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World War 1 (original type) can opener

Contributed by Johnners

World War 1 (original type) can opener

This is a mystery object to most people today.
It's a British Army MORFED can opener (the crow's foot is the MOD mark) designation 129-9982, made in 1979. The original design of the MORFED goes back to 1914, when soldiers had to feed themselves from rations sent up to the front lines and these can openers were included with the cans of bully beef etc. - they were manufactured in their hundreds of thousands, if not millions.
Every soldier would have one or two of these in their pockets, as eating well (on the hoof) was crucial in times of stress. There were also blade openers attached to MOD issued clasp knives, but these little marvels were easier to use and lighter to carry, and were always a fall-back if you lost your knife. They could also be used as a screwdriver and match striker - it was simply made, with one moving part and of very tough steel, usually nickel-plated to prevent rusting.
I have several of these, made from 1974 to 1992 - when the Army decided that boil-in-the-bag meals were better for troops than using cans. Consequently, they have become rare, as the majority were thrown away or melted down as scrap metal.
As a useful historical object, it ranks very highly!

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Comments

  • 1 comment
  • 1. At 07:58 on 21 April 2011, LeCheminant wrote:

    I have one of these from my army days 1965/74 it is still in the little paper bag, the part number is 17600 and dated 1970 though some of the ration packs we had were much older, the biscuits & sausages were out of this world.

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About this object

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Location

Many English factories

Culture
Period

1979

Theme
Size
H:
5cm
W:
2cm
D:
0.5cm
Colour
Material

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