Web Equipment Pattern 1908 - Associated Equipment
Water Bottles
Bottle, water, aluminium (the rectangular type in Fitting Instructions)
To be added at a future date.
Stores Ref. none Bottle, water, enamelled. (Mark VI.),
Stores Ref. A1/AA 0340 Bottle, water, Mk. VI
Stores Ref. CN/AA 0340 Bottle, water, Mk. 6
Stores Ref. none Covers, water-bottle, Mk. VI
Stores Ref. none Covers, water-bottle, O.P., felt
Stores Ref. A1/AA 0767 Covers, water-bottle, cloth, drab mixture
Stores Ref. A1/AA 1668 Stoppers, cork, water bottle
Stores Ref. A1/AA 1669 Stoppers, cork, waterbottle, cords, long, 18-in., for Mk VI bottles
Stores Ref. A1/AA 1669 Stoppers, cork, water bottle, cords, long
The Bottle, water, enamelled. (Mark VI.), was approved in 1903, by §11460, just a few months after the Mark V. Where the latter had had a funnel-shaped spout, the Mark VI returned to the parallel-sided spout of the Mark IV. No explanation was given, but as this was the only difference, and the price was the same, it must follow that the funnel shaped spout had been deemed an un-necessary complication in manufacture. Like the Mark V, the body cross-section was of kidney form, the base joined to the body with a “tin can” type seam. The top was a pressing, with curved shoulders, to which the separate spout was attached. The Stopper, cork, waterbottle was the same size as it had been since the Mark IV bottle of 1895, which had parsimoniously introduced the stopper as “… of a size in general use for ordinary wine bottles…”. The tapered cork was drilled for an eye bolt, which passed through a galvanised flanged cap. A dished washer and an oval nut held the eyebolt in place. During the Great War, a number of variations of the Mark VI had been produced, some with flat forms of “tin can” top, others with a flat base. It is possible that some of these variants were still in service when Patt. ’37 W.E. was announced.
The whole series of enamelled iron water bottles had had thick, khaki felt covers, those for the Mark V and VI comprised 3 pieces – a machine stitched sleeve, a hand-sewn base piece and a hand-sewn top, pre-cut with a hole for the spout. The Stopper Cords were stitched to the Covers. This changed with L. of C. A 7628, approved on 31st May, 1933, which announced Covers, water-bottle, cloth, drab mixture, which were very much thinner serge cloth, of a more greenish khaki than previous ones had been. The old, thick Covers, water-bottle, Mk. VI were re-designated Covers, water-bottle, O.P., felt. In this context, “O.P.” was the standard abbreviation for Old Pattern, as opposed to Observation Post. When the Mark VII was introduced in 1939, it also occasioned two sizes of string. That now relevant to the Mark VI rejoiced in the nomenclature of Stoppers, cork, waterbottle, cords, long, 18-in., for Mk VI bottles. The conjoining to “waterbottle” signifies the Army’s ambivalence to nomenclature, with divided, hyphenated and conjoined all featuring at different times!
In 1951, L. of C. C 4686 amended the nomenclature to the Arabic form “6”, as part of the transfer to the new Section CN of the Catalogue of Clothing and Necessaries (C.C.N.). Made obsolescent in 1939, the Mark 6 had finally vanished from the C.C.N. by the 1965 edition.
