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1915 'J' Type Thornycroft up and running.


Tomo.T

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  • 3 weeks later...
Well done. Super photos. Weather looks horrible. Must have made it a bit unpleasant to drive in.

 

We had one bad day when the temp. dropped from 30 to 15 degrees and it rained pretty much all day with a cold breeze. The run up to Menin Gate was the worst as we were driving into it, and it finally got through my service dress tunic. Otherwise fine and sunny with two good channel crossings.

 

Tomo

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Tomo.

 

At Old Warden, you very kindly showed me the Pyrene extinguisher that you have for the Thorny and I was most interested to hear the details. Tim gave me this one for Christmas last year for the next project.

 

DSCN6873.JPG

 

It is American made and 1917 dated which is absolutely wonderful for us.

 

DSCN6875.JPG

 

I am sure that you said something about the font of 'Pyrene' and also the colouring of the label.

 

DSCN6877.JPG

 

And also something about the position of the filler plug.

 

DSCN6878.JPG

 

Please could you comment on this one and also give me some tips on how to clean it as yours was immaculate! Mind you, I am sure that a lot of hours went into it!

 

Many thanks,

 

Steve :)

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Hi Steve, Re Pyrene extinguishers.

 

From what I've managed to glean on these. All were manufactured in the US until 1919 and were supplied to the British Army amongst others. The interesting prominent London address on yours refers to a distribution centre rather than a manufacturing facility. There are two main types of label for WW1 (although yours appears to be a third variety !) The early horizontal Pyrene logo which you have, changed in 1917 for an angled version placed in an oval surround and this has since remained the same.

 

Principal difference in the extinguisher is that early ones have the filler plug in front, in line with the label, but this was moved to the rear out of harms way in 1925. There are other minor differences in the casing. I am in the process of cleaning up another earlier model and when that is finished I will post some pics in a new thread. Suffice to say yours is absolutely correct and I am very envious of the London inscription.

 

Tomo

Edited by Tomo.T
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Steve,

 

You are quite right. I am now thinking yours may be an actual British issue extinguisher. There are slight differences in the lettering, mainly in the prominence given to the Queens St.London address, which was really only a distribution centre during WW1. I was not aware of this detail and this is the first of this type I have seen.

 

The label, normally brass, appears to be aluminium on your example which was presumably a wartime expediency, there being a massive demand for brass in the munitions industry as America and Canada were supplying a good chunk of the ammunition we were needing on the Western Front. The casing was still brass though. From your pictures it would seem there are traces of a black background to the larger labels, with the indented lettering picked out in red.This is the same as my earlier one.

 

Both my examples have come from the US and although period correct, were probably intended for the home market.

 

Tomo

Edited by Tomo.T
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