the bottom is marked:

 

US E.A. CO. 1944

 

whats unusual is that the brim is plain, no rounded lip? do you think it came from the factory that way? or could the top edge have been cut away for some reason?

It looks cut off to me. Because, the lip of the cup would stay hot being rolled over like they are. Thicker metal retains heat better. The user could have a tough time drinking hot coffee without burning the lips.

I think your right, after closer inspection it does appear to have been cut, when I turn it upside down on the table it is slightly uneven where it's been cut, wonder why they cut it?

About 20 years ago a huge lot of U.S. military field equipment was taken from storage in Europe. Apparently this was equipment that had been provided to Holland and other countries to equip re-established military forces after WWII.

 

The web equipment was the non-standard olive drab materials replaced by the standardized olive green materials. The canteens and cups from this lot were a mix of various types but mostly older manufactured items and used equipment. Apparently the Army had sorted out the "newer" pattern equipment and turned over used and older pattern material. (In other words what collectors like to think the Army has consistently done to the US Marines)

 

The cups are interesting in that they seem to have been repaired by salvaging serviceable parts from other cups. The hinge on many of these cups has been re-riveted to the cup; the handle is often different in materials from the hinge and etc. What is unknown is who "rebuilt" these cups. The handle markings and cup markings are sometimes different manufacturers, or any combination of marked and unmarked parts. I am of the opinion that the cups came from storage in the same condition they had been "donated" by the Army. The people that acquired these items probably did the repair and replacement work to salvage as many as possible to make the cups more marketable.

 

The new rivets are well done and sometimes hard to distinguish from the original, but appear new (bright) and there are often scratches on the cup on the inside where the original rivets were pried out. There are often scratches on the cup indicating the hinge pin was replaced. I have examined two or three cups with the rolled lip similarly removed. I am of the opinion that this was a field modification, probably by US Army soldiers, which is why they were salvaged and turned over as part of the re-equipping items.

 

In the case of this cup the steel hinge adopted in late 1942 appears to have been newly riveted to the cup and the corrossionless metal handle is from a M1910 cup manufactured 1910-1918. What is unknown is who "rebuilt" these cups. I am of the opinion that the cups came from storage in the same condition they had been "donated" by the Army. The people that acquired these items probably did the repair and replacement work to make the cups more marketable.

 

The lip of the M1910 cup was rolled to provide strength and durability. The heat retaining properties of aluminum are such that the lip of the cup became uncomfortably hot after liquids were heated in the cup. It was often mentioned in correspondence the discomfort of the heat retained by the rolled lip. I think it is obvious that the cups were modified to eliminate the heat retention problem and was probably done by troops in the field.

 

In 1942-43 there was consideration and trials of rubber guards for canteen cups. The trial of hard rubber lip guards started because of cuts caused by the sharp edge of the half-rolled lip on the M1942 steel tin or zinc plated cups. Lip guards were also tested for use on the M1910 and corrosion resisting steel canteen cups. In some trials the rubber guard was molded to the cup and tests were conducted of "snap-on" rubber guards. The molded on lip guards separated over time and were burned if the cup was heated over an open fire. The Army Medical Department objected to the lip guards in any form as unsanitary and there were no further tests of lip guards.

 

It may be of interest to note here that in the 1971 trials of the CRS cup with wire handles a comparison was made of the heat properties of the lips of the previous CRS cup with closed lip and the lip on the trial cup. The difference was slight but the comparison tests of the lip edge indicate awareness and concern of the problem.

the bottom is marked:

 

US E.A. CO. 1944

 

whats unusual is that the brim is plain, no rounded lip? do you think it came from the factory that way? or could the top edge have been cut away for some reason?

 

MAS36,

 

One of my dad's uncles served with an AAA unit in the Aleutians during WW2. I remember him telling me that the rolled rim on the cup would get so hot when heated or filled with hot coffee, it would be impossible to drink from the cup until it cooled off [which happened pretty fast i n the Aleutians!] One of the guys in his unit found a solution by cutting the rim off with a pair of wire cutters and then filing it smooth, creating sort of a "fad" amongst the other troops. I had one of the cups years ago that I had picked up somewhere--wish I'da kept it now.

 

Of course, the modification was unauthorized. It took the Army about 30 more years to realize that rolled rim DID get too hot, and solved the problem when the wire handle canteen cup was adopted in the late 60s/early 70s.