US WWII canteen

[bob4wd]

I’ve been looking for an example of a tin-plated or maybe zinc-plated canteen. I know they exist but have never seen one offered for sale, and that is over 50 years of looking! So— has anyone here ever even seen one?

[Aragorn243]

I do not have a canteen; I do have a cup. 1943 EDWARD KATZINGER

The likely problem with these is they rusted, so they were probably disposed of. Odd that I never really hear about anyone asking about one, you're the first. The black and blue porcelain and the plastic ones are all the rage.

Are you sure they made canteens out of this material? I'll have to look through my information but I don't remember seeing anything on them.

[Aragorn243]

I did some checking and there were tinned canteens. Probably all will be dated 1942, possibly 1943 as evidenced by my cup. 1941, early 1942 will be aluminum, 1942 starts the tinning which was a failure that led to the porcelain in mid 1942 which again was replaced in 1943 with aluminum again and then finally stainless steel.

I do not have a 1941 canteen, four 1942's either aluminum or porcelain.

[RT Ellis]

The U. S. Army QMC in early 1942 was searching for alternate materials for field mess equipment (canteens, canteen cups, and meat cans). Contractors manufactured canteens, canteen cups and meat cans that were low grade sheet steel porcelain-plated. In testing the porcelain-plated canteen cups and meat cans were unserviceable and the specification called for sheet steel tin or zinc plating for Canteen Cup M-1942 and Meat Can M-1942. The Canteen M-1942 was manufactured with porcelain-plating.

The QMC in 1943-44 continued to investigate improved applications in the event it was necessary to manufacture more field mess equipment with alternate or substitute materials. Many applications were tried including tin and zinc plating for testing. Canteens with tin or zinc plating was never standardized for production and any that exist were manufactured for test purpose and somehow escaped destruction during testing into the militaria collectible world.