I love my 5 gallon version of one of those. It does have a spring top, but when you drop it on top of the tractor fuel opening it opens up.
Those Wavian NATO cans are costly, but you just can't beat them. Built tough - so much more durable than the cheap knock-offs.
I would assume they are just easier to lift.
Back in the day when I had a long commute, there were no gas stations in my rural area that were open early or late. I would sometimes forget to fill up on the way home so as a backup, I would store some gas in a 150 gal skid tank by pumping it out of the 40 gallon tank on my pickup. That way, I would always have a supply on hand for my small engines, as well as my vehicles when necessary.
Yet another thing the current generations cannot wrap their heads around. Travel at night meant having to know where you could get fuel, or bring more along. We were SOL if we ran out. No cell phones. I suppose a few had a CB.
See post #125 in this thread, where they said they dislike lifting 5 gallon cans.
I tried "normal" Jerry cans a couple decades ago and between the spout being in the diesel and dripping when you flip it to screw it on for dispensing, to pressure or vacuum making it impossible to unscrew said spout/cap without big pliers, plus them leaking from the breather hole... meh
The NATO cans don't screw on, they have a lid with sort of a cam-lock to hold the lid closed or to clamp a spout on.
I had a couple of those many years ago, back when they were made in USA. The problem I had was that they rusted when I didn't use them for a while.
Not sure if the real "NATO" cans were ever made in the USA. There was a different style (with the screw on lid) that was US military. However, the GI's liked the German style fuel cans (AKA "Jerry Cans") enough better that they tended to scavenge them, and that design was eventually adopted by NATO. The current NATO cans have a lining to protect from corrosion. (The lining can react with water, so a fuel can should only be used for fuel. They sell other cans designed for water storage.)
I use a siphon hose... which is why I'm here rather than turning sod. Apparently I left my hose 200 miles away at family homestead. (My plastic cans cracked from too much expanding and contracting during temperature changes, the old metal can I'm using has no nozzle.)
My parents told a story of visiting my dad's uncle in Idaho from Missouri. They "camped out" in the car as the station was closed. Turns out the net morning the owner lived upstairs or on site and said wish he had known he would have pumped them gas after hours.
