Thread: Wiles Senior cooker.

That is certainly a very different project & one that really had a bearing on "Keeping the Fighting Man Fed".

Fwiw, when my Dad was stationed on detachment at Terowie in SA during WW2, it being a railway Change of Gauge Marshalling Yard I would stand track side as the evening Military Train rolled in each night. There were literally some, what appeared to be hundreds of these over the few weeks I was there, under canvas covers but their unmistakable contour shape was a dead giveaway. Trucks, Guns etc under canvas were a piece of cake to ID. So were the Cookers.

They have a particular connection with SA as hot cooked meals of the type the Wiles turned out were instigated by Emeritus Professor Sir Stanton Hicks who did a lot of research at the Adelaide University & in later years the laboratory he used was fitted out as "The Mouse House" in the top floor of the Medical School where the Uni. bred the white mice for other experiments Post War. I maintained the rooms with the Air conditioning for the "meeces" & knew the important history of the area. Not sure if it still exists today with buildings at the University popping up everywhere there.

I never saw a plaque or any ID at the rooms detailing the important work that was done there & helped the War Effort immensely. A shame really.


Great to see that one of the important pieces of Australian WW2 Memorabilia being restored. I wish you well.


Edited. Biography - Sir Cedric Stanton Hicks - Australian Dictionary of Biography



Author of a book.... "Who called the Cook a bastard?" That has humorous overtones & when asked in real life, the std reply from troops, nashos etc was a loud "Who called the bastard a Cook?"

I will just add
story about the old Wiles junior.
It was used for lots of different public and club events and fund raisers.
Mum used to make and bake scones which we sold with a cup of tea, brewed in the Wiles junior steam heated tea Urn of large capacity.( the steam coming out the thing and whistle added to the attraction and added to fund raiser sales)
It also knocked out the best slow cooked baked dinners and roasted potatoes.
We even some times cheated...…………..buy fresh bread, or scones and wiped a little bit of milk over the top and heat in the oven of 5 minutes……..,.pull out of the oven( let every one see this ) and serve with butter.
It was interesting hearing people comment on how much better home made bread and scones were baked in the cookers wood fired oven.
I remember it was even used to heat a Jeep No 4 trailer full of water for a bath in the middle of winter, just to show off and show what a wiles could do.....it could heat a serious a mount of water in a short time with a boiler at full pressure.
Ron

Originally Posted by 101 Ron

Attachment 157309The picture below shows Two wiles junior cookers in the back ground.
This photo was taken more than 30 years ago.
one cooker was owned by a Mr Woolf and the other by my father.
I think the one on the left in steam, with steam can be just seen escaping from the steaming pots is the one I have now.
The one on the right was Mr Woolfs.
The location was Castle hill show ground Sydney.
the second picture same time and place but only showing one cooker in the back ground.

Ron,

The junior cooker owned by Mr Woolf is the cooker I have now owned for several years.
Still operates perfectly. I last used the boiler to provide steam to bend some timber for hood bows for a WW2 military truck restoration. I have a friend who is going to build me some new steam bins out of stainless steel if you want to avoid tinning your old bins.

Dave Woolfs cooker was in perfect condition when I last had seen it.
I heard after his death, It sold at a very cheap price.
you done well to get your hands on it.
I could be interested in the stainless steaming bins, I would need to know a bit about how they are going to be constructed and pricing.
Ron

Originally Posted by stealth

Ron,

The junior cooker owned by Mr Woolf is the cooker I have now owned for several years.
Still operates perfectly. I last used the boiler to provide steam to bend some timber for hood bows for a WW2 military truck restoration. I have a friend who is going to build me some new steam bins out of stainless steel if you want to avoid tinning your old bins.

Hi Stealth
I found a reasonable picture of the cooker you now own ,the photo was taken about 30 years ago.

This photo is of the junior cooker I now have ,taken about 40 years ago.
The lady in the photo is now pushing towards 80
It is interesting to note the welded on patches on the boiler/stove flue.
The same patches are still present.
I have a new old stock flue to fit to replace the patched item.
The baked food which comes out of these things is extremely good.
My experience is any wood fired oven/stove uses a natural heat which give better taste out comes and may be reason why some pizza outlets still use a traditional wood fired oven even though its very labour intensive.

Its been too hot to work on my other projects out side in the weather, so I managed to get the wiles junior inside and start stripping, I want to paint the chassis and check wheel bearings and fit correct wheels ect.
Most of the bolts holding things together needed to have the heads ground off to release them.
Boiler is slightly wasted around where its horizonal support plates are welded to the barrel, but the barrel is very over built for what it needs to do so I think I will stick with the original barrel, even though I have spares.
Moisture appears to have collected in that area with out side storage.
I dont know where I am heading with this or if I am going to find time to finish it.

I do know that the bottom of the oven is rotten and needs a new floor welded in.
The boiler ash pan is missing...……..I can make that...…..my sheet metal bending skills will be tested greatly.
I have some chasing two new steam pressure gauges.( one for the junior and one for the senior cookers)
I have learnt something, I am not a traditional steam nut.
In the picture of Stealths wiles and the one I have got is the pressure guage has been mounted directly to the top of the boiler...…….this kills the pressure gauges as it should be mounted though a thing called a siphon which protects the guage from heat and steam.
I need to make one and have a sample of one,.. in one of the wiles senior cookers I have.
The steaming pots need repair and new tin plating.
Lighting and wiring need to be sorted as well.
New flexible steam hoses are needed.
A steam way cock on the boiler is broken off, damaged by the previous owner, I have a spare in the my spare parts wiles senior cooker.
that my work list on the wiles junior so far.
Ron