 42 and made by Simmons, Motoscoot and Vincent Mcall.

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