One
Might As Soon Think Of Packing A Folding Step-Ladder.
But if he has
the transport, the man who packs any reasonably light folding chair
will not regret it.
As a rule, a cooking kit is built like every other cooking kit in
that the utensils for cooking are carried in the same pot that is
used for boiling the water, and the top of the pot turns itself into
a frying-pan. For eight years I always have used the same kind of
cooking kit, so I cannot speak of others with knowledge; but I have
always looked with envious eyes at the Preston cooking kit and water-
bottle. Why it has not already been adopted by every army I do not
understand, for in no army have I seen a kit as compact or as light,
or one that combines as many useful articles and takes up as little
room. It is the invention of Captain Guy H. Preston, Thirteenth
Cavalry, and can be purchased at any military outfitter's.
The cooking kit I carry is, or was, in use in the German army. It is
made of aluminum, - weighs about as much as a cigarette-case, and
takes up as little room as would a high hat. It is a frying-pan and
coffee-pot combined. From the Germans it has been borrowed by the
Japanese, and one smaller than mine, but of the same pattern, is part
of the equipment of each Japanese soldier. On a day's march there
are three things a man must carry: his water-bottle, his food,
which, with the soldier, is generally carried in a haversack, and his
cooking kit. Preston has succeeded most ingeniously in combining the
water-bottle and the cooking kit, and I believe by cutting his water-
bottle in half, he can make room in his coffee-pot for the food. If
he will do this, he will solve the problem of carrying water, food,
and the utensils for cooking the food and for boiling the water in
one receptacle, which can be carried from the shoulder by a single
strap. The alteration I have made for my own use in Captain
Preston's water-bottle enables me to carry in the coffee-pot one
day's rations of bacon, coffee, and biscuit.
In Tokio, before leaving for Manchuria, General Fukushima asked me to
bring my entire outfit to the office of the General Staff. I spread
it out on the floor, and with unerring accuracy he selected from it
the three articles of greatest value. They were the Gold Medal cot,
the Elliott chair, and Preston's water-bottle. He asked if he could
borrow these, and, understanding that he wanted to copy them for his
own use, and supposing that if he used them, he would, of course,
make some restitution to the officers who had invented them, I
foolishly loaned them to him. Later, he issued them in numbers to
the General Staff. As I felt, in a manner, responsible, I wrote to
the Secretary of War, saying I was sure the Japanese army did not
wish to benefit by these inventions without making some
acknowledgment or return to the inventors.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 102 of 106
Words from 52906 to 53439
of 55169
