Why does a canister have 3 handles and what does the Jeep Renegade have to do with it?

Anyone who owned a car during the Soviet era probably remembers the 20-liter metal canisters that almost every car owner had. A handy thing! Especially considering that on a long trip it “comfortably” fit in the trunk, and its volume allowed you to fill up about half of the tank of a passenger car.


But this is not the only interesting thing about the product: it has many other advantages, which we will talk about a little later. And the first question that arises when looking at the container is quite simple: why does the product need three carrying handles when one would be enough?

Vinzenz Grünvogel

We are talking about a German engineer who came up with this design in 1937. It was a container with a closing lid, welded from a pair of stamped steel standard sheets. The external features of the product: three handles for carrying and a characteristic hump on the top, as well as an offset neck, stampings in the form of a cross on the sides.


But what was fuel transported in before? Mainly in containers resembling triangular cans with a capacity of 45 liters. The capacity was extremely inconvenient: both when carrying and when emptying. It was impossible to optimally fill the body with such "canisters" lorry, because there was a lot of free space left. In addition, when a heavy product fell, the welds came apart: i.e. it was unreliable.


The Grunvogel canister (some places still call it that) turned out to be so successful that it has remained in its original form for almost 80 years. The engineer approached the creation of his brainchild very carefully and managed to think through everything to the smallest detail. Let's move on to the first advantage.

Pens

The middle one was used when carrying a canister by one person. The two outer ones were needed if it was necessary to drag three filled containers: a couple of people could easily cope with this. The container did not hit the legs, because it was flat and narrow: it was convenient to drag. And when the containers were emptied, one person could carry as many as four canisters in their empty state, grabbing the outer handles.


And all this is not just like that: 1937 is a time when Germany was actively preparing for conquests and the issue of prompt delivery of fuel to the end consumer (tank, truck, Aircraft etc.) stood sharply. One soldier could carry Grunvogel's canisters at a fast pace, moving quickly, and two could drag three pieces. In the back of the truck, the containers stood tightly, optimally occupying the space.

Other advantages

Ergonomics is not the only success of the product. The configuration of the canister, which included a humped protrusion on top, allowed for the creation of an air cushion inside. It helped to pour in fuel and prevented it from leaking when shaking or when the temperature increased. The canister could not sink, and inside it there was a siphon tube that helped to quickly empty the container. When draining fuel, it should be held parallel to the ground and with the neck up: then it will not gurgle.


The next point is the dimensions: 47x34,5x16,5 cm. These dimensions had their own background. The height was equal to ½ the step of an adult man. The container could be easily placed and lifted without bending over much, and the canister did not touch the ground or legs when carried. And the last pleasant "bonus" - you can sit on it, like on a stool, right in an open field! Thanks to such advantages, Grunvogel's product became a standard container for the military by 1940. By the way: another name for it is "Wehrmachtcanister".

Attempts at "modernization"

They were, but all were unsuccessful. For example, the Americans made a canister from one sheet, the upper and lower parts were welded. The closing lid was removed, replacing it with a nut that you can’t just unscrew: you need a special key. Because of it, fuel leaked. The same problem could arise with an old German canister, but the solution was found quickly: an additional sealing rubber was simply placed under the lid, cut, for example, from a scrap material - a car inner tube. This is what drivers did in the USSR. The canister appeared in the Union only after the war, when stamping equipment was taken out of Germany.


The other countries simply copied the German invention. And the Red Army used canisters made, for example, in Great Britain, which were no different from the German ones and were supplied under Lend-Lease. Here is such a long story about the unexpected advantages of a simple and familiar container!


In the next articles we will talk about modern canisters: plastic and metal: which is better (worse) and why.