Jerry Cans: The True Secret Weapon of WWII

March 11, 2022 2:44 AM

Calum does a deep dive into the Jerry Can: from its invention as the Wehrmachtkanister in pre-war Germany - through a war time during which the design was noted and copied by allies - onwards towards its modern incarnation .
posted by rongorongo (15 comments total)

The algorithm served this up the other day, and I watched it all the way through in one sitting. Very entertaining video! It was interesting how most copies weren't as good as the original.
posted by Bee'sWing at 3:04 AM on March 11, 2022 [1 favorite]

I've never watched this guy's videos - are creepy little things like the dude looking through his window in the background part of his style?
posted by dominik at 3:10 AM on March 11, 2022 [3 favorites]

I've never watched this guy's videos - are creepy little things like the dude looking through his window in the background part of his style?
(Calum lives on the island of Rassay - where I imagine keeping something as fascinating as a video production located in your garage - from the 160 or so other residents - would be utterly impossible. I made a previous FPP about his video on "Kharkovchanka" - The Colossal Soviet Antarctic Cruisers.)
posted by rongorongo at 3:28 AM on March 11, 2022 [10 favorites]

Who can drink ten litres of gas and not get sick?
Jerry can
posted by avocet at 7:26 AM on March 11, 2022 [9 favorites]

Cool, I knew the rough idea of Jerry can but never gave it a second thought about any sort of detail. Lovely engineering.
posted by zengargoyle at 8:20 AM on March 11, 2022 [1 favorite]

This reminds me of the many, many times I had to fill up a generator outside the Command Post tent because the enlisted guys had forgotten to. Hoisting a Jerry can full of diesel in the dark while the generator surged and fell, running on fumes. Spilling it all over myself.
posted by atchafalaya at 8:35 AM on March 11, 2022 [2 favorites]

It was also stacked as added armor on at least one desert scout car during WW2.
posted by Brian B. at 8:40 AM on March 11, 2022

I don't think those were empty cans. From your link:

Operational range 300 km (190 mi), with spare cans 1,500 km (930 mi)
posted by Mr. Yuck at 10:11 AM on March 11, 2022 [1 favorite]

I had a moment when the pin dropped and I suddenly knew why we call them "Jerry" cans.
posted by Well I never at 12:28 PM on March 11, 2022 [10 favorites]

I absolutely loved this guy's video on the "Kharkovchanka" - The Colossal Soviet Antarctic Cruisers. Something about a vehicle that you can inhabit, and that you can repair from the inside is fascinating to me.
posted by technodelic at 2:01 PM on March 11, 2022

Curator David Willey of the Tank Museum did something similar 18mths ago too. Unfortunately his dog, Finn, does not make an appearance in this video.
posted by phigmov at 3:31 PM on March 11, 2022

I had a moment when the pin dropped and I suddenly knew why we call them "Jerry" cans.

Ditto. Very interesting. Thank you for this.
posted by y2karl at 3:51 PM on March 11, 2022

On the OP, this link failed in Firefox with a "secure connection failed" message. It works fine as http:// instead of https://

Here's the http version:
...through a war time during which the design was noted and copied by allies...
posted by jjj606 at 4:47 PM on March 11, 2022 [2 favorites]

The Jerry Cans are also "a band from Iqaluit, Nunavut who combine traditional Inuit throat singing with folk music and country rock." "Ukiuq" is a fun song. I don't know what the words mean but I don't need to to get the emotions. "The band's name derives from [the drummer] once trying to build a drum set out of old jerrycans."
posted by kirkaracha at 3:04 PM on March 14, 2022 [2 favorites]

I think this guy just started a resurgence of the popularity of the Jerry Can. I watched this when it came out, and I've seen several other new videos about the topic come up, and a couple of stores that I frequent have now started selling them.
posted by ambulocetus at 7:10 PM on March 24, 2022