Jerrycan

Did You Know?

• Finnish designer Eero Rislakki designed a plastic jerrycan in 1970 with a small screwable stopper behind the handle to allow air flow for smooth fuel outflow.
• The US version of the jerrycan has military specification MIL-C-1283 F, produced since the early 1940s by a number of US manufacturers including Blitz.
• The National Stock Number 7240-00-222-3088 is considered obsolete since new specification A-A-59592 B covering high-density polyethylene versions.

History

The jerrycan gets its name from "Jerry," a slang term for Germans, and the Allies reverse-engineered and copied the design with small changes during World War II. In Germany, it was called the Wehrmacht-Einheitskanister, or armed forces standard canister, first made in 1937 by the Müller engineering firm in Schwelm, designed by chief engineer Vinzenz Grünvogel. A similar canister, bearing the logo of Ambi-Budd Presswerk GmbH, had been used in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War. The German military required that a soldier carry either two full containers or four empty ones, which is why triple handles were added. To allow fast filling and draining, the can had a large spout and a flip-top closure. A hole in the closure retainer could hold a securing pin or wire with a lead seal. The rectangular shape made stacking possible, and the recessed welded seam both stiffened the container and protected the seam from impact. Indentations on the sides kept a full can from being badly damaged if it fell from a vehicle, and a dip coat of paint on the inside prevented corrosion. By 1939, the German military had stockpiled thousands of these cans. Motorized troops received them with lengths of rubber hose to siphon fuel from any source, which helped speed their invasion of Poland. In 1939, American engineer Paul Pleiss built a vehicle for a trip to India with his German colleague, but they had no container for emergency water. The German engineer, who could access the stockpile at Berlin Tempelhof Airport, took three cans and gave Pleiss the full manufacturing specifications. Pleiss drove on to Calcutta, stored his car, and flew to Philadelphia, where he told American military officials about the can but got no interest. Without a sample, he could not make progress. He eventually shipped the car to New York by a roundabout route and sent one can to Washington. The War Department chose instead to use World War I 10-gallon cans with two screw closures, which required both a spanner and a funnel to pour.

Design

A jerrycan’s shape is a rounded rectangle, and it usually has three handles. This design lets one person carry four cans at once—two per hand—and makes passing them along a human chain easier. Originally made for fuel, the cans now hold many substances. Color, labels, or molded markings prevent mixing fuels or contaminating water.

Regulations

The jerrycan is defined by the Code of Federal Regulation, 49 CFR 171.8 as a metal or plastic packaging of rectangular or polygonal cross-section. As of 2009, all portable fuel containers must conform to new federal Mobile Source Air Toxics regulations based on California Air Resources Board regulations, and to the Children's Gasoline Burn Prevention Act. These regulations apply to common red plastic portable gas cans, not to OSHA-approved metal safety containers, and only to newly manufactured petrol cans; there is no requirement for users to discard existing cans. In California, colours are mandated per ASTM F852, with particular shades of medium yellow and medium blue. Within Europe, the transportation of dangerous goods is governed by the UN European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR). The term jerrican is defined in Chapter 1.2 of the 2011 ADR as a metal or plastics packaging of rectangular or polygonal cross-section with one or more orifices, covering the traditional jerrycan and other packagings. The ADR sets performance standards, and traditional jerrycans are available in UN-marked approved versions satisfying ADR requirements.