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Show AMERICA INACTION it it THE M-1937 ARMY FIELD RANGE The army's mobile kitchen, the M-1937 field range, is the best mechanism mech-anism of its type in the world. Our Allies have clearly indicated a marked preference for it, and it is the envy of our enemies. Years of careful research, experimentation experi-mentation and development at the Jeflersonville Quartermaster depot preceded" the acceptance . by the army of the M-1937 as the "rolling kitchen" to be used by our forces. It has accompanied our troops to the theaters of operation. The problem of preparing tasty, edible and well-balanced menus when an army becomes v mobile, when it is on the move, when it is distant from its headquarters has been the bane of the existence of quartermasters in the past. It may be comparatively simple to cook, roast, fry and bake basic foods into savory dishes in the permanent quarters of a unit at its post, but serious difficulties present themselves them-selves when a force is being transported trans-ported and when it is m the field of action. The subject was of serious concern during the last war, There were two glaring defects in the mobile ranges used during World War I: their mobility and the fuel they consumed. The rolling kitchens kitch-ens of that period were wood burning burn-ing units, 'heavy, clumsy and mounted mount-ed on their own wheels. They functioned func-tioned with a comparative degree of efficiency on short , marches, but when considerable distance was covered, cov-ered, there was always the por?biK-ty por?biK-ty of the wheels coming ofT, or being damaged, and the' mobility disappearing. disap-pearing. Under the supervision of Mr. Styles T. Howard, senior mechanical mechani-cal engineer of the JcfTersonville depot, with a background of 31 years of experience, a model gasoline burning field range was constructed in 1935. This rangeconstructed by hand in the Jeffersonville experimental experi-mental shop, though too heavy and cumbersome, was a great advancement, advance-ment, and proved to be the predecessor pred-ecessor of the present stove. Further Fur-ther experimentation continued, and the present model emerged in the latter part of 1936. It was perfected in 1937, and officially christened the Gasoline Field Range, Model of 1937. Released by Western Newspaper Union. |