From top to bottom the body is about six inches, including the screw-off top in the middle it's close to seven inches. The width is 5 1/4" and the depth is almost four inches.
There was one thing I noticed about it, there is what looks to be a belt loop on one side and a belt loop on the other side but the buckle would prevent anything from going around it completely.
I looked up kerosene cans on the internet and all of the ones I saw had funnels and were larger. This one appears to me to be too small for a kerosene carrier plus the fact that it is surrounded by leather is another reason why I would think that nobody would want to put kerosene in it--i'd think that if anything spilled out of it the leather would soak up and hold any gas. I took a whiff of it and there was no residue odor in the interior.
What appears to you to be a pump or spring is where the chain is attached to the item. The chain is attached to the screw-on cap on the top middle of the can and the chain breaks into two and attaches to the top and bottom of the little pole on the top corner of the can. It can only unscrew from the top and does nothing else.
The letters on the side look like O. S. M. Co and my husband and his father were Marines so I thought that maybe it might be some kind of Marine canteen but the initials would have started out with U. S. Surprisingly enough, I was able to get a very clear picture of the engraving in the leather on the side.
I had tried to post two pictures yesterday but only one of them was posted. i'll try to send two more this time. Thanks for your help.
Diane
