WW2 Mountain Ski Rucksack Pack With Frame " SIMMONS CO. 1942 " Near UNISSUED
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:239047 |
Here's the SECOND of three, vastly improved models of the Mountain/Ski Rucksack in the light OD#3 canvas and web with the multi-piece Welded Tubular Frame. There aren't many extant Model 88B Rucksacks that have survived in UNISSUED CONDITION, 77 years after their production run in 1942. They are gone — except for the beat up ones! Now SCARCE!!
These are what we Scouts bought at Army Surplus Stores (abused and then discarded) back in the 1950s. This design was eminently us...eful to hunters, campers, backwoods voyagers. And, not surprisingly, they appear in photographs on the backs of infantrymen early on in Vietnam, before the adoption of the NYLON model.
• These Rucksacks were designed for the Mountain Ski Troops and the First Special Service Force. The men at Camp Hale trained with a version of this one! Based on the Nordic Bergen Rucksack design, it allows the skier or climber to carry a considerable load low on his back.• This beautiful example has ZERO holes, frays, tears, markings, corrosion to buckles and hardware, or conspicuous stains. ALL of the ELKHIDE STRAPS, the ADJUSTMENT BUCKLES, the SNAP-HOOKS, the ELKHIDE ZIPPER PULL DRAWSTRING, BACKBAND, and BELLYBAND are present.• White (Snow Camouflage) ELKHIDE Leather reinforcements for attachment to the FRAME are in UNTOUCHED condition.• Well marked with the "U.S. and the "SIMMONS CO. 1942" manufacturer's data under the Top Flap.• Mint Steel “TALON” ZIPPER works perfectly.• CLEAN inside and out! Minor storage spots. • Metal Trigger Guard Snap Hook is present on the Frame.• No loose Eyelets on the 3 Equipment Tabs for the M1910 Belt Hook Attached gear. "Battle Damage" report: There's some paint loss on the 'hips' of the tubular frame, AWOL Rifle Strap easily replaced (At the Front), but THAT"S IT!(NOTE: The Ames Ice Axe and the Climbing Rope are NOT a part of this sale.)Here's some research from W. Michael Myers' excellent website, "The Rucksack":
U.S. Army Specification File No. 2971, July 7, 1941U.S. Army developed and adopted its first rucksack during the summer of 1941. The canvas duck sack was mounted on a steel wire or rattan frame that supported the load and held it off the soldier's back. Three pockets on the outside of the bag carried extra gear. Heavy felt pads on both the back support and the shoulder straps eased the burden. Brass snap hooks closed the two side pockets and the cover flap. The 1941 pattern rucksacks were made during late 1941 and into early 1942. Most rucksacks are stamped '1941, ' although some made by Powers Company can be found stamped "1942."Being based on a typical commercial rucksack, this first army rucksack was poorly suited for military use. The National Ski Association's Winter Equipment Committee reviewed the rucksack at the War Department's request and suggested twelve improvements that the QMC then incorporated into the next generation rucksack. With the adoption of the Specification J.Q.D. 88 rucksack, the Army withdrew the 1941 pattern from service. Because the two patterns never overlapped within the supply system, they were never known as the M-1941 or M-1942 version. Its official name was always just "Rucksack."History of Simmons Bedding Company:In 1870, Zalmon G. Simmons opened his first factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He started out by manufacturing wooden telegraph insulators and cheese boxes. He branched into making bedsprings after receiving a patent for a woven-wire bedspring in payment of a debt.[ In 1876, Simmons became the first manufacturer to mass-produce woven wire mattresses. This process helped the company produce beds faster and cheaper, and by 1889, with the introduction of spiral coil springs into woven mattresses, Simmons’ mattress prices dropped from $12 to 95 cents, making mattresses more widely affordable. The business was incorporated in 1884 as the Northwestern Wire Mattress Company, adopting Simmons Manufacturing Company as its name in 1889. According to company records, by 1891 it was the largest company "of its kind in the world".National business:Zalmon Simmons, Jr., who took charge of the business after his father's death in 1910, was to oversee additional growth. In 1916 Simmons began advertising nationally, initiating its first national advertising campaign with a double-spread ad in the Saturday Evening Post. By 1919 growth was fast. In response, Simmons acquired manufacturing plants in San Francisco, California; Los Angeles, California; Montreal, Quebec; Toronto, Ontario; Winnipeg, Manitoba; Vancouver, British Columbia; Elizabeth, New Jersey; Seattle, Washington; and Atlanta, Georgia. The following year, Simmons started a new sales arrangement. Instead of purchasing a mattress directly off the retail floor, customers could test the product on in-store samples, order a mattress through the retailer, and receive direct delivery within the next 24 hours from one of Simmons' 64 warehouses. This arrangement reduced the need for retailers to own and store their own product inventories. In 1923, Simmons moved its corporate headquarters to New York City.Equipment developed by Simmons in 1925 automated the process of coiling wire and inserting it into fabric sleeves, called encasements. This allowed mass production of pocketed coils, a type of coil that had been available only in very high-priced luxury mattresses. The pocketed coil is the basis for the Simmons Beautyrest mattress brand, which was introduced in 1925. Although the new manufacturing technology greatly reduced its cost, at the time of its introduction a Beautyrest mattress sold for $39.50, three to four times more than the typical price for a standard wire mattress. Simmons promoted its products aggressively with ads that included testimonials from famous people such as Eleanor Roosevelt in 1927 and Henry Ford, H.G. Wells, Thomas Edison, Guglielmo Marconi and George Bernard Shaw in 1929. Eleanor Roosevelt continued to promote the brand into the 1930s, through her radio show. Cole Porter mentioned the Beautyrest brand in the lyrics of his 1934 song "Anything Goes".During World War II, Simmons' facilities were diverted to military production, making cots, parachutes, bazooka rockets and other products..such as THIS Mountain Rucksack! By the post-war year of 1947, the company was back in the mattress business and started using advertising to associate its products with the Hollywood glamor of actresses including Dorothy Lamour and Maureen O'Hara.
These are what we Scouts bought at Army Surplus Stores (abused and then discarded) back in the 1950s. This design was eminently us...eful to hunters, campers, backwoods voyagers. And, not surprisingly, they appear in photographs on the backs of infantrymen early on in Vietnam, before the adoption of the NYLON model.
• These Rucksacks were designed for the Mountain Ski Troops and the First Special Service Force. The men at Camp Hale trained with a version of this one! Based on the Nordic Bergen Rucksack design, it allows the skier or climber to carry a considerable load low on his back.• This beautiful example has ZERO holes, frays, tears, markings, corrosion to buckles and hardware, or conspicuous stains. ALL of the ELKHIDE STRAPS, the ADJUSTMENT BUCKLES, the SNAP-HOOKS, the ELKHIDE ZIPPER PULL DRAWSTRING, BACKBAND, and BELLYBAND are present.• White (Snow Camouflage) ELKHIDE Leather reinforcements for attachment to the FRAME are in UNTOUCHED condition.• Well marked with the "U.S. and the "SIMMONS CO. 1942" manufacturer's data under the Top Flap.• Mint Steel “TALON” ZIPPER works perfectly.• CLEAN inside and out! Minor storage spots. • Metal Trigger Guard Snap Hook is present on the Frame.• No loose Eyelets on the 3 Equipment Tabs for the M1910 Belt Hook Attached gear. "Battle Damage" report: There's some paint loss on the 'hips' of the tubular frame, AWOL Rifle Strap easily replaced (At the Front), but THAT"S IT!(NOTE: The Ames Ice Axe and the Climbing Rope are NOT a part of this sale.)Here's some research from W. Michael Myers' excellent website, "The Rucksack":
U.S. Army Specification File No. 2971, July 7, 1941U.S. Army developed and adopted its first rucksack during the summer of 1941. The canvas duck sack was mounted on a steel wire or rattan frame that supported the load and held it off the soldier's back. Three pockets on the outside of the bag carried extra gear. Heavy felt pads on both the back support and the shoulder straps eased the burden. Brass snap hooks closed the two side pockets and the cover flap. The 1941 pattern rucksacks were made during late 1941 and into early 1942. Most rucksacks are stamped '1941, ' although some made by Powers Company can be found stamped "1942."Being based on a typical commercial rucksack, this first army rucksack was poorly suited for military use. The National Ski Association's Winter Equipment Committee reviewed the rucksack at the War Department's request and suggested twelve improvements that the QMC then incorporated into the next generation rucksack. With the adoption of the Specification J.Q.D. 88 rucksack, the Army withdrew the 1941 pattern from service. Because the two patterns never overlapped within the supply system, they were never known as the M-1941 or M-1942 version. Its official name was always just "Rucksack."History of Simmons Bedding Company:In 1870, Zalmon G. Simmons opened his first factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He started out by manufacturing wooden telegraph insulators and cheese boxes. He branched into making bedsprings after receiving a patent for a woven-wire bedspring in payment of a debt.[ In 1876, Simmons became the first manufacturer to mass-produce woven wire mattresses. This process helped the company produce beds faster and cheaper, and by 1889, with the introduction of spiral coil springs into woven mattresses, Simmons’ mattress prices dropped from $12 to 95 cents, making mattresses more widely affordable. The business was incorporated in 1884 as the Northwestern Wire Mattress Company, adopting Simmons Manufacturing Company as its name in 1889. According to company records, by 1891 it was the largest company "of its kind in the world".National business:Zalmon Simmons, Jr., who took charge of the business after his father's death in 1910, was to oversee additional growth. In 1916 Simmons began advertising nationally, initiating its first national advertising campaign with a double-spread ad in the Saturday Evening Post. By 1919 growth was fast. In response, Simmons acquired manufacturing plants in San Francisco, California; Los Angeles, California; Montreal, Quebec; Toronto, Ontario; Winnipeg, Manitoba; Vancouver, British Columbia; Elizabeth, New Jersey; Seattle, Washington; and Atlanta, Georgia. The following year, Simmons started a new sales arrangement. Instead of purchasing a mattress directly off the retail floor, customers could test the product on in-store samples, order a mattress through the retailer, and receive direct delivery within the next 24 hours from one of Simmons' 64 warehouses. This arrangement reduced the need for retailers to own and store their own product inventories. In 1923, Simmons moved its corporate headquarters to New York City.Equipment developed by Simmons in 1925 automated the process of coiling wire and inserting it into fabric sleeves, called encasements. This allowed mass production of pocketed coils, a type of coil that had been available only in very high-priced luxury mattresses. The pocketed coil is the basis for the Simmons Beautyrest mattress brand, which was introduced in 1925. Although the new manufacturing technology greatly reduced its cost, at the time of its introduction a Beautyrest mattress sold for $39.50, three to four times more than the typical price for a standard wire mattress. Simmons promoted its products aggressively with ads that included testimonials from famous people such as Eleanor Roosevelt in 1927 and Henry Ford, H.G. Wells, Thomas Edison, Guglielmo Marconi and George Bernard Shaw in 1929. Eleanor Roosevelt continued to promote the brand into the 1930s, through her radio show. Cole Porter mentioned the Beautyrest brand in the lyrics of his 1934 song "Anything Goes".During World War II, Simmons' facilities were diverted to military production, making cots, parachutes, bazooka rockets and other products..such as THIS Mountain Rucksack! By the post-war year of 1947, the company was back in the mattress business and started using advertising to associate its products with the Hollywood glamor of actresses including Dorothy Lamour and Maureen O'Hara.
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