Arrowhead symbol?

[Ketchup]

Can somebody help me on this?
I regularliy find army kit with a arrowhead symbol etched, burnt or printed on it. What does this symbol exactly mean?

I thought it had something to do with US Army quality control system based in "Lake Arrowhead", but I don't find any reference on the web?

Somebody?

 

[pwb]

I'm pretty sure that a lot of British army kit was marked with an arrow mark to show it was government property, not sure if the same was done in the U.S though.
Something like this mark :

 

[rickyamos]

The British kit does have what they call the crows foot marking on it. Don't know why, but what I do know is if the NSN numbere (Nato, stock, number) has a XXXX-99-XXXXX in it then it was made in the UK, XXXXX-01-XXXX is the USA I think

Cheers

Rick

 

[Tadpole]

Google pheon or Broad arrow, it will tell you all you need to know

 

[torc]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad_arrow
http://www.raaoc.com/?q=node/53
WD, OS and then MOD property mark nowadays as far as I know.
Happy trails...torc.

 

[John Fenna]

The same mak indicates measured hights (spot hights) on OS maps - find a spothight on a map and on the ground you will find a rock/house/other imovable object with the arrow and a horizontal line above it indicating where the hight was measured.

 

[rik_uk3]

Its British Army kit.

 

[Ketchup]

Thanks a lot, all of You. So the "Lake arrowhead" story was misleading!! Broad arrow it is!
Difficult to find information when one starts from the wrong premises.

It was to find the origin of some white handled cutlery (carving knive and fork) that was passed down in the family

I promise I will never forget it now.
Yet I have seen other British marks. I own 4 old foldable chairs marked with a crown (and GVI). Was that a different department?

 

[Large Sack]

Don't forget this either:

Quote from Wiki

'Convict era

In the United Kingdom, prison uniforms formerly consisted of a white jacket, trousers and pillbox hat, all stamped with the broad arrow to denote crown property.

The idea of covering the uniforms of Penal Servitude prisoners with the broad arrow was first introduced by Sir Edmund Du Cane in the 1870s after his appointment as Chairman of Convict Directors and Surveyor-General of prisons. Du Cane considered the broad arrow to be a hindrance to escape and also a mark of shame. It was certainly unpopular with the convicts. “All over the whole clothing were hideous black impressions of the Broad Arrow”, wrote one prisoner.[1] Another considered the “hideous dress” to be “the most extraordinary garb I had ever seen outside a pantomime”.[2] Men sent to public-works prisons were issued with boots. One prisoner, Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, left this description: “Fully fourteen pounds in weight. I put them on and the weight of them served to fasten me to the ground. It was not that alone, but the sight of the impression they left on the gutter as you looked at the footprints of those who walked before you, struck terror to your heart. There was the felon’s brand of the ‘broad arrow’ impressed on the soil by every footstep…the nails in the soles of your boots and shoes were hammered in an arrow shape, so that whatever ground you trod you left traces that Government property had travelled over it.”[3] The broad arrow markings were used until 1922.[4]

Adds another dimension

Cheers

Sack

 

[woof]

Don't forget this either:

Quote from Wiki

'Convict era

In the United Kingdom, prison uniforms formerly consisted of a white jacket, trousers and pillbox hat, all stamped with the broad arrow to denote crown property.

The idea of covering the uniforms of Penal Servitude prisoners with the broad arrow was first introduced by Sir Edmund Du Cane in the 1870s after his appointment as Chairman of Convict Directors and Surveyor-General of prisons. Du Cane considered the broad arrow to be a hindrance to escape and also a mark of shame. It was certainly unpopular with the convicts. “All over the whole clothing were hideous black impressions of the Broad Arrow”, wrote one prisoner.[1] Another considered the “hideous dress” to be “the most extraordinary garb I had ever seen outside a pantomime”.[2] Men sent to public-works prisons were issued with boots. One prisoner, Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, left this description: “Fully fourteen pounds in weight. I put them on and the weight of them served to fasten me to the ground. It was not that alone, but the sight of the impression they left on the gutter as you looked at the footprints of those who walked before you, struck terror to your heart. There was the felon’s brand of the ‘broad arrow’ impressed on the soil by every footstep…the nails in the soles of your boots and shoes were hammered in an arrow shape, so that whatever ground you trod you left traces that Government property had travelled over it.”[3] The broad arrow markings were used until 1922.[4]

Adds another dimension

Cheers

Sack

And now days its all their own clothes, play stations stereo's tv's and trainers, in prisons with all their mates, with do gooders pampering to them, 3 meals a day, free gym use, visit the doctor when they want, free dentist, the list just goes on & on...

Rob

 

[Red Ped]

In the UK MoD world, it's sometimes called a 'crow mark' beacuse it looks a bit like a crow's foot print. It denotes government or crown property so they can tell if it's been nicked. You can find it on just about everything the government issues, even stationery equipment like rulers and staplers!

Ped

 

[Green Arrow]

I am doing some work with the Mary Rose at the moment and you can see the broadarrow mark on all the wooden eating bowls as well as where the sailors have extended the arrow marking by carving to turn it into their initials or a pattern to make their bowl personal.

 

[Rabbitsmacker]

most gov's probably mark their equipment, the americans put US on everything, usually on the outside so enemy snipers can be doubly sure, british its the crows foot, swedes its the three crowns etc etc.

 

[Crowe]

Broad arrow ia also known as 'Willie Dempster's doby mark ' . W.D. = War Department = Willie Dempster. Doby mark is a mark in indelible ink on an item of laundry so it can be identified. Therfore War Department property
Crowe

 

[BOD]

My Aussie s/s mug has the broad arrow on the handle. Interestingly the ends of the barbs are in a line with the base of the arrow.

We keep the faith in the colonies

 

[JonathanD]

I've got an old Royal Marine military Rolex Sub with similar markings on, circa 1965.

 

[woof]

I've got an old Royal Marine military Rolex Sub with similar markings on, circa 1965.

What a great looking watch, thanks for showing.

Rob

 

[Chopper]

And now days its all their own clothes, play stations stereo's tv's and trainers, in prisons with all their mates, with do gooders pampering to them, 3 meals a day, free gym use, visit the doctor when they want, free dentist, the list just goes on & on...

Rob

Dont forget the £44,000 (taxpayers money) damages recently paid out when a filling fell out that had been put in at taxpayers expense.

 

[Matt.S]

It used to be that the broad arrow (crow's foot) was 'cancelled' when selling war surplus by striking another so that they met point-to-point. I've seen a rifle collector's video of his 1912 SMLE. It was made in Birmingham, England by the Birmingham Small Arms Co. in 1912, sold as surplus (presumably post-1919), whereupon the broad arrow was cancelled. It was apparently then sold back to the Crown and both broad arrows were struck out with a line through each. At some point it was used by the Royal Australian Navy Reserve, and eventually sold back onto the civilian surplus market.

 

[woof]

Dont forget the £44,000 (taxpayers money) damages recently paid out when a filling fell out that had been put in at taxpayers expense.

Tell me about it, i've been in the service for 26yrs, things no longer surprise me.

Rob