Wiles Junior Cooker

[jack neville]

I did do a bit of Internet research Ron and buying the tin ingots was no problem on line. Not that expensive either but not sure how much would be needed. I found some advice on the tinning process and it did seem to be fairly straightforward. I think as you said, get the rusty bit sandblasted and then attempt to retin the bare metal. I think I will try tinning something else as a test run first. It appears they were only tinned on the inside. My bins are painted silver on the outside. Not sure if that was an attempt by the previous owner to resemble tinning or not. They are rusting through the silver paint and will need attention as well. I haven't found any data on what the external surface should be. Perhaps some of our cooks could enlighten us.

[Ron King]

Looking at the collection of steamer pots I have it was as follows.
Food grade flat tin coated steel plate, exactly the same stuff as used in food cans.
Edges were rolled over plated wire.
The bottom seams were then heated and tinned in the corners to seal the bottoms of the pots.
They were not dipped.
The lids were done the same.
During the war Australia imported our tin plate steel from the USA as we did not have the ability to make it at that time even though we had a great increase in our canning industry at the time.
The laws have change now and modern food machinery now uses stainless steel, but I do remember being at a bread making factory and a older doe mixing machine bowl was beening retinned in the 1990s.
When the tin wears off though to the steel it had to be retinned straight away to pass food processing inspections.
The people who carried out the work operated from a boot of car and used tin in thin sticks and a LPG burner...........all very simple really.
I am not certain if any sort of flux was used.

[Ron King]

The steamer pots were not painted as originally made.
I suspect the army did paint the outside of the pots at a later date in silver to try and keep them looking good as rust started to set in.

[Ron King]

The best I can gauge though old pictures and different sources is the end barrel plate on the boiler was painted red when new and then black during their service as retest stamping was carried out on that surface.
Steam pipes were painted red and cold water pipes including the pump painted blue.
Door handles on the ovens were painted red or had a red stripe on them to indicate that they were hot to touch.

[Ron King]

I do have a copy of a service record on the operation time....ie steaming hours and repairs and inspection history.
It appears every senior cook filled out the log book of time the boiler was steamed and checked that it was still certificate pressure testing wise.
The history log book shows the methods used to preserve the boiler during storage and if any moisture absorbent material had to be move from inside the boiler before use.
The information I am really lacking is the first hand knowledge of how to correctly use the steamer pots for the cooking of steamed meats or soups,to the steaming of peas.
It is a type of cooking not done now, especially in big volumes to feed the troops.
How were fried foods done like chips..............did the small oven top ever get hot enough to allow frying of foods.
I know the ovens knock out the best baked goods,but its the other stuff is lacking information wise.
I do have the operators book, but it is very basic about how to use the steamers correctly...........I need to find a old wiles cooker cook

[Ron King]

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/military-t...or-cooker.html

The above is a thread on another site I started and has some good pics and links to the interesting development of the wiles cookers starting in the great war.

[Ron King]

To cut a long story short.
Cooking with steam is faster and less vitamins are lost in the cooking process.
Cooking can be done on the move .
The by product of steam is hot water which is handy for washing up dishes and troops showers.
The steam can be used to clean the cooker its self.
The cooker uses less fuel than open topped hot plates boiling of food stuffs.
It can run on any fuel.
Most used wood, but train or ships coal has been used so has oil and LP Gas.
Junior units could be parachuted into place.
Stationary units with extra steaming pots and ovens made and a 100 gallon hot water system.
Roasting ovens and boiler had separate fires, but shared each others heat. To help efficiency.
They saved much time,fuel,smoke over the mud ovens, fowler stoves and sawyer stoves they replaced.
They could boil water to make it safe for drinking purposes and clean the water they needed for its own boiler.
They were used on cargo ships that were used as troop ships as the ships kitchens were not big enough.
They were chained down on cargo wagons on troop trains so troops had a warm meal when the train stopped at the stations.
They were made without normal kitchen plating and frills to save materials during the war.
The braking trays were of special design so the fat wouldn't spill out , but go back onto the meat to baste it if the cooker trailer was being towed.