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Thats what my dad called them around here also. Smudge Pots.

We always called 'em "smudge pots" in Illinois, too, but the railroad and highway maintenance crews called them "warning flares." They wouldn't be too effective in this day and age as warning flares, but in the day of the Model T and A Fords, they gave ample warning of obstructions. Let's face it! Those cars headlights were so weak that you could easily overdrive them at 40 mph!

We used to use these in the early days when I was in grading / heavy construction. I'm sure they were made by various manufacturers. The ones we had were called FLAMBOS as was embossed into the tank portion of the unit. They used kerosene or fuel oil and would burn about 15 hours on a full fill. It was quite a timing consuming chore for a man to fuel, deliver, and light a group of these last thing in the afternoon each day, gather them back up the next morning and do it all again so they could go back on the site just before quitting time again. I must say vast improvements in barracade and signing technology have made this chore much easier and safer today.

You can say that again! On the other hand, though, it's yet another job that is no longer available to the village idiot. Ummm, 'scuse me! I meant to say the "mentally challenged" person.

Sometimes I wonder if the "village idiot " has gotten the job of running the village!


DJ

I think you may have something there, DJ!

Kudos on all of the information shared about your mystery box... Those smudge pots also look like the things we used on the rifle range to blacken our sights... So there is a slantways military connection, if you wanted to go there...