WW2 Heinz self heating ration can

[biscuits brown]

Self Heating soup can with heater element open.

self heating soup.jpg (14.53 KiB) Viewed 12988 times

This is the self heating soup ration can that was issued to UK and Canadian forces mostly in NW Europe from june 1944 onwards.

There were several varieties, tomato, oxtail, pea, mock turtle (dont ask)

The ration was developed jontly by Heinz and I.C.I. (UK - Imperial Chemicals Industries)

There was a hollow central well, with a very rapid heating element. You popped the top cover, as shown, and put a cigarette end to the element. Took about 30 seconds to boil the can.

These were hugely popular amongst UK and Canadian troops, especially in the winter of 1944-5 when they were first issued in mass. Very expensive to produce though.

[calixtesaint]

Wow Biscuits..that is so cool!
Thanks for sharing.

[housil]

My Dad told me about that self heating soup cans. As a kid in age of 8, the US troops fed them with them after the German retreat in 1945.

[biscuits brown]

I cant understand why they were not produced after for the civilian market.
Things had recovered quite a lot by the mid 50s and it would have been huge in the US as well as Europe, for outdoors use.

Maybe cost, or sheer volume.

[Bear_Bottom]

Like these?

http://www.hotcan.com/

[Cracker]

It looks quite nice, but the burning heater is a bit dangerous to me. But for the time it was a nice gadget, especially because it can be used to cook without using a lot of light.

(Very usefull in WW2 frontlines, some were litterally 50 yards from the enemy)

About the question about not bringing them on the civil market;

For that time, people weren't really into "convenience foods". Also, as mentioned, the can was quit expensive to make. And during the 50s, america might have been booming.. but Europe was still recovering. Here the financial booming didn't start untill the 60s.

Plus nobody ever heard of outdoor food back then. It was still normal to take a pan with you to cook on an open fire, and sing songs. 50's outdoor food = scrambled eggs, beans, stew, luncheon meat, canned ham.. etc.

[biscuits brown]

It was old tech in the 40s.
The earliest commercial reference to them I can find in the UK is 1908..
They were popular with Edwardian balloonists.

Actually the 1908 version is way more sophisticated. The can was marked in a certain spot, you pierced it there, it activated chemicals, and the tin heated. Completely flameless.

The 40s version is backward by comparison. Maybe they had to use a wick type device for mass production.

[rationtin440]

Cool pic! It kinda reminds me of the "self heating cans" of survival rations that Ryan Cawdor and his companions kept finding in the bunkers in the "Deathlands" book series. In this case, they pulled a ring on the can and two chemicals would mix and heat the contents.