WW2 Mountain/ Ski Gas STOVE, Complete!! / PW – 1 – 45. Manufactured by Prentiss-Wabers of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. + This is the “Stove, Cooking, Gasoline, M-1942- Modified, ” Jeffersonville Quartermaster Depot J. + Beautiful gleaming clean condition! This is a STUNNING example! The complete ABSENCE of heat discoloration of the steel pot support arms carbon, gas residue on the cup, burner plate, or fuel odor in the tank leads me to suspect that, despite the replaced Instructional DECAL LABEL, that this Stove may never have been test fired even once! It is just that C LEAN! + Bright, glistening, clean STAINLESS STEEL, free of soot, corrosion and dents!! ZERO evidence of “heat discoloration” to the steel on’squared’ hinge ends of the Pot Support arms. Stoves were manufactured only in 1944 and 1945. Prentiss-Wabers (PW) and Aladdin were awarded contracts in both 1944 and 1945… And Coleman Appliance C. The WINDSCREEN is crisply and legibly stamped. PW – 1- 45. + Contrary to popular opinion the issue of these durable, lightweight single-burner gas Stoves were NOT limited to the 10. Mountain Division, FSSF, the Mountain/Ski Troops , but were available to Armored personnel, Paratroopers, and ALL combat personnel. Its prototype was already in use by the U. This was just the ticket for the’foxhole chef’ — when you gotta have coffee, you gotta have coffee. + The M1942- MOD. Mountain Stove was a 17 oz. Folding tripod legs, and folding pot support arms with 1/2 pint fuel capacity that was capable of operating for 2 hours on one tank of leaded gas. It was designed specifically to operate in frigid temperatures. The pressure pump was combined with the filler cap and contained a second set of replacement parts in addition to those in the steel box-container that snapped onto one of the vertical supports for the windscreen. Clipped above the control valve knob was a combination wrench-screwdriver tool. + This unit has it all! Included are each of the original components. The MULTI-PURPOSE WRENCH with machined-edge screwdriver blade is present! The stamped steel SPARE PARTS Box-container complete with it’s bright brass replacement VAPORIZER/GENERATOR, SCREEN, CLEANING NEEDLE , and graphite GASKET is present! An ADDITIONAL replacement set of VAPORIZER/GENERATOR , CLEANING NEEDLE, and an assortment of graphite GASKETS and extra PIPS are still neatly nestled inside the gleaming steel Pump Barrel! This stove has a PERFECT condition REPLACEMENT sunflower-yellow “water-slide decal” INSTRUCTION LABEL! An intact,’undamaged’ INSTRUCTION LABEL rarely survived more that several uses of the Stove, being very susceptible to damage from both gasoline and heat!! The original on this stove most likely was scraped up sliding the stove in and out of an aluminum storage canister. The decal includes instructions under the following headings. + The tiny walnut CLEANING KNOB and the black (unique to the PW model), not dark maroon’Bakelite’ CONTROL KNOB with the word’ CLOSE’ in the “stylized” serif font (unique to the PW model) are present and move freely! + The folding bright chrome-plated LEGS with their bright copper springs snap in place correctly! + The knurled FUEL CAP is brass , not nickel-plated , and is free of scratches or damage from pliers! + The flexible rubber Fuel Cap GASKET is present! + ZERO dents to the stainless steel TANK ; no welded repairs, no bends to the pot support arms, no heat discoloration, no scratches! + The seal of leather pump CUP/GASKET is solid and supple. + In addition to being a very, very attractive example suitable for a static display, and although untested, I suspect is serviceable or could easily be brought up to operational standard. These very durable M1942-Modified Stoves have stood the test of time, and fortunately after-market washers, gaskets, are available from various sources such as Old Coleman Parts. Background and History of the Stove. From the absolutely exceptional SKICOLORADO’S BLOG: STEVE’S LIFE IN COLORADO. In November 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Finland in what is known as the Winter War. The battle lasted just over 3 months and ended with the Moscow Peace Treaty in March of 1940. The Soviet forces greatly outnumbered the Finnish military in soldiers, aircraft and tanks, however, their losses were more than 5 times greater. Many around the globe took notice of the Finn’s guerrilla tactics, using ski troopers on cross-country skis and wearing white capes as camouflage. It is also interesting to note that only two months prior to the Soviet invasion, Germany invaded Poland. Back in the U. Skiing advocates were encouraging the Army to develop a training system to produce our own ski troopers and rock climbers, especially after seeing the success of the Finnish troopers. What surprises me a little is that, amidst the Great Depression of the late 1930s, there were outdoorsmen who were climbing and skiing around the country. Somehow, I just never visualized that skiing was going on during the Great Depression. Contrast that activity with my father’s childhood memory of growing up in Chicago in the late 1930s and 1940s, when he said to me, You know that saying,’If the shoe fits wear it’? When I was a kid, we’d go to school and there was a big pile of used shoes in the hallway. We were all kinda’ poor, so the teachers would say,’Here are some shoes. If the shoe fits wear it’. I wonder if that’s where that saying came from? Anyway, the Great Depression was a time experienced differently for many people. In 1941, and likely prior to December 7. And under the deadline of 60 days, the Coleman Company of Wichita, Kansas, was given the charge of producing a quart-sized, all-weather, single-burner stove which could be carried by a soldier. In record time, they produced the Coleman 520 stove, and seems to have been designated by the military as the M-1941 (though its actual full military designation is still unclear), which is the common term used by people to describe the AGM version. A second company, American Gas Machine Company (AGM), of Albert Lea, Minnesota, was also contracted to manufacture the Coleman design. According to documents I’ve read, over one million of these 520 stoves were produced during the war. The 520/M-1941 first saw service during the Africa campaign beginning in late 1942. By the time the Africa campaign began in 1942, construction of Camp Hale, in Colorado, was pretty much completed and U. Ski troopers were being trained in skiing, climbing, winter survival and ordinance. Camp Hale eventually became known for its 10th MOUNTAIN DIVISION. Somewhere, in this same time-frame, BESTOR ROBINSON, a lawyer, mountaineer and director of the Sierra Club in California prior to WWII, was assigned to a team at the U. Army’s Office of the Quartermaster General with the role of improving clothing and equipment for the army’s mountain divisions. The team was led by Robert Bates, who was an avid mountaineer, and it’s worth reading his short bio. During this time, Robinson, was granted patents for the design of a compact stove, which is regularly called the “mountain stove” by many today. His patent designs for the stove and various parts of it can be found by searching the web for these numbers: Patent No. The contract to build the new little stove was apparently awarded to the Aladdin Industries subsidiary of the Mantle Lamp Company of America or Mantle Lamp themselves, and manufactured under the name Aladdin , similar to the parent company’s well-known lamps. It’s kind of confusing exactly who made it, since The Mantle Lamp Company made Aladdin lamps, and they had a subsidiary with the same name, plus, Mantle Lamp eventually merged with Aladdin. Aladdin is still in business today. You may be familiar with some of their products which sell under the Stanley vacuum bottle name and other food and beverage containers. The first model of the stove is commonly called the “wheel stove”, by many collectors, because of the horizontal wheel used to operate the stove’s burner. My understanding is that the wheel design was to allow troopers to operate the stove in cold weather without removing their gloves or mittens. This model was only made by Aladdin and only in 1943. For reasons unknown to me, the stove was modified from the wheel design to one somewhat more conventional after only one year, particularly in the valve stem. This second stove model is known, and is stamped, as the M-1942 MOD, where MOD denotes modified. The model was also produced by Aladdin in 1944, and Prentiss Wabers a. Known as Preway of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin and possibly by one other company (possibly Coleman), however, I have been unable to confirm this. In 1945, the M-1942 MOD was produced by Aladdin, Prentiss Wabers and Coleman. I’ve never seen manufacturing year stamps past 1945, so it appears that the stove was very short-lived with a production run of only three years. Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune October 18, 1943. Born in the First World War, Preway Serves Nation in Second Founded Here in 1915; Firm’s History Traced. Prentiss Wabers Products company, with a million-dollar payroll and an Army-Navy “E” proudly waving from its flagpole, was born in a disgruntled camper’s mind on a rainy day. It was one of those soggy days preceded by other soggy days. Every stick in the woods seemed saturated and the fisherman swore to himself fitfully as he probed under logs and inside stumps for a bit of dry wood to start a fire. “Never again” he probably said to himself, so he headed back to civilization: Never again will I be the victim of a campfire that won’t burn, a fire that won’t start, a vacation utterly and completely ruined. ” We can envision the evenings spent tinkering with sheet metal and burners and little air pressure tanks, evenings from which evolved the first “Preway product, a gasoline stove. It was mid-winter, early in 1915 that G. Members of the association listened and nodded their heads. Most of them had knelt over wavering campfires, had probed here and there for a bit of dry wood, had borne the dismay of watching a campfire die a-burning. After careful consideration and investigation, the association recommended acceptance of the proposal by local businessmen. Plans for the new plant here were then formulated. A corporation was organized February 8, 1916 under the name of Prentiss Wabers Manufacturing company, with factory space in the Wipperman building near the Green Bay and Western railroad tracks. Original directors were D. A single camp stove model was manufactured. The factory location was moved in 1918 to the Reed Construction company building also situated near the Green Bay & Western tracks. Philleo as general manager and A. Hasbrunck as manufacturing superviser. Taylor Takes Charge T. Taylor president of the company, stepped into active charge of the company in the autumn of 1919, when capitalization was increased and limited expansion took place under a new corporate name, the Prentiss Wabers Stove company. Camp stoves, camp chairs and tables, and a camping utensil set were the products then manufactured. The company continued operation in a seasonal way from 1919 to 1922, with limited production but meager sales. However the firm was reorganized the same year and through the efforts of Wisconsin Rapids Chamber of Commerce, R. Wiltrost was engaged as general manager and Michael Woolf, a native of London, England, was hired to direct the sales. Officers chosen at that reorganization period were C. Kruger, president, Amos J Hasbrouck, vice president, L. Progress was rapidly accelerated under the new management. A national distribution program was established and within the space of two years it was necessary to plan for construction of additional manufacturing space, and for design of a wider range of products. Out of the Woods. Thereafter followed a period of expansion. Prentiss Wabers was “out of the woods, ” out of the trying period of infancy when it had been beset by the economic childhood ill of an untried and unstable business. All of that was now behind. Economically, Prentiss Wabers had graduated into long pants. In 1925, the first new building was constructed on the site of the present factory, that first building including space for an office, enameling department, machine shop and assembly room. The next year saw an addition to this building, an additional space was needed for machining and warehousing. Another year went by, and in 1927 an extension of each of the two buildings built in 1925 and 1926 was made to increase the enameling facilities and provide additional warehousing space. Again it, was but one year before the physical plant grew to accommodate its expanding business, as in 1928 the size of the main office was increased and a service department, die room and boiler house were constructed. In 1929 and 1930 small additions were made in the factory to provide still more warehousing space for products in process of manufacture. Then in 1936 the warehouse sections within the plant were converted into extra plant space were filled with machinery and equipment and an entirely new and large warehouse room was built at the southern end of the main factory to provide ample storage space for the seasonal type of products manufactured. Complete Expansion in 1937 The present assembly department was added in 1937, and again the space provided for assembly work was converted to more space for machines and other types of equipment. The 1937 addition completed the expansion progress to date, and today there is ample space for separate assembly department, punch press department, cutting department, screw machine department, service department, enameling department, plating department, engineering and testing, machine tool division, and administrative offices. Significant in the growth of the company were several periods of expansion and change. The first coming in the late 1920s when the products of the company gained nationwide popularity in the days when automobiles and highways were improved, when Americans became a nation of tourists, sometimes characterized by urban Europeans as a nation of gypsies. The second significant change came in 1928 and 1929 when Prentiss Wabers surveyed the domestic household stove market, decided to cater to Mr. America’s home needs as well as vacation equipment needs. Since 1923, when camp stoves and camp folding chairs and tables, and camp utensils sets were produced, continued additions to the line of products manufactured were made. It was in 1927 that fishing tackle boxes and picnic iceboxes were first produced, and in 1928 preparations were made for the manufacture of a complete line of domestic or household gasoline ranges. The manufacture of these stoves began with the sale of them exceeding in dollar volume all other products in the first year of stove manufacture. Another outlet came in 1931, when the making of gasoline blow torches were added. In 1932 came gasoline radiant heaters, in 1933 gasoline lanterns, in 1934 preparations for the manufacture of fuel oil circulating and radiant type heaters were made, and in 1935 the second major appliance was placed in production, added to the growing line of Preway products. Kerosene-burning stoves and ranges were manufactured in 1941, to replace the first major appliance manufactured – the gasoline range. Preway Goes to War Prentiss Wabers “enlisted” in the war effort in 1942, beginning with the production of war materials, which has furnished the most recent and greatest spurt in the company’s activity. Before the war P. Had manufactured gas stoves, fuel-oil circulating heaters, blow torches, lanterns picnic-lunch boxes, and camp stoves. The first war contract was July 1, 1942 for bombs, detonator fuses, and field kitchen equipment. During the war most civilian products were eliminated except for kerosene stoves, trailer stoves, and fuel-oil heaters. Today work on government contracts makes up the greatest percentage of sales volume, with a Victory model rangette being the only civilian product now in production. The progress of the company can be shown on adding machine tape with the volume of sales, payroll, and employment rising to steep peaks today. The varied type of products now manufactured provide, too, a flexible manufacturing setup and at the same time permit full year employment. This is an important factor when post-war business readjustments must be made. The products which the company is now equipped to produce include camp stoves, picnic iceboxes, lanterns, blow torches, fuel oil heaters and kerosene stoves and ranges. Employment and Payroll Expand Along with plant expansion and sales increases has come at upward trend in employment and payroll expenditures. Figures for the first full year of operation as a war plant are not available, but it is anticipated that the payroll will exceed a million dollars.
