tools and equipment....a lighthearted look

[Meteor mark 4B]

CENTURION TOOLS,EQUIPMENT AND STOWAGE..............................A LIGHTHEARTED LOOK

 

The actual vehicle tool kit consisted of over sixty items, sixty eight in fact, but on the occasion of a tool check, there always seemed to be the odd spanner missing. I have no intention of listing every item, suffice to say that there were thirty six spanners alone in the driver’s tool bag. These were in the main Whitworth and AF sizes, ranging from the 1/8 x 3/16 up to 1-1/8 x 1-1/4. In between were all sorts of sizes, including box spanners, ring spanners and adjustable spanners. Some of the titles given in the handbook are interesting, to say the least. For instance, Spanner, American thread, comb. Bi-hex, ring type ¾ AF, this being a common or garden ring spanner, and Spanner, American thread, box, tubular, DE, ½ X 9/16, for a simple box spanner.

There was even a tyre pressure gauge. Very useful, on a vehicle with solid tyres. There was definitely a use for the gauge, and while it escapes me, I’m sure someone will remember. Something to do with the gun equipment I recall.

 

Assorted files, punches, drifts, chisels, pliers, screwdrivers and the hammer completed the kit. For some reason, the file was called a file, hand, bastard, and this caused a degree of humour. The drift and the punch varied in that the drift was flat at both ends, while the punch had a point on one end. Confusing stuff. Why was the screwdriver titled Screwdriver, London pattern anyway ?

 

With many grease nipples on the Centurion, obviously a grease-gun was required. If you were equipped with the Unigun, 5000, HP, you were denied the opportunity of being issued with three separate guns, with odd looking names. How about Gun, lubricating, grease, pom-pom, type A, or Gun, grease, compressor, junior, No.2? Then there was the pump, Oddy, modified type, complete with nozzle. Any job associated with the Centurion’s tracks generally meant using the big tools. Hammer, sledge, straight pane, 7lbs, and Bar, crow, with chisel and claw, 5ft. 6in. immediately come to mind. The track adjusting spanner even had an FV number of its own. It was FV 210469, if you are interested.

 

An hydraulic jack, with two handles, plus assorted shovels and pick-axes just about completed the list of tools as far as the driver was concerned. There were also the gunner’s tools, which in the main consisted of various odd looking items which bore little resemblance to normal tools, although there was the screwdriver, cabinet, 4 in and the screwdriver, electrician and signals, 2-1/2 in., and the Box, spare springs, keep pins, washers and insulators, which was basically a small tin box. There was also the wrench, combination, M6, which was used on the Browning MGs, and looked like a bicycle spanner. The gunner’s tools also included the very well made barrel cleaning brush and staves, made of wood, with their brass ends which slotted together, and were held in position by the tightening of a butterfly nut, and the C spanner, with which the barrel was turned a quarter of a turn, prior to removal.

 

The radio operator was not left out in the most grand name for a basic item stakes either. Consider the Case, spare valves, containing valves CV6, 124, 509, 1054, 1091, 1893, 1944, and 194 (3), lamps operator. Phew. All the handsets and headsets, (mikes and earphones), came under the operators jurisdiction, as well as bulbs, fuses and aerials. The commander? He didn’t really have any tools of his own In barracks he would probably be in the troop store checking AB 413s, the tank record book, or some other essential task, while in the field he would attending “O” groups, where tactics were discussed.

 

Various lamps, lights, brushes, machetes, ropes, bivouacs, poles and sheets completed the complement of tools and equipment, but last, and most definitely not least, was the cooking kit. There was the stove, portable, No.2 Mk.2, and the pot, cooker, portable, No.2 Mk.2 The former was a primus type cooker, in that after filling it with fuel, you pumped it up, and hopefully away it would go. (with the aid of a lighted match) However, the jet through which the pressurised fuel came through was prone to blockage, and it was then that the pricker would come into its own. Not a part of the toolkit, it was to be found in the ration packs that were issued, and it was the most important tool on the tank, and the cook clung on to it as if his life depended on it. Basically the pricker was a thin piece of wire attached to a handle, and the wire bit was inserted into the jet on the cooker to clear it when blocked. Another important item was the vessel, boiling, electric, 3 pint, 750W, No.2 Mk.1, and this grandly titled piece of equipment was basically an electric kettle.

 

The tank was also equipped with twelve padlocks. Well, you wouldn’t want the enemy stealing your pricker, would you ?

[Meteor mark 4B]

....file, hand BARMAN?? where did that come from? It should be file, hand, B*****D of course.

[Meteor mark 4B]

.....how odd, the PC won't print the word that describes "someone who is illegitimate"

[Richard Farrant]

the file was called a file, hand, barman, and this caused a degree of humour.

 

Why was the screwdriver titled Screwdriver, London pattern anyway ?

 

 

 

I do not recollect a "barman" file, but much mirth was raised when mentioning a "bas...tard" file, prehaps it is one and the same?

 

The London pattern screwdriver is a beauty to use, it has a wooden handle rounded and slightly oval that fits the hand well, the shaft is usually flat along whole length, mine I have had for over 30 years and if I caught anyone using it as a lever, they would get flogged

 

Richard

[79x100]

I would agree that London pattern screwdrivers are great to use and the wooden handle removes any temptation to use them as a drift which some modern drivers encourage.

 

I had an idea that the London pattern had slightly flattened "cheeks" when compared with a "cabinet" pattern, making it less likely to roll away unpredictably when placed on a sloping surface.

 

On the subject of files, I assume you have all heard the joke about the young apprentice who had to assist a fitter with filing on his first day ?

 

The fitter turned to him and said "Pass the big Bas*ard"

 

Back came the reply "I can't find the big Bas*ard, will this little Fuc*er do?"

[Richard Farrant]

I had an idea that the London pattern had slightly flattened "cheeks" when compared with a "cabinet" pattern, making it less likely to roll away unpredictably when placed on a sloping surface.

 

Correct, I have one of each and mixed the description of the handle with the Cabinet.

Recently bought a new set of straight blade screwdrivers and they have a metal pad on the end of the handle, which it says, is for striking with a hammer! What is annoying is that they are heavily magnetised, and whenever I lay them on the bench after a bit of filing or sawing, the bloody things are bristling with filings from stem to stern

 

Richard

[79x100]

It does seem wrong doesn't it ? Hitting any kind of screwdriver with a hammer. It would have brought a clap round the back of the head from my old metal-work teacher. I try to avoid hitting anything other than a soft-metal drift or a punch with a hammer.

 

Could I put in a word as well for the good old hide mallet ? Worth all the nylon tipped or deadweight hammers in the world

 

And don't forget the old adage that one well-aimed blow is worth a thousand ill-judged taps (Hurts your bloody thumb if you miss though!)

 

By the way, I'm a Richard as well, should I start saying that to avoid confusion ?

[Richard Farrant]

By the way, I'm a Richard as well, should I start saying that to avoid confusion ?

 

Richard,

 

Guess we will have some confusion from now on then :lol:

 

Richard, the other one

[Richard Grosvenor]

By the way, I'm a Richard as well, should I start saying that to avoid confusion ?

 

Richard,

 

Guess we will have some confusion from now on then :lol:

 

Richard, the other one

 

Well Richard and Richard,

 

I'm now totally confused :shock:..what...me...who...I don't know?

 

Regards

Richard :lol: ( age before beauty and all that ! :wink: )

[AlienFTM]

.....how odd, the PC won't print the word that describes "someone who is illegitimate"

 

If it's any consolation, I bet it doesn't allow you to cock the weapon either by pulling the working parts to the rear and allowing them to go forward on the spring. Unless you cheat and write cock.