Hi everyone, so last week I was looking for some parts and my quest had taken me to the deepest darkest depths of the shed where things haven’t seen the light of day for years.  During my search I  found everything I wasn’t looking for and even parts I  had forgotten I even had but I came across this interesting item,  it was given to my father probably about 20years ago by an elderly gentleman and the story behind it is that is supposed to be a caterpillar parts washer, the two prongs are so you can place it in the tracks of a crawler and wash whatever parts you need to clean, the lid is held open with a spring latch but I couldn’t get it stay open when I took the photos I think it’s due to the dust muck and crap that’s in it. If anyone has any knowledge of this item it would be greatly appreciated 

I looked at the pictures before I read your post and came to the same conclusion.
I was thinking it's some sort of safety can that will slam shut if it catches on fire. You know; In the old service manuals for say a Sixty; It says to wash parts in gasoline .

It definitely seems like a parts washer, I’ve never seen another one before. I’ll give it a good clean up and seen if I can find any part numbers or makers name on it