Steel oilers

  The milled steel oiler was manufactured unchanged from the begin until the mid-war period in that appears the simplified milled oiler, which has the upper part fixed in place rather than threaded, doubtless in an attempt to simplify the production. I've observed the simplified oiler in kits from 1943 and 1944. On these simplified kits we can observe the evolution of the finishing, which is increasingly crude.

Three simplified oilers with the standard kit at left.

Four simplified milled oilers:

1. Unmarked, from a "ab43" kit.
2. "cnx" marked on the tip.
3. Unmarked, with the wider tip. Observed sometimes in "arr" kits.
4. Unmarked, crude manufacture, from a "arr 4" kit.

The bottom of the oilers shown above. All have leather washers.

The tip of the oilers shown above. Note the diffrences.

  It is quite possible that towards the end of the war the manufacture of the milled steel oiler ceased and was replaced by the pressed or stamped steel oiler and the use only of phenolic oilers. The stamped oilers haven't markings. More research is needed about the stamped oilers for to try to know the variants and their manufacturers.

A stamped oiler with two milled oilers (simplified in the middle)

The stamped oiler disassembled.

The bottom of the stamped oiler.

A variation of the stamped oiler, with the central body welded in the middle.
The reason of this welding is not known

The tip of the stamped oiler shown before.

A closeup of the bottom piece of the stamped oiler with the body welded.

  Generally the milled oiler were marked by the manufacturer, although not always and in the same way, so it is interesting to know some peculiarities from every manufacturer. Interestingly, each manufacturer left their machining mark on the bottom of the oiler (of course this is not a "must be so") and this, when found an unmarked oiler, can help us to know the maker of the oiler

Gustav Appel oilers:

  All the G. Appel observed oilers have a high grade finish. The G. Appel oilers have the peculiarity that, except the pre and early war oilers, normally have the washers made from rubber instead of leather. All other manufacturers used only leather.
  Normally, they are marked with the firm's name, number code "64" (1938/39 to 1941) or letter code "cnx" (from 1941) and sometimes with Waffenamt WaA20. Seems that the comercially made oilers were not marked, although this is very hard to confirm.

Some examples of G. Appel oilers and their markimgs:

1. "G. Appel 1936" on the body

2. Unmarked (commercial kit)

3. "64" on the tip

4. Unmarked (G. Appel kit with 9mm extra brush)
5. Unmarked (G. Appel kit with 9mm extra brush)

6. "cnx" and WaA20 on the tip

7. "cnx on the body and WaA20 on the tip

8. "cnx" on the tip

9. poorly marked "cnx" at the tip

10. "cnx" at the tip (wtih leather washer !)

The bottom of the oilers shown before. Note the typically circle marks of the machining.

Close up of the washers of a "64" marked oiler at left (from leather) and a "cnx" marked oiler at right (from rubber)

An strange double marked 64/cnx oiler from G. Appel. No waffenamt.

Two simplified oilers from G. Appel, "cnx" marked.

"Hawig" oilers:

  "Hawig" marked their their kits with their name only (without year of manufacture) and from 1941 with the letter code "cmr".

Some examples of "Hawig" oilers:

1. 2. 3. and 4. "Hawig" marked
5. "c.m.r." marked
6. unmarked

The bottom of the "Hawig" oilers shown before. Note the bulge with a hole.

"c.m.r." markins on a Hawig oiler from a "cmr 41" kit. Note the dots.

Mundlos AG oilers:

  Mundlos AG marked their oilers with their name and year and from 1940 with the code "ab" and the year (40 to 43). With regard to the simplified oiler that sometimes are found in Mundlos kits, I haven't observed any markings.

Some oilers from Mundlos AG:

1. and 2. "Mundlos 1938" marked.
3. unmarked (from a "ab 41" kit).
4. "ab 41" marked.
5. "ab 42" marked.

The bottom of the Mundlos oilers shown before, tipically smooth without signs (except one).

An "ab 40" marked oiler

The bottom of the "ab 40" oiler.

"ab 41" markings on a Mundlos oiler.

An "ab 43" marked oiler.

The bottom of the "ab 43" oiler.

KH / Ky oillers:

Some KH / Ky oilers:

1. "KH 1935" marked and also with Weimar-style eagle 199.
2. "Ky1937"  marked and also with WaA442.
3. "Ky 1939" marked.
4. "Ky 1940" marked.

The bottom of the KH/Ky oilers shown before. Note the grinding marks.

A "KH1935" oiler with Waffenamt 109. Washer is missing.

"Ky 1940" and "Ky 1939" oiler markings



An "ayw1941" marked oiler made by Aktien-Maschinenfabrik Kyffhäuserhütte in 1941. Note the grinding marks at the bottom of the oiler. No Waffenamtt stamp.

 Braunschweigische Blechwarenfabrik oilers:

  Personally, I never seen an "arr" marked oiler and I'm from the opinion that at first possibly used only phenolic oilers, and also simplified milled oilers (with crude finish) and stamped metal oilers at late stage production. Of course, more research is needed.

Two simplified oilers found in "arr"  kits. Note that the tip from the oiler at left is wider (see below).

Seems that the tip on this oiler was made from two pieces. More reserch is needed about this oiler.

A simplified crude made oiler, typically found in late war "arr" kits.

The bottom of the oiler shown before.

Peter Schlesinger oilers:

 A Peter Schlesinger oiler. Note the fine chequering on the upper ring.

The caracteristic "ftd"code markings of Peter Schlesinger.

The botom of the Peter Schlesinger oiler.