IV. RAILWAY ARTILLERY…

IV. RAILWAY ARTILLERY

As soon as war was declared against Germany the Ordnance Department, in its search for an immediate equipment of strong artillery, surveyed the ordnance supplies of the country and discovered some 464 heavy guns which might be spared from the seacoast defenses, obtained from the Navy, or commandeered at private ordnance plants where they were being manufactured for foreign Governments. There were six guns of this last-named class--powerful 12-inch weapons which had been produced for the Chilean Government. It was seen that if all, or if a large part, of these guns could be made available for service in France, America would quickly provide for herself a heavy artillery equipment of respectable proportions.

The guns thus available for mounting on railway cars ranged in size from the 7-inch guns of the Navy to the single enormous 16-inch howitzer which had been built experimentally by the Ordnance Department prior to 1917. The list of these guns according to number, size, length, and source whence obtained was as follows:

----------------+---------+----------+--------------------------- Number of guns. | Size. | Length. | Source whence obtained. ----------------+---------+----------+--------------------------- | Inches. |Calibers. | 12 | 7 | 45 | Navy. 96 | 8 | 35 | Seacoast defenses. 129 | 10 | 34 | Do. 49 | 12 | 35 | Do. 6 | 12 | 50 | In manufacture for Chile. 150 (mortars) | 12 | 10 | Seacoast defenses. 21 | 14 | 50 | Navy. ----------------+---------+----------+---------------------------

In addition to these there was the 16-inch howitzer, 20 calibers in length, which had been built by the Ordnance Department before 1917.

The expression 14-inch gun, 50 calibers, means that the gun has a barrel diameter of 14 inches and that the gun body is fifty times the caliber of 14 inches, or 700 inches (58 feet 4 inches) long.

The Ordnance Department conceived that the only way to make these guns available for use abroad would be to mount them on railway cars. These guns were not vital in the defense of our coast under the conditions of the war with Germany, but it was evident that they would make a valuable type of long-range artillery when placed on satisfactory railway mounts.

Mounting heavy artillery on railway cars, however, was not an idea born of the recent war. The idea was probably originally American. The Union forces at the siege of Richmond in 1863 mounted a 13-inch cast-iron mortar on a reinforced flat car, this being the first authenticated record of the use of heavy railway artillery.

In 1913 the commanding officer of the defenses of the Potomac, which comprise Forts Washington and Hunt, was called upon to report on the condition of these defenses. In reply, he advised that no further expenditure be made on any one of the fixed defenses, but recommended that a "strategic railroad" be built along the backbone of the peninsula from Point Lookout to Washington, with spurs leading to predetermined positions both on Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River, so placed as to command approaches to Washington and Baltimore.

Further, he recommended that 4 major-caliber guns, 16 medium-caliber guns, and 24 mine-defense guns be mounted on railroad platforms, with ammunition, range finding, and repair cars making up complete units, so that this armament could be quickly transported at any time to the place where most needed. He suggested that this scheme be made applicable to any portion of the coast line of the United States. His argument was based upon the fact that guns in fixed positions, of whatever caliber, violate the cardinal military principle of mobility.

The nations engaged in the war now ending developed to a high stage the use of heavy artillery mounted on railway cars, bringing about a combination of the necessary rigidity with great mobility, considering the weight of this material.

Railway artillery came to be as varied in its design as field artillery. Each type of railway mount had certain tactical uses and it was not considered desirable to use the different types interchangeably. The three types of cannon used on railway mounts were mortars, howitzers, and guns. It was not practicable to use the same type of railway mounts for the different kinds of cannon. Moreover, these mounts differed radically from the mounts for such weapons at the seacoast defenses.

The three general types of railway mounts adopted were those which gave the gun all-around fire (360-degree traverse), those which provided limited traverse for the gun, and those which allowed no lateral movement for the gun on the carriage but were used on curved track, or epis, to give the weapons traverse aim.

The smaller weapons, such as the 7-inch and the 8-inch guns and the 12-inch mortars, were placed on mounts affording 360-degree traverse. The limited traverse mounts were used for the moderately long-range guns and howitzers. The fixed type of mount was used for long-range guns only, and included the sliding railway mounts, such as the American 12-inch and 14-inch sliding mounts and the French Schneider à glissement mounts.

The work of providing railway artillery--that is, taking the big, fixed-position guns already in existence within the United States and similar guns being produced and designing and manufacturing suitable mounts for them on railway cars--grew into such an important undertaking that it enlisted the exclusive attention of a large section within the Ordnance Department. This organization eventually found itself engaged in 10 major construction projects, which, in time, had the war continued, would have delivered more than 300 of these monster weapons to the field in France and, to a lesser extent, to the railway coast defenses of the United States.

As it was, so much of the construction--the machining of parts, and so on--was complete at the date of the armistice, that it was decided to go ahead with all of the projects except three, these involving the mounting of 16 guns of 14-inch size, 50 calibers long, the production of 25 long-range 8-inch guns, 50 calibers, and their mounting on railway cars, and the mounting of 18 coast-defense, 10-inch guns, 34 calibers long, on the French Batignolles type of railway mount.

Inasmuch as it will be necessary in this chapter to refer frequently to the barbette, Schneider, and Batignolles types of gun mounts for railway artillery, it should be made clear to the reader what these types are.

The barbette carriage revolves about a central pintle, or axis, and turns the gun around with it. When it was decided to put coast-defense guns on railway cars, the guns were taken from their emplacements, barbette carriages manufactured for them, and the whole mounted upon special cars. The barbette mount revolves on a support of rollers traveling upon a circular base ring. In the railway mount the base ring is attached to the dropped central portion of the railway car. The barbette railway mount is provided with struts and plates by which the car is braced against the ground.

The Schneider railway mount is named after the French ordnance concern Schneider et Cie, who designed it. In this mount the gun and its carriage are fastened rigidly parallel to the long axis of the railway car. Thus the gun itself, independently of any movement of the car, can be pointed only up and down in a vertical plane, having no traverse or swing from left to right, and vice versa. In order to give the weapon traverse for its aim, special railway curved tracks, called epis, are prepared at the position where it is to be fired. The car is then run along the curve until its traverse aim is correct, and the vertical aim is achieved by the movement of the gun itself. In the Schneider mount there is no recoil mechanism, but the recoil is absorbed by the retrograde movement of the car itself along the rails after the gun is fired. This movement, of course, puts the gun out of aim, and the entire unit must then be pushed by hand power back to the proper point.

In the Batignolles type, gun and cradle are mounted on a so-called top carriage that permits of small changes in horizontal pointing right and left. Thus with the railway artillery of the Batignolles type also, track curves, or epis, are necessary for the accurate aiming. The Batignolles mount partially cushions the recoil by the movement of the gun itself in the cradle. But, in addition, a special track is provided at the firing point and the entire gun car is run on this track and bolted to it with spades driven into the ground to resist what recoil is not taken up in the cradle. The unit is thus stationary in action, and the gun can be more readily returned to aim than can a gun on a Schneider mount.

THE 7-INCH RIFLES.

The conditions under which the war with Germany was fought virtually precluded any chance of a naval attack on our shores which would engage our fixed coast defenses. The British grand fleet, with the assistance of fleets of the other allies and America, had the German battle fleet securely bottled. On the other hand there was the prowling submarine able at all times to go to sea and even to cross the ocean, and some of the latest of these submarines were armed with long-range medium-caliber guns. It was not beyond possibility that some sort of an attack would be made on our shores by submarines of this character, yet it was safe to believe that these craft would keep well out of range of the guns at our stationary coast defenses.

To protect our coast from such attack the Ordnance Department conceived the plan of mounting heavy guns on railway cars. They might then be moved quickly to places on the seacoast needing defense. For this purpose the Navy turned 12 of its 7-inch rifles over to the Ordnance Department for mounting. Meanwhile our ordnance officers had designed certain standard railway artillery cars, known as models 1918, 1918 Mark I, and 1918 Mark II, for 7-inch and 8-inch guns and 12-inch mortars, respectively. These cars all had the same general features.

The model 1918 car was selected for the converted 7-inch Navy rifle. The rifle was mounted on a pedestal set on the gun car in such a manner as to give all-around fire, or 360-degree traverse. The pedestal mount permitted the gun to be depressed at an angle suitable for firing from high places along the coast down upon the low-lying submarines.

Contracts for the various parts for these cars and the pedestal gun mounts were let to concerns engaged in heavy steel manufacture, but the assembling was done by the American Car & Foundry Co., of Berwick, Pa. Twelve of the 7-inch rifles were so mounted. As this equipment was intended exclusively for use in this country, the gun cars were equipped with the American type of car couplings.

THE 8-INCH GUNS.

For the 8-inch guns taken from seacoast fortifications the Ordnance Department designed a barbette mount giving complete, 360-degree, traverse, thus providing for fire in any direction. There were 96 such guns available for railway mounts. Orders for 47 gun cars with carriages for mounting the weapons were placed with three concerns--the Morgan Engineering Co., of Alliance, Ohio, the Harrisburg Manufacturing & Boiler Co., of Harrisburg, Pa., and the American Car & Foundry Co., of Berwick. Two of the three contractors found it necessary to provide additional facilities and machine-tool equipment at their plants in order to handle this job.

The first railway mount for the 8-inch gun was completed and sent to the Aberdeen Proving Ground for test in May, 1918. In early June the test had shown that the weapon was efficient and entirely satisfactory. Before the end of the year 1918 a total of 24 complete units, with ammunition cars for standard-gauge track, shell cars for narrow-gauge track, transportation cars, tools, spare parts, and all the other necessary appurtenances of a unit of this character, had been completed. Three complete 8-inch units were shipped overseas before the armistice was signed.

When the armistice came the Harrisburg company had delivered 9 of these mounts and the Morgan Engineering Co. an equal number, making 18 in all. The former concern had reached an output of 5 mounts per month and the latter 10 per month.

An interesting feature of this mount is that it can be used either on standard-gauge or on narrow-gauge railroad track. The narrow gauge adopted was that in standard use in the fighting zones in France, the distance between the rails being 60 centimeters, or the approximate equivalent of 24 inches. Each gun car was provided with interchangeable trucks to fit either gauge. The artillery train necessary for the maneuvering of the weapon was also similarly equipped to travel on either sort of track.

As a rule the longer the barrel of a cannon, the greater its range. The 8-inch seacoast guns thus mounted were 35 calibers in length, that is, thirty-five times 8 inches, or 23 feet 4 inches. The requirements of our forces in the field in France called for guns of this same size but of longer range. Consequently an 8-inch gun of 50 calibers--that is, 10 feet longer than the seacoast 8-inch gun--was designed, and 25 of them were ordered. This project came as a later development in the war, the guns being intended for use abroad in 1920. The railway mounts for the weapons had not been placed in production when the armistice came. Because of the incomplete status of this project in the autumn of 1918, the whole undertaking was abandoned.

10-INCH AND 12-INCH GUNS.

There were at the seacoast defenses and in the stores of the Army a large number of 10-inch guns of 34 calibers. Of these 129 were available for mounting on railway cars. It was proposed to mount these weapons on two types of French railway mounts--the Schneider and the Batignolles.

The project to mount 36 of these weapons on Schneider mounts was taken up as a joint operation of the United States and French Governments, the heavy forging and rough machining to be done in this country and the finishing and assembling in the French shops. The American contractors were three. The Harrisburg Manufacturing & Boiler Co. undertook to furnish the major portion of the fabricated materials for the carriages and cars. The Pullman Car Co. contracted to produce the necessary trucks for the gun cars, while the American Car & Foundry Co. engaged to build the ammunition cars.

Eight sets of fabricated parts to be assembled in France had been produced before the armistice was signed. Gen. Pershing had requested the delivery in France of the 36 sets of parts by March 2, 1919. After the armistice was signed there was a natural letdown in speed in nearly all ordnance factories, but even without the spur of military necessity the contracting concerns were able by April 7, 1919, to deliver 22 of the 36 sets ordered. Had the war continued through the winter there is little question but that all 36 sets of parts would have been in France on the date specified.

The 10-inch seacoast gun, Batignolles mount project, was placed exclusively in the hands of the Marion Steam Shovel Co., of Marion, Ohio. It had been proposed also to mount 12-inch seacoast guns on this same type of equipment, and this work, too, went to the Marion concern. There were to be produced 18 of the 10-inch units and 12 of the larger ones.

The Marion Steam Shovel Co. had had a large experience in producing heavy construction and road-building equipment. The concern encountered numerous difficulties at the start in translating the French drawings and in substituting the American standard materials for those specified by the French. These difficulties, combined with struggles to obtain raw materials and the equipment for the increased facilities which had to be provided at the factory, so delayed production that no mount for either the 10-inch or 12-inch guns had been delivered at the time of the armistice. The first mount of these classes--one with a 12-inch gun--reached the Aberdeen proving ground about April 1, 1919. The 10-inch project, calling for 18 mounts, was canceled soon after November 11, 1918. The work on the dozen mounts for 12-inch guns, however, had progressed so far that the Ordnance Department ordered the completion of the entire equipment.

As has been stated, the Government found in this country six 12-inch guns being made for the Republic of Chile. Their length of 50 calibers gave them a specially long range. It was decided to place the Chilean guns on a sliding mount. In a mount of this type the retrograde movement of the car along the track as and after the gun is fired takes up and absorbs the energy of fire.

The first sliding railway mount used on the allied side in the great war was of French design. But our manufacturers had so much trouble with French designs that when the project came up of mounting the Chilean guns in this fashion it was decided that it would be quicker to design our own mount. Consequently the French design was taken in hand by our ordnance engineers and redesigned to conform to American practice, with the inclusion in the design of all original ideas developed by the Ordnance Department in its creative work during the war period up to that time. The manufacturers who looked at the French design of the sliding railway mount estimated that it would take from 12 to 18 months before the unit could be duplicated in this country and first deliveries made. They looked at the American design and estimated that they could build it in 3 months.

It was decided to build three mounts of this character and thus have a reserve of one gun for each mount to serve as replacement when the original guns were worn out. Contracts were placed in the early summer of 1918, and all three mounts were delivered before the armistice was signed, the first mount being completed within 85 days after the order was placed. For these mounts the American Bridge Co. furnished the main girders or side pieces, the Baldwin Locomotive Co. built the railway trucks, and the Morgan Engineering Co. manufactured the many other parts and assembled the complete units. The speed in manufacture was made possible by the fact that the plant engineers of the three companies helped the ordnance officers in designing the details. With such intimate cooperation, the concerns were able to begin the manufacture of component parts while the drawings were being made.

All three weapons with their entire equipment, including supplies, spare parts, ammunition cars, and the whole trains that make up such units, were ready for shipment to France in November, 1918. Each mount as it stands to-day is 105 feet long and weighs 600,000 pounds. The load of the gun and the peak load put on the carriage when the gun is fired are so great that it requires four trucks of 8 wheels each, 32 car wheels in all, to distribute the load safely over ordinary standard-gauge track.

THE 12-INCH MORTARS.

In years past the Ordnance Department had procured a large number of 12-inch mortars for use at seacoast defenses. These great weapons are 10 calibers in length, or 10 feet in linear measurement, the diameter of the barrel being just an even foot. Of the number stationed at the coastal forts and in reserve it was decided that 150 could be safely withdrawn and prepared for use against Germany. When Gen. Pershing was informed of the proposal, he asked that 40 of these weapons mounted on railway cars should be delivered to the American Expeditionary Forces for use in the planned campaign of 1919. In order that there might be an adequate supply of them, the Ordnance Department let contracts for the mounting of 91 of these mortars on railway equipment, a project which would give the United States a formidable armament and still provide a reserve of 59 mortars to replace the service mortars on the carriages after repeated firing had worn them out.

This job proved to be one of the largest in the whole artillery program. The entire contract was let to the Morgan Engineering Co., of Alliance, Ohio. In order to handle the contract, a special ordnance plant, costing $1,700,000 for the building alone, had to be constructed at the company's works at Alliance. The work was so highly specialized that machine tools designed for the particular purpose had to be produced. The Government itself bought these tools at a cost of $1,800,000. Although work on this plant was not started until December 10, 1917, and although thereafter followed weeks and weeks of the severest winter weather known in recent years, with all the delays in the deliveries of materials which such weather conditions bring about, the plant was entirely complete on June 1, 1918, not only, but the work of producing the mounts had started in it long before that, some machines getting to work as early as April.

The gun car used for mounting the mortar carriage was of the same design as that for the 7-inch and 8-inch guns, except that each truck had six wheels. The carriage built upon this car was of the barbette type, and it allowed the gun to be pointed upward to an angle as high as 65° and provided complete traverse, so that the mortar could be fired in any direction from the car. A hydropneumatic system for absorbing the recoil of the mortar after firing was adopted. This recuperator in itself was a difficult problem for the manufacturer to solve, being the first hydropneumatic recuperator of the size ever built in this country.

In spite of the weight and elaborate character of this unit it was put into production in an astonishingly short space of time. The pilot mount came through on August 22, 1918, less than nine months after the spade was first struck in the ground to begin the erection of the ordnance plant. By the end of August the pilot mortar had successfully passed its firing tests at Aberdeen, functioning properly at angles of elevation from 22 degrees to 65 degrees and in any direction from the mount. While this unit was put through hurriedly for these tests, the preparation for the rest of the deliveries was made on a grand scale, looking toward quantity production later on. When the armistice was signed, every casting, forging, and structural part for every one of the 91 railway mounts was on hand and completed at the works of the Morgan Engineering Co., and thereafter the process was merely one of assembling, although in a unit of such size the assembling job alone was one of great magnitude. Even at the reduced rate of production incident to the relaxation of tension after the armistice was signed, the company delivered 45 complete units to the Government up to April 7, 1919, or five more than Gen. Pershing said he would require during the whole campaign of 1919. Careful estimates show that if the war had continued the company would have delivered the mounts at the rate of 15 per month beginning on December 15, 1918, a rate which would have completed the entire project for 91 mounts by the middle of June, 1919.

As in the case of the 8-inch railway guns, the 12-inch mortars were provided with interchangeable wheel trucks allowing the unit to travel and work either on standard-gauge track or on the 60-centimeter, narrow-gauge track of the war zone in France.

14-INCH GUNS.

The War Department did not have any 14-inch guns which could be spared from the seacoast defenses for use abroad. The Ordnance Department, therefore, inaugurated the project for the construction of 60 guns of 14-inch caliber. For the construction of such guns complete new plants were required, as all available facilities were already taken over for other projects considered more important. This contract was to have been turned out by the Neville Island ordnance plant. The Navy Department in May, 1918, expressed willingness to turn over to the Army certain 14-inch guns, 50 calibers, then under construction and of which it was estimated that 30 would be completed by March, 1919.

It was decided to place some of these 14-inch guns on American sliding railway mounts, and 16 such mounts were ordered from the Baldwin Locomotive Works, deliveries to begin February 1, 1919. The 16 units were to be delivered prior to April, 1919, but due to the signing of the armistice work was suspended on the contracts, since the mounts were designed for use in France. The contract was canceled in March, 1919.

The Navy itself placed five of these guns on railway mounts of another design to be operated in France by naval forces on shore. Eleven such mounts were built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works under the supervision of the Navy Ordnance Bureau, and six of them were afterwards turned over to the Army.

THE 16-INCH HOWITZER.

Without discussing here the 12-inch howitzers, 20 feet long, which the Ordnance Department ordered produced and mounted on railway trucks, a development for use abroad in 1920, we come, finally, to the largest weapon of all in the railway artillery program, the 16-inch howitzer, the barrel of this mighty weapon being 26 feet 6 inches long. The American 16-inch howitzer had been forged out and finished prior to the date of America's entrance into the war. It was proposed to place this weapon on a railway mount and make it available for use on the western front.

The Ordnance Department completed the design for the mount on February 10, 1918. In order to turn out the unit in the shortest possible time, the project was placed with three manufacturers, each of whom was to produce different parts. The American Bridge Co. received the order to build the structural parts, the Baldwin Locomotive Works contracted for the trucks, while the Morgan Engineering Co. undertook to assemble the unit and also to build the top carriage and other mechanical parts. The contractors did a speedy job in producing the mount for this howitzer.

In nearly all railway artillery of this size it is necessary to provide bracing when the gun is set up in position for firing. The 16-inch howitzer mount was unique in that the weapon could be fired from the trucks without any track preparation whatsoever. An exhaustive test at the Aberdeen proving grounds demonstrated that this piece of artillery ranked with the highest types of ordnance in use by any country in the world.

In the meantime orders had been placed for 61 additional howitzers. The American Expeditionary Forces asked that 12 of these enormous weapons be sent overseas as soon as they could be produced, a job which would have extended over a period of months, if not years. Since none of the additional howitzers had been produced when the armistice was signed, the project of building mounts for them never got under way. The pilot howitzer and mount were not shipped abroad.

In the design of railway equipment for high-angle weapons such as howitzers, two loads must be considered by the builders in order to provide a gun car of sufficient strength to hold its freight. One of these loads, the lighter one, consists merely of the ordinary weight of the gun and its carriage upon the car wheels. The other load, the so-called firing load, consists of the weight of the unit plus the additional weight of the down-thrust of the howitzer when it recoils. In the case of the 16-inch howitzer the firing load is 748,231 pounds. The weight of 748,231 pounds must be distributed along the tracks by the numerous sets of wheels at the instant the gun is fired.

The mount for the howitzer is so constructed that this load is partly taken up by the slide of the gun car along the track. In addition, the howitzer is equipped with a hydraulic recoil cylinder. Thus the unit has a double recoil system. The car trucks in the tests comfortably transmitted, through a series of equalizer springs, this enormous load upon an ordinary rock-ballast track, without any distortion to the track or roadbed or impairment to the working parts of the unit. After each discharge the whole huge mount moves backward along the track for a distance of 20 or 30 feet.

Each railway artillery project called for the manufacture of a great equipment of ammunition cars, fire-control cars, spare-parts cars, supply cars, and the like, a complete unit being a heavy train in itself. Such armament-train cars, together with numerous other accessories and necessary equipment, were designed by the Ordnance Department and produced for each mount. In all, 530 ammunition cars were produced up to April, 1919. Most of them were shipped abroad, but 118 were retained for use in this country. Since the overseas cars were to be used with French railway equipment, it was necessary to fit them out with French standard screw couplers, air brakes, and other appliances for connecting up with French railway cars.

The matter of traction power for these gun and armament trains near the front set a problem for the Ordnance Department to solve. It was out of the question to use steam engines near the enemy's lines, since the steam and smoke would betray the location of artillery trains at great distances. The Ordnance Department adopted a gas-electric locomotive of 400 horsepower to be used to pull railway artillery trains at the front, and was on the point of letting a contract to the General Electric Co. for the manufacture of 50 of them when the armistice was signed.

NEVILLE ISLAND.

It seems fitting at this point to say something about the Neville Island ordnance plant, on an island in the Ohio River near Pittsburgh, which would have produced weapons of the character of those used with railway mounts and would have turned them out in large numbers had the armistice not come to put an end to this enormous project. The plant was being erected for the Government by the United States Steel Corporation without profit to itself. The estimated cost of this plant when finished was $150,000,000. Designed to supply the needs of the Army for artillery of the heaviest types, the Neville Island plant was being constructed on such a scale that it would surpass in size and capacity any of the famous gun works of Europe, including the Krupps.

It was being equipped to handle huge ordnance undertakings, such as the monthly completion of 15 great 14-inch guns and the production of 40,000 projectiles monthly for 14-inch and 16-inch guns. The plans of the Government contemplated the production of 14-inch guns to the number of 165 in all and their shipment to France in time to be in the field before May 1, 1920. An initial order for 90 of these weapons had been placed at the arsenal while it was being erected.

Besides 14-inch guns the plant was being equipped to turn out 16-inch and even 18-inch weapons. The immense size of the machinery necessary for such production can be understood when it is noted that an 18-inch gun weighs 510,000 pounds and a 14-inch gun 180,000 pounds. It requires from 12 to 18 months to produce guns of this size, yet Neville Island was being developed on a scale to build hundreds of them simultaneously. The entire plant was to cover 573 acres and was to employ 20,000 workmen when in full operation.

At the signing of the armistice work was suspended at Neville Island, and four months later the whole project was abandoned.

------------+--------+--------+--------+-----------+------+---------------- | | | | Number | | | | Number | Number | required | | | |Produced|produced|by A. E. F.| Guns | Type. | Total |Nov. 11,| to | for |avail-| Remarks. |Ordered.| 1918. | Apr. 7,| campaign | able.| | | | 1919. | during | | | | | | 1919. | | ------------+--------+--------+--------+-----------+------+---------------- 7-inch | 12 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 12 |Produced for Navy gun, | | | | | | antisubmarine railway | | | | | | work along mount | | | | | | America's | | | | | | seacoast. | | | | | | 8-inch, | 47 | 18 | 33 | 36 | 96 | 35-caliber| | | | | | seacoast | | | | | | gun, | | | | | | railway | | | | | | mount | | | | | | | | | | | | 10-inch, | 36 |[19]8 |[19]22 | 36 | 111 |Fabricated 34-caliber| | | | | | material and seacoast | | | | | | trucks, gun on | | | | | | complete, French | | | | | | produced type | | | | | | within railway | | | | | | country, mount | | | | | | mount to be | | | | | | assembled | | | | | | in France. | | | | | | Do | 18 | 0 | | 0 | 18 |Project | | | | | | cancelled on | | | | | | signing of | | | | | | the armistice, | | | | | | Batignolles. | | | | | | 12-inch, | 12 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 49 |French 35-caliber| | | | | | Batignolles seacoast | | | | | | type. gun on | | | | | | French | | | | | | type | | | | | | railway | | | | | | mount | | | | | | | | | | | | 12-inch, | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 6 |Guns obtained 50-caliber| | | | | | from Chilean gun on | | | | | | Government American | | | | | | manufactured sliding | | | | | | in this railway | | | | | | country. mount | | | | | | | | | | | | 14-inch, | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 21 | 50-caliber| | | | | | naval gun | | | | | | on | | | | | | railway | | | | | | mount | | | | | | | | | | | | 12-inch, | 91 | 1 | 45 | 49 | 150 | 10-caliber| | | | | | seacoast | | | | | | mortar on | | | | | | railway | | | | | | mount | | | | | | | | | | | | 16-inch | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |61 guns howitzer, | | | | | | under 20-caliber| | | | | | construction. on | | | | | | railway | | | | | | mount | | | | | | | | | | | | 14-inch, | 16 | 0 | | | |Protect 50-caliber| | | | | | cancelled guns on | | | | | | Mar. 11, American | | | | | | 1919. Guns sliding | | | | | | under railway | | | | | | construction. mount | | | | | | | | | | | | 12-inch, | 1 | 0 | | | |If war had 20-caliber| | | | | | continued, howitzer | | | | | | 60 mounts on | | | | | | contemplated. railway | | | | | | mount | | | | | | ------------+--------+--------+--------+-----------+------+----------------

[19] Sets, fabricated parts.

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V. EXPLOSIVES, PROPELLANTS, AND ARTILLERY AMMUNITION

The Interallied Ordnance Agreement of the late fall of 1917, supplying to the United States as it did French and British artillery and other heavy ordnance supplies until the developing American ordnance industry could come into production, nevertheless called upon the United States to produce heavily the explosives and propellants that are of such major importance to a modern army. These commodities were needed by the armies of France and Great Britain more than any other sort of ordnance which America could supply.

The result was an enormous production of propellants and explosives in the United States during the period of American belligerency, no other prime phase of the ordnance program being carried to such a stage of development. The reader will clearly see the distinction between propellants and explosives. The propellant is the smokeless powder that sends the shell or bullet from the gun; the explosive is the bursting charge within the shell.

To realize the expansion of the American explosives industry during the war period, consider such figures as these: America in 19 months turned out 632,504,000 pounds of propellants--the powder loaded into small-arms cartridges or packed into the big guns behind the projectiles to send them against the enemy. In those same 19 months France produced 342,155,000 pounds of propellants and Great Britain 291,706,000 pounds. The American production was practically equal to that of England and France together.

In those 19 months we produced 375,656,000 pounds of high explosives for loading into shell. In the same 19 months England produced 765,110,000 pounds of high explosives and France 702,964,000 pounds. America was below both France and England in total output, but in monthly rate of output America had reached 47,888,000 pounds as against France's 22,802,000 pounds and England's 30,957,000 pounds. Our rate of manufacturing propellants at the end of the fighting was up to 42,775,000 pounds as against France's 17,311,000 and England's 12,055,000.

Figure 9 shows graphically the achievements of America in manufacturing propellants and explosives.

In the production of artillery ammunition a comparison with France and Great Britain shows that our monthly rate in turning out unfilled rounds of ammunition at the end of the war was 7,044,000 rounds, as against 7,748,000 rounds for Great Britain and 6,661,000 rounds for France. In producing complete rounds of artillery ammunition, our monthly rate at the signing of the armistice was 2,429,000 rounds while that of Great Britain was 7,347,000 rounds and that of France 7,638,000 rounds.

In the 19 months of our participation in the war our production of unfilled rounds in ammunition was 38,623,000 rounds, while that of France was 156,170,000 rounds and that of Great Britain 138,357,000 rounds. In that time we had produced 17,260,000 complete rounds, while France had produced 149,827,000 rounds, and Great Britain 121,739,000 complete rounds.

The entrance of the United States into the war found the existing American explosives manufacturers operating to the very limit of their capacity in production for the allied governments and for general commercial purposes.

Since the outbreak of the war in 1914 the explosives business in this country had increased enormously and the trained men familiar with manufacturing operations and conditions in this highly specialized and extremely dangerous industry had fallen short of meeting demands.

When we entered the war, therefore, it became necessary at once to distribute this limited force of experts as equitably as possible and to put chemists, engineers and other specialists in the various plants under the supervision of this trained personnel so as to produce in as quick a time as possible a vastly enlarged force of competent operators and supervisors for the production of explosives.

Summed up, the problem that faced the Ordnance Department was, while maintaining the current great production of explosives, to expand enormously the facilities for further production, to provide personnel for operating these expanded facilities, to build up entirely new manufacturing plants for making both propellants and high explosives, and in addition to all of this, to bring into existence huge loading plants.

In all, 53 new plants for making explosives and propellants and for loading these were undertaken at a cost of approximately $360,000,000. When the armistice was signed a very large part of this construction work had been completed and was in an efficient state of operation.

How creditably this reflects upon America can be understood when it is made plain that in addition to the development of production there was also to be worked out the very intricate question of design, not only of the plants themselves but also of their products, which required an exceptional degree of technical skill and thorough control.

Prior to our entry into the war the Ordnance Department had depended upon ammonium picrate, known in the Army vernacular as explosive "D," as a bursting charge for our high-explosive shell.

During the progress of the European conflict the British had developed an explosive they called amatol, which is a mixture of trinitrotoluol--T. N. T.--and ammonium nitrate. As this had proved to be entirely satisfactory in actual service on European battle fields, and as ammonium nitrate could be produced here in large quantities, we adopted it.

The Ordnance Department eventually put into effect a standard policy for the use of high explosives. Every effort was being made to conserve the supply of T. N. T., and consequently this explosive was specified for the shell of smaller calibers only. The standard filling scheme was as follows: T. N. T. for shell between and including the calibers of 75-millimeter and 4.7-inch; amatol for shell of calibers between 4.7-inch and 9.2-inch, including the latter; ammonium picrate, or explosive D, for shell of 10-inch caliber and higher. While these were the standards the scheme was not always followed rigidly. As a matter of fact amatol was loaded into shell of all sizes and so was T. N. T., although explosive D was never used in shell smaller than those for the 10-inch guns. These departures from standard practice were due to the necessity for keeping certain plants in production and to other special causes and exceptional circumstances.

Production of large quantities of T. N. T. and ammonium nitrate was the first big problem to be solved by the high-explosives section of the Ordnance Department. All the work of the explosives section can be subdivided under four group heads--raw materials, propellants, high explosives, and loading.

RAW MATERIALS.

The first steps taken in the endeavor to meet the need for raw materials were to increase greatly the available means for obtaining toluol, phenol, caustic soda, sodium nitrate, sulphuric and nitric acids, ammonia liquor or aqua ammonia, and to attempt to provide a substitute for cellulose in case a shortage of cotton should render its use necessary.

How to increase the supply of toluol, the basic raw material from which T. N. T. is made, was the greatest and most pressing of all the problems in regard to the existing raw materials. Before the war the sole source of this ingredient was from by-product coke ovens. The monthly capacity of these ovens in 1914 was, approximately, 700,000 pounds. By April, 1917, when we stepped into the conflict, this capacity had been increased to 6,000,000 pounds a month.

By the time the armistice was signed our efforts for greater production had been carried on so successfully that the supply had been increased to 12,000,000 pounds a month, and the average cost of this was only 21 cents a pound. This tremendous increase of production not only took care of all demands for commercial purposes and permitted the shipment of about 11,000,000 pounds to the allied Governments, but was more than ample to take care of our own entire explosives program, leaving a stock on hand December 1, 1918, of 17,000,000 pounds.

A few details of how this tremendous increase in production was brought about through the energies of the officials charged with this task and the most efficient and whole-hearted cooperation of patriotic business concerns are interesting.

Three general sources existed from which toluol was obtained: first, from the by-product recovery coke ovens; second, by the stripping or absorbing of toluol from carbureted water and coal gas; and third, by the cracking or breaking down of oils.

In augmenting the supply of toluol through the first process, construction of additional by-product coke ovens by the following big steel companies was arranged:

-------------------------------------------------+---------------------- Company. | Toluol capacity | per year. -------------------------------------------------+---------------------- | Pounds. Jones & Laughlin Steel Co., Pittsburgh, Pa. | 5,770,160 The Sloss-Sheffield Co., Birmingham, Ala. | 2,019,556 United States Steel Corporation, Clairton, Pa. | 2,308,064 International Harvester Co., Chicago, Ill. | 1,585,794 United States Steel Corporation, Birmingham, Ala.| 2,019,556 Rainey-Wood Co., Swedeland, Pa. | 2,163,810 The Seaboard By-Product Co., Jersey City, N. J. | 1,081 905 Pittsburgh Crucible Steel Co., Midland, Pa. | 2,019,556 -------------------------------------------------+----------------------

The total cost of these additional ovens was about $30,000,000, which was met by private capital after contracts for the purchase of the product had been made, insuring a secure return on the investment. Production was to begin in 1919.

In addition to this there was arranged construction for 320 additional ovens at the following places:

-------------------------------------------+-----------+----------+----------- Company. | | | Estimated | Date of |Estimated | time of | contract. | cost. |completion. -------------------------------------------+-----------+----------+----------- Donner Steel Co., Buffalo, N. Y. |May, 1918 |$6,000,000| Mar., 1920 Birmingham Coke Co., Birmingham, Ala. |July, 1918 | 2,500,000| Oct., 1919 Domestic Coke Corporation, Fairmont, W. Va.|Sept., 1918| 2,700,000| Nov., 1919 Domestic Coke Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio |July, 1918 | 1,500,000| Feb., 1920 International Coal Products Corporation, |May, 1918 | 2,000,000| Aug., 1919 Clinchfield, Va. | | | -------------------------------------------+-----------+----------+-----------

From these sources the monthly production of toluol in 1920 would have been increased by 600,000 pounds a month.

While all these arrangements for vastly increasing the supply of this chemical in 1919 and 1920 were being made, technical experts of the Ordnance Department stimulated production by visiting existing by-product coke ovens and advising as to changes and alterations in the plants, both in regard to equipment and methods of operation.

Investigations were made early in the summer of 1917 on the possibility of recovering toluol by stripping illuminating gas, and a report was made on this subject in October, 1917. Construction of the necessary plants to carry out this plan was begun late in November, and the first plants were in operation in April, 1918. This was considered a remarkable record, in view of the fact that the operating personnel for the purpose had to be established and trained in this entirely new line of activity.

In this connection it is extremely interesting to note that the American people in 13 of the largest cities of the country played an unconscious part in contributing to the successful termination of the war by using artificial gas of considerably less heating power, as a result of the removal of the toluol for explosive purposes. For example, in New York City, due to the extraction of toluol, the artificial gas there was reduced in heating value approximately 6 per cent and the candlepower lowered from 22 to 16 because of this stripping process.

Contracts for taking the toluol from artificial gas were made with companies in the following cities: New York and Brooklyn, N. Y.; Boston, Mass.; New Haven, Conn.; Albany, N. Y.; Utica, N. Y.; Elizabeth, N. J.; Washington, D. C.; Detroit, Mich.; St. Louis, Mo.; New Orleans, La.; Denver, Colo.; and Seattle, Wash.

The total cost of the installations made for this purpose in these cities in connection with the gas plants was about $7,500,000.

For the production of toluol by cracking crude oils or petroleum distillates, three processes of the many submitted were officially approved and contracts awarded for operation.

The first and most important of these was that of the General Petroleum Co. of Los Angeles, Calif. Under their scheme a yield of 6 per cent toluol was obtained from a petroleum distillate, of which there was a large quantity available, by treatment under temperature and pressure. To facilitate production of toluol by this means, two large plants, one at Los Angeles and the other at San Francisco, were erected at a cost of approximately $5,000,000. These plants have a monthly capacity of 3,000,000 pounds of toluol and their construction destroyed all possibility of a shortage in this vital raw material.

Another process was that known as the Rittman process, evolved by a scientist of the Bureau of Mines. This scheme, which called for producing toluol from solvent naphtha or light oils by cracking under high pressure and temperature, was finally demonstrated to be capable of operation under war conditions, and production had just started at a plant on Neville Island, Pittsburgh, Pa., at the time of the signing of the armistice.

A third process was that known as the Hall process, by which toluol was also obtained by cracking solvent naphtha under high pressure and temperature by another, different, mechanical system. This scheme was in operation on a small scale during 1918 at the Standard Oil Plant, Bayonne, N. J.

Phenol, one of the essentials in the manufacture of picric acid, was another raw material, the production of which was greatly augmented. At the time of our entry into the war the monthly production amounted to 670,000 pounds, while in October, 1918, it had been increased to 13,000,000 pounds. In December, 1917, the price of phenol as fixed by the War Industries Board was 46 cents a pound, while Government contracts in force a year later had reduced this figure to 31 cents a pound.

The price of sulphuric acid jumped from $14 a ton to $60 a ton early in the war, while nitric acid advanced from 5¼ cents a pound to 10 cents. The shortage of sulphuric acid was met by the erection of both chamber and contact plants in all high-explosives factories built for or under direction of the Ordnance Department.

Both pyrites and sulphur were used at the beginning of the war, but the submarine warfare stopped the importation of the pyrites from Spain, and therefore sulphur deposits in Texas and Louisiana were depended upon. A destructive storm in the early part of 1918 temporarily curtailed the production from Louisiana deposits, but repairs were made in time to prevent its effect being felt by the acid manufacturers.

The submarine also had the effect of lessening the importations from Chile of sodium nitrate, which prior to the war were depended upon entirely in the production of nitric acid. It became necessary, therefore, to develop other methods of production. After investigations a plant for the fixation of nitrogen under what is known as a modified Haber process was erected at Sheffield, Ala., while a plant for the same purpose using the cyanamide process was erected at Muscle Shoals, Ala.

Both of these were equipped for the oxidation of ammonia to nitric acid, each using a different process. When the armistice was signed these plants were just coming into production. The existence of these two nitrate plants insures the independence of this country in its supply of commercial nitrogen, either for peace or for war.

There were also in course of erection, though not in operation on November 11, 1918, great plants for the extraction of nitrogen from the air, at Toledo and Cincinnati, Ohio, but construction on these two plants, each of which was to cost $25,000,000, was stopped when the armistice was signed.

PROPELLANTS.

In army usage the term "propellant" includes both smokeless powder and black powder.

At the outbreak of the European war, the producing capacity in this country for smokeless powder was approximately 1,500,000 pounds a month. By the time the United States got into the war this capacity had been increased from 25 to 30 times, and under the explosives program laid down by us it was indicated that even this capacity would have to be greatly increased.

The increase in the production of smokeless powder was helped by the construction of two of the largest smokeless-powder plants in the world--one known as the Old Hickory Plant, located almost on the site of Andrew Jackson's old home at Nashville, Tenn., and the other at Nitro, near Charleston, W. Va.

The Old Hickory Plant was the larger and more complete of the two. It is probably the biggest plant of its kind in the world and is entirely self-contained; in other words, the plant actually takes the crude, raw cotton and, producing both the acid and solvents used, puts it through every process until the final product is attained.

Nine powder lines were planned for this enterprise, each with a capacity of 100,000 pounds per day, although developments from the early operations indicated that the ultimate production of the plant would reach 1,000,000 pounds a day.

The estimated cost of this huge undertaking was in the neighborhood of $90,000,000. Negotiations were begun in October of 1917 and led to a contract with the du Pont Engineering Co., under which this concern was to construct the plant and operate it for a six months' period after its completion.

Operation of the first powder line in the plant was to start September 15, 1918, or seven and one-half months after the signing of the contract. Ground was broken March 8, 1918, and work was pushed so efficiently and successfully that on July 1, 1918, the first powder line was put in operation, 75 days ahead of the schedule called for in the contract.

Some idea of the magnitude of this enterprise can be realized in the statements that the plant covers an area of 5,000 acres and that in addition to the powder plant proper there was built a city, housing twenty odd thousand people, complete with schools, churches, and all other elements that go to make up a town. There was also built in connection with the plant a number of subprocess plants for the manufacture of purified cotton, sulphuric acid, nitric acid, diphenylamine, and other chemicals used in powder manufacture. Each of these was an undertaking of no little size in itself.

Operation of the plant during the four and one-half months preceding the signing of the armistice showed a production in excess of contract requirements. On November 11, 1918, the plant was over 90 per cent complete and about 50 per cent in operation. At that time 6,000,000 pounds of powder over and above contract expectations had been produced, the total capacity having reached 423,000 pounds a day.

The second powder plant, located at Nitro, is somewhat smaller than the Old Hickory Plant. It has a capacity of 625,000 pounds of smokeless powder a day. It was built under the direction of D. C. Jackling, director of United States Government explosive plants, by the Thompson-Starrett Co., of New York. The contract was dated January 18, 1918, and ground was broken February 1. A contract for the operation of the plant was signed with the Hercules Powder Co., and at the time of the armistice the output was running approximately 109,000 pounds a day, with the expectation of early and speedy increase. As in the case of the Old Hickory Plant, a large village and many subprocess plants were constructed in connection with this enterprise.

When the war began smokeless powder was dried by the circulation of warm dried air for a long period of time over the damp powder as it came from the solvent recovery house. This process required from six weeks for small-caliber powder to nine months for large-caliber powder. This time-consuming method being obviously impracticable in war, the Ordnance Department authorized the so-called water-drying process. This consists in the immersion of the powder as it comes from the solvent recovery house in warm water for varying periods up to 72 hours, the water then being expelled by filtration or centrifugal force and the surplus external moisture dried off by hot air. By this method the time of drying was reduced to 4 days for the small-caliber powder and to 22 days for powder for the larger caliber guns.

Just prior to the signing of the armistice an entirely new drying process had been experimentally tried out. This was known as the Nash or alcohol-drying process. The preliminary tests indicated that this method was a great improvement both in safety and in the reduction of cost. The indications were that drying could be reduced from days to hours by this new method. The Nash process also insured apparently a more uniform and tougher grade of powder, both of which characteristics were greatly to be desired.

In spite of the rise in price of labor and of almost everything else, the cost of powder was being reduced. At the beginning of the war cost figures were 80 cents a pound for small-arms and 53 cents a pound for cannon powder. When the armistice was signed these costs had been reduced to 62 cents for small-arms powder and 41¼ cents for cannon powder.

At the time of the signing of the armistice there was on hand approximately 200,000,000 pounds of smokeless powder.

It early became evident that the supply of cellulose, even though all available sources of supply were utilized to the utmost, would nevertheless be insufficient to meet our vast production program. For years it had been rumored that the Germans in the manufacture of their smokeless powder had been using, with great success, cellulose produced from wood pulp. Following out this idea, experimental work was undertaken in an effort to develop cellulose that could be produced from wood pulp in suitable physical form for nitration and which would meet the chemical requirements.

In the southern and southwestern portions of the United States there are large tracts of land from which timber has been removed and there are also vast acreages of swamp lands. Processes developed by the Ordnance Department had in view the idea of taking as much of these lands as possible for farming and reforesting and utilizing the tree stumps thereon. These stumps contained quantities of turpentine and resin that could be recovered and the resultant pulp after proper treatment could be prepared in suitable form as cellulose for nitration purposes.

The question of black powder, while an important one, did not present many difficulties excepting one, the necessary supply of potassium nitrate. This was because Germany was the principal source of the potash. It was thought that sodium nitrate might possibly have to be used as a substitute. Experimental work along these lines indicated that by using certain precautions, this substitution, if necessary, could be made, although it was never adopted.

Black powder of all grades for military purposes was being produced at the rate of 840,000 pounds a month, at a cost of 25 cents a pound, at the time the armistice was signed. At that time there was on hand 6,850,000 pounds of black powder.

If the war had continued the United States could have produced during the year 1919 more than 1,000,000,000 pounds of smokeless powder. Two-thirds of this would have been available for our overseas forces and the balance would have gone to the allied governments. This rate of production would have amounted to about seven times the quantity of explosives normally manufactured in peace times.

LOADING THE PROPELLANTS.

In addition to solving the problem of producing a sufficient quantity of propellant powder there was also the problem, just as important, of assembling this powder into fixed ammunition, or loading it into bags. The Frankford Arsenal and commercial cartridge factories, after expansion, were enabled to take care of the expanded small-arms program. But it became necessary for the Government to erect and operate several great bag-loading plants. These were located at Woodbury, N.J., Tullytown, Pa., and Seven Pines, Va.

The ordinary cartridge fired from the rifle is familiar to most people. The projectile is fitted into the metal case in which the explosive force is contained. Projectiles for big guns are made along similar lines, until the 4.7-inch gun is reached. Up to and including guns of this caliber the projectile is fired with what is known as fixed ammunition--that is to say, the shell itself is fixed into a metal container which holds the powder.

Guns above the caliber of 4.7 inches, however, are fired with unfixed ammunition--that is, the powder is loaded in silk bags, the projectile placed in the gun, and a number of bags, depending upon the size of the charge necessary, put into the breach of the gun behind the projectile. The powder is then ignited and the big shell ejected by the gases generated.

From the mills the powder is shipped to the bag-loading plants in bulk. The silken bags are manufactured in huge quantities by industrial plants and forwarded to the bag-loading plants, where are also daily received large quantities of metal and fiber containers, into which are loaded bags packed for overseas shipment not to be unpacked again until they have reached the battle field.

Filling the bags is a precise and delicate operation. Chances can not be taken or averages struck. Errors may mean the possible loss of battles. A battery commander who has figured his range and who is about to drop a number of high-explosive shell on an enemy battery must know exactly how much powder he has behind his charge. If more powder is in the bag than he calculates on, he will overshoot his mark; if less, the shell instead of dropping upon an enemy battery may explode in midst of his own advancing troops.

The three bag-loading plants the Government constructed at Woodbury, Tullytown, and Seven Pines were built to load bags that were to be used in firing guns from 155-millimeter caliber up to a caliber of 10 inches. The estimated average capacity of each plant was 20,000 bags a day, but as a matter of fact a maximum capacity of 40,000 bags a day at each plant had been reached before the signing of the armistice. Two shifts a day were used at these plants most of the time. In each shift there were approximately 3,500 operatives, most of them women.

At each of these plants, which are located in comparatively isolated points, because of the dangerous work, special housing facilities had to be constructed. For example, at Tullytown there were 70 bungalows, 13 residences for officers and executive heads, and six 98-room dormitories, while at Woodbury 19 great dormitories were built to house workers.

The number of buildings at Tullytown is 215. They range from guardhouses to electrical generating stations for power and light. Besides this construction there are between 22 and 30 miles of railroad track laid at each of these points. The extremely dangerous nature of the work makes it necessary to store not more than 400,000 pounds of explosives in a single building, and where powder is stored the buildings are at least 350 feet apart.

Up to the time of the signing of the armistice there were loaded into small-arms ammunition 19,741,500 pounds of powder; there were assembled into fixed ammunition approximately 33,000,000 pounds of smokeless powder; and there were assembled into bags, properly packed for shipment, approximately 32,300,000 pounds of smokeless powder.

HIGH EXPLOSIVES.

When Europe was plunged into the great war in August, 1914, the American production of trinitrotoluol for commercial purposes amounted to approximately 600,000 pounds a month of varying grades of purity. This quantity was almost entirely consumed in the making of explosives for blasting purposes. When we entered the war this production had been increased to 1,000,000 pounds a month, exclusive of that which was being used here commercially. Under pressure of our own war-time needs the production of this highly important explosive chemical had been run up to 16,000,000 pounds a month at the termination of hostilities in November, 1918.

During the early stages of the war the average price of T. N. T. for military purposes was $1 a pound. Largely, however, because of the tremendous quantity production and enormous economies effected by reason of this, and despite the scarcity of raw materials, and notwithstanding the greatly increased labor cost, this price had been reduced at the time of the signing of the armistice to 26½ cents a pound. There were in the course of erection at the time of the armistice, two great Government T. N. T. plants--one at Racine, Wis., that was to have a capacity of 4,000,000 pounds a month, and one at Giant, Cal., with a capacity of 2,000,000 pounds a month.

During the war three grades of T. N. T. were produced. Grade I was used for booster charges--that is, those charges which initiated the explosive wave in the main shell charge. Grade II was used as a shell filler; while Grade III was utilized with ammonium nitrate in producing amatol.

In view of the fact that high explosives were produced in such enormous quantities and that it was necessary to carry on these tremendous manufacturing operations with an inexperienced force, the toll of life taken in the production was remarkably small. Only two explosions of any magnitude occurred in plants where explosives were manufactured and both of these took place in T. N. T. producing plants. One of these happened at Oakdale, Pa., in the plant of the Aetna Explosives Co. in May, 1918. This cost the lives of 100 persons. The other took place on July 2, 1918, at Split Rock, N.Y., in the plant of Semet-Solvay Co., where 60 people lost their lives. At the time of the explosions neither of these plants was operating on War Department contracts.

Before the great war about 58,000,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate used in the manufacture of commercial explosives were being produced annually in this country, at an average cost of about 12 cents a pound. By January, 1917, the commercial explosives manufacturers had extended their facilities so that they had increased their production by 1,700,000 pounds monthly. This expansion, however, was insufficient to meet our demands, and a Government ammonium nitrate plant was erected at Perryville, Md. This plant was operated under the supervision of the Atlas Powder Co., who also cooperated in its erection.

It did this manufacturing under the Brunner-Mond process that was developed in England under the patents of Capt. Freeth. Under this process ammonium nitrate is produced by the double decomposition of ammonium sulphate and sodium nitrate.

In December, 1917, the Atlas people detailed several technical men to go to England and study the Brunner-Mond process as carried on there. In 1918 these men returned to the United States and prepared designs as a result of the information they had gained abroad.

Ground was broken for the plant at Perryville March 8, 1918, and it was in production by July 15. This plant is a large one, of excellent construction, and absolutely fireproof, as is necessary because of the nature of the work conducted in it. Because of the type of the building the rapidity of its construction may well be classed as phenomenal. Even while the plant was being put up, experimental work of a highly technical nature was being carried on.

At the time of the signing of the armistice production of ammonium nitrate at the Perryville plant had reached 452,000 pounds a day, and this was greatly in excess of that being obtained at the English plant of a similar size that had been in operation for months before ground had been broken for our American plant.

Each of the Government-owned nitrogen fixation plants at Muscle Shoals, Ala., and Sheffield, Ala., was also equipped to produce ammonium nitrate by neutralization. Our total capacity from all sources at the time of the signing of the armistice was 20,000,000 pounds monthly. Ammonium nitrate is the one material in the field of explosives that shows an increase in price over that of normal times. The average cost of this substance used for military purposes was 17½ cents a pound. There were on hand 60,500,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate on November 11, 1918.

Picric acid as such is not used by this country directly for military purposes. But it is one of the raw materials used in producing ammonium picrate, or explosive D, and in the manufacture of the poisonous gas known as chlorpicrin.

Picric acid is, however, the main explosive used by the French, who had placed enormous contracts for this material with explosives manufacturers prior to the entry of the United States in the war. Because of our purchase of early large supplies of ammunition and guns from the French Government, to be largely paid for by picric acid, large contracts were entered into by our Government for this explosive, which was produced here in accordance with French specifications and subject to joint inspection by our officers and the French.

In November, 1917, we were turning out 600,000 pounds of picric acid monthly, and a year later this had been increased to a monthly production of 11,300,000 pounds; the average cost was 56 cents a pound.

To insure production quickly for the needs of the times, three Government picric-acid plants were authorized. One of these was located at Picron, near Little Rock, Ark., to be operated by the Davis Chemical Corporation; another was located at New Brunswick, Ga., to be operated by the Butterworth-Judson Corporation; and the third was located at Grand Rapids, Mich., for operation by the Semet-Solvay Co. All of these contracts were made on a cost-plus basis. Each of these plants was to have a capacity of 14,500,000 pounds of picric acid a month. The plant at Picron in Arkansas was the only one that had started production before the signing of the armistice.

Ammonium picrate, otherwise known as explosive D in our Army annals, is produced by the ammoniation of picric acid, and because it is more insensitive than picric acid and is less liable to form sensitive salts with metals it is used as the explosive charge for all armor-piercing projectiles.

Our average monthly production of ammonium picrate in May, 1917, was 53,000 pounds, and this had been increased without the erection of any Government plants to a monthly capacity in November, 1918, of 950,000 pounds. There was on hand at the time of the signing of the armistice 6,500,000 pounds of this explosive, the average cost of which was 64 cents a pound.

Tetryl, on account of its high cost and the lack of manufacturing facilities for its production, was not used except as a loading charge for boosters. It is more sensitive than T. N. T. and has a higher rate of detonation.

Only two companies, the du Pont Powder Co. and the Bethlehem Loading Co., manufactured tetryl. Expansion of these two plants increased the monthly capacity of 8,700 pounds in December, 1917, to 160,000 pounds in November, 1918, while its cost was reduced from $1.30 a pound to 90 cents a pound.

This increased capacity, however, was not in excess of our explosives requirements, and there was authorized by the Government the erection of a plant at Senter, Mich., that was to be operated by the Atlas Co., and which was to have a monthly capacity of 250,000 pounds. This plant had not reached production when the armistice was signed.

The Aetna Powder Co. at the time we entered the war was manufacturing for the Russian Government tetranitroaniline that was to be used in the loading of boosters and fuses. This company's plant at Nobleston, Pa., was destroyed by an explosion. Ordnance officers learned that this material was equal to tetryl as a military explosive. Consequently a contract was entered into with Dr. Bernhardt Jacques Flurschein, the holder of the patent rights, to have manufactured T. N. A. for our own uses. A Government plant was authorized for erection on the ground of the Calco Chemical Co., Bound Brook, N.J., to be operated by that concern. Production at this plant was to be on a cost-plus basis, the estimated cost of the material being 70 cents a pound. When the armistice was signed, about 8,000 pounds of T. N. A. had been produced, but none had been utilized.

Mercury fulminate, a very sensitive and powerful explosive, was used only in caps, primers, detonators, etc., as a means of initiating detonation, on account of its own high rate of detonation. The three plants operating in this country to produce this explosive for commercial purposes, the du Pont Co., Pompton Lake, N.J., the Atlas Powder Co., Tamaqua, Pa., and the Aetna Powder Co., Kingston, N.Y., expanded their facilities sufficiently to meet our program. Their average monthly production in 1918 was 50,000 pounds at a cost of $3.21 per pound, and there was on hand in November, 1918, 330,900 pounds of this explosive.

In the early stages of the war to meet the apparent shortage of T. N. T. and ammonium nitrate then existing because of our enormous explosives program, it was necessary to develop an explosive for trench warfare purposes that could be used for filling hand and rifle grenades, trench-mortar shell, and drop bombs. To meet this need, the Trojan Powder Co., of Allentown, Pa., submitted a nitrostarch explosive. After exhaustive investigations and complete tests, this explosive was authorized for use in loading the hand and rifle grenades and the 3-inch trench-mortar shell.

Development of a nitrostarch explosive for commercial purposes had been under consideration and investigation by two other large experienced manufacturers for a number of years, but the difficulties incident to the production and purification of nitrostarch were such that their efforts had met with little success.

The Trojan Powder Co., operating under secret process, solved this problem, and all nitrostarch explosives used were produced by this company, although another nitrostarch explosive known as "grenite," which was produced by the du Pont Co., was tested and authorized for use.

Our country was the only Government that used nitrostarch explosives during the war, and the development of this explosive made the loading problem easier and made possible the use of materials that were available and whose cost was low. The average cost of this explosive was 21.8 cents a pound. In July, 1918, the average monthly production of nitrostarch was 840,000 pounds and this had been increased by November, 1918, to 1,720,000 pounds a month.

There were loaded with nitrostarch explosive 7,244,569 defensive hand grenades; 1,526,000 offensive hand grenades; 9,921,533 rifle grenades and 813,073 three-inch trench-mortar shell. At the time of the signing of the armistice there was on hand of this explosive 1,650,500 pounds.

The du Pont Co. developed an explosive called lyconite, and this was authorized for use in the loading of drop bombs.

Anilite, a liquid explosive used by the French, was thoroughly investigated and improvements were made in it to render its use safer, but development had not progressed far enough to warrant authorization for its use prior to the signing of the armistice.

Chlorate and perchlorate explosives were also investigated and several types developed that were considered entirely satisfactory for use, but these never got into production before the end of the war.

AMMUNITION AND SHELL LOADING.

When we entered the war the quantity of field artillery ammunition on hand was considerably less than a single month's supply, basing our rate of expenditure on the estimated rate for November, 1918. There were no facilities of any degree of magnitude available to take care of our projected program for filling the high-explosive shell necessary for use by our overseas forces.

Consequently it became necessary at once to plan and to develop the resources of the country for the production of metallic parts, such as the shell proper, the fuse, boosters and adapters, as well as to design and build entirely new plants and to train completely new forces for the loading of the shell with the high explosives.

The explosion of an H. E. shell is really a series of explosions. The process of the burst is about as follows: The firing pin strikes the percussion primer, which explodes the detonator. The detonator is filled with some easily detonated substance, such as fulminate of mercury. The concussion of this explosion sets off the charge held within the long tube which extends down the middle of the shell and which is known as the booster. The booster charge is a substance easily exploded, such as tetryl or trinitroaniline (T. N. A.). The explosion of the booster jars off the main charge of the shell, T. N. T. or amatol. This system of detonator, booster, and main charge gives control of the explosives within the shell, safety in handling the shell, and complete explosion when the shell bursts. Without the action of the booster charge on the main charge of the shell, the latter would be only partially burned when the shell exploded, and part of the main charge would thus waste itself in the open air.

The shell used by our Army before the war had been largely of the base-fuse type. Interchangeability of ammunition with the French required that we adopt shell of the nose-fuse type. The boosters and adapters that went with this type were unfamiliar to our industry.

The adapter is the metallic device that holds the booster and fuse and fastens them in the shell. The adapter, therefore, is a broad ring, screw-threaded both outside and inside. The inside diameter is uniform, so as to allow the same size of booster and fuse to be screwed into shell of different sizes. The outside diameters of the adapters vary with the sizes of the shell they are made to fit, the rings thus being thicker or thinner as the case may require. Fuses of several sorts are employed by the modern artillerist; and with shell equipped with adapters, any fuse may be inserted in the field right at the gun.

Unexpectedly the manufacture of boosters and adapters proved to be much more difficult than it appeared to be at the start, and the shortage of these devices was a limiting factor in the American production of shell.

On May 1, 1917, drawings and specifications were sent to the principal manufacturers of ammunition and ammunition components inviting bids on 3-inch ammunition. These bids were opened on May 15, 1917, and after full discussion with the Council of National Defense orders were placed for 9,000,000 rounds of 3-inch shell and shrapnel ammunition. The bids for shell and shrapnel ammunition for all the other calibers of guns and howitzers we had on hand then were about to be asked, when the French mission to this country arrived; and the sending out of proposals was deferred, while discussion ensued as to changing our 3-inch and 6-inch artillery to 75-millimeter and 155-millimeter calibers, so as to make our ammunition interchangeable with that of the French. This decision was made June 5, 1917.

There then took place much discussion and consideration of the French ammunition. The French had several distinct types of shell, ranging from the very thin walled high capacity kind to the thicker walled types. The French specifications were radically different from our own or those of the British. The steel shell in the French practice was subjected to a drastic heat treatment, which did not seem necessary to us for the thicker walled types of shell.

The French fusing system also was entirely different from that used by our service. French fuses were carried separately, and the adapter and the booster casing were screwed permanently into the shell.

Our decision to adopt French types of ammunition made it necessary to rearrange all our plans, and to obtain drawings of the shell, boosters, adapters, and fuses from France. This caused much negotiating, and a considerable amount of time was consumed in getting the necessary specifications and drawings here.

As a result of recommendations from French officials against production in this country during 1917 of the so-called "obus allongé" and the semisteel type of shell, no attempt was made to produce these for the 155-millimeter guns and howitzers during the first year of the war, but as a result of new recommendations and investigations of our officers in France in the spring of 1918 both of these types of shell were put into quantity production here. When the armistice was signed they were being turned out in such quantities that it appeared that there was sure to be an ample supply on hand in the early spring of 1919.

Radical differences of manufacture existed between the French and British in the matter of specifications and methods of production. Large quantities of British ammunition had been made in this country, and we had adopted the British 8-inch howitzer, so that it appeared we should use British practice in the manufacture of shell. Manufacturers claimed that great delay would result in the production of shell here if the heat treatment and hydraulic tests were insisted upon as the French specifications called for, and investigation proved this to be essentially true, as no facilities for heat treating and hydraulic testing existed.

The upshot of the entire matter was that it was decided to use French dimensions and shell for the 75-millimeter and 155-millimeter calibers so as to obtain uniformity of ballistics, but to permit American metallurgical practice to obtain in the manufacture. Shells made under these specifications were tested by the French commission in France. The verdict on these shell can be summarized in this quotation from their report:

To sum up, from the test of 10,000 cartridges of 75 millimeter, it may be concluded that American ammunition is in every way comparable to French ammunition and that the two may be considered as interchangeable.

Our designs for shrapnel and time fuses had been proven to be entirely satisfactory, and they were continued as they were. In fact it was generally agreed that ours was the best time fuse used on the allied side during the war. That our decision in the matter of continuing production of shrapnel and time fuses was warranted, is borne out by the fact that we obtained early deliveries in sufficient quantities to meet requirements.

In the use of the adapters and boosters, which introduced an entirely new component to our service in shell making, we had had no experience, and subsequently met with great difficulties due to this lack of experience. Delays were encountered because in this part of shell manufacture it was generally necessary to await information from France whenever difficulties were encountered, or to conduct experiments before we could proceed.

When we began receiving our bids for 3-inch gun ammunition there were comparatively few factories in the United States that were able to turn out complete rounds of ammunition. There were many factories, however, capable of turning out one or more of the shell components. It was necessary to place orders for complete rounds of ammunition with those factories that could furnish them, and have the remaining components manufactured separately, and to provide assembling plants. To get as many factories as possible on a production basis in anticipation of the future large orders for ammunition that must necessarily follow with extension of operations by our field forces, orders for our initial quantities of ammunition were distributed as widely as possible.

To prevent confusion and loss of time because of the scramble for steel forgings and other raw materials it was decided that the Government would purchase all raw materials as well as furnish components for ammunition.

How successful we were in getting into quantity production on ammunition after the numerous and large obstacles in the early months of the war can be indicated best by the fact that of the 11,616,156 high-explosive shell for 75-millimeter guns machined up to November 1, no less than 2,893,367 passed inspection in October; while of the 7,345,366 adapters and boosters for 75-millimeter guns that had been machined up to the 1st of November, 2,758,397 passed inspection in October.

The figures for the 4.7-inch and 155-millimeter guns and howitzers follow:

----------------------+----------------+--------------- | Machined | Machined | high-explosive | adapters and Kind of ammunition. | shell | boosters | accepted up | accepted up | to Nov. 1. | to Nov. 1. ----------------------+----------------+--------------- 4.7-inch | 994,852 | [20]636,096 155-millimeter | 2,083,782 | 2,516,216 ----------------------+----------------+---------------

[20] For use in 4.7-inch and other sizes.

Ammonium picrate or explosive D upon which this country had depended almost entirely up to the time of our entry into the war was forced into the shell under hydraulic pressure. The adoption of the point-fused shell and an explosive for shell filling new to this country, namely, amatol, made necessary the provision of new methods for shell loading and the expansion of plant facilities for these new methods capable of loading the vast and tremendous numbers of shell required in modern warfare. As a result of reports, following investigations by our officers of methods used abroad, various new shell-loading plants were built in the United States.

The names, location, and output of the shell-loading plants in our country are as follows:

--------------------------------+------------------------+--------- | | Total Company. | Location. | capacity | | daily | | (shell). --------------------------------+------------------------+--------- T. A. Gillespie Loading Co. | Morgan, N. J. | 47,000 Do. | Parlin, N. J. | 25,000 Do. | Runyon, N. Y. | 3,500 Poole Engineering & Machine Co. | Texas, Md. | 15,000 United States Arsenal | Rock Island, Ill. | 1,000 Sterling Motor Car Co. | Brockton, Mass. | 10,000 American Can Co. | Kenilworth, N. J. | 20,000 Atlantic Loading Co. | Amatol, N. J. | 53,500 Bethlehem Loading Co. | Mays Landing, N. J. | 41,000 Do. | New Castle, Del. | 27,400 Do. | Redington, Pa. | 4,000 du Pont Engineering Co. | Penniman, Va., G plant | 41,000 Do. | Penniman, Va., D plant | 13,330 J. D. Evans Engineer Corp. | Old Bridge, N. J. | 30,000 | +--------- Total | | 331,730 --------------------------------+------------------------+---------

It was found necessary in the early stages of the war to fill all shell with T. N. T., regardless of cost, until there could be built the required and properly equipped plants for the mixing and loading of amatol.

Two methods for loading T. N. T. were adopted. The one most largely used, however, was the casting method by which the chemical was brought to a molten condition in a steam jacketed kettle and poured into the shell. To do this two operations were usual. First, the shell was filled approximately two-thirds full with the molten material, and then as soon as a crust was formed this was broken through and the second filling took place. This process was necessary to prevent the formation of cavities in the filling charge. Such cavities cause breakdowns, resulting almost invariably in incomplete or entire failure of detonation.

The ammonium nitrate first produced in this country during the war was of such a character that proper densities could not be obtained when mixed with T. N. T. to form amatol. This difficulty was overcome after much investigation, and proper methods were outlined for the ammonium nitrate manufacturers, with the result that Grade III ammonium nitrate was produced as a sharp, hard crystal at a setting point of not less than 290° F. This was found to be perfectly satisfactory.

The so-called 50-50 amatol, composed of 50 parts ammonium nitrate and 50 parts T. N. T., is loaded into shell by a casting method similar to that used in loading T. N. T. alone.

The so-called 80-20 amatol, composed of 80 parts ammonium nitrate and 20 parts T. N. T., was originally loaded cold, by hand, and then followed up with mechanical pressing. As a substitute for this method, which is accompanied by a certain element of danger, the use of hot 80-20 amatol, was resorted to in England. This was tamped by hand to the proper density, it being more compressible than cold amatol.

As this is an exceedingly tedious method of operation it was entirely done away with in England, except for large shell, by the use of what is known as the horizontal extruding machine. With this machine the British were able to load 80-20 amatol with great success into the 75-millimeter shell and higher calibers up to 8 inches.

This machine took a mixture of T. N. T. and ammonium nitrate in a jacketed hopper, so that the temperature might be maintained, and the hopper fed it down through a funnel upon a screw that was placed against the shell by counterweights to give the proper density. One of these machines was imported here from England, but, as it was unsatisfactory from a construction standpoint, new and satisfactory machines were built on the same principles of construction in our own amatol loading plants.

Experimental work with these machines was carried on at the Government testing station Picatinny Arsenal, Dover, N. J., and the du Pont Experimental Station, Gibbstown, N. J., as well as experimental plant operations at the Morgan plant of the T. A. Gillespie Co., Parlin, N. J., and the Penniman plant of the du Pont Co., Penniman, Va. All difficulties of the operations were overcome so satisfactorily that the greater portion of the loaded shell was produced by this method.

The metal parts as received at the shell-filling plant are inspected and cleaned to remove all traces of foreign matter such as grit or grease before being sent to the loading room. After being loaded the shell are again inspected. At intervals a split shell is loaded and then taken apart and examined, so that any loading defects may be found quickly and conditions remedied, before any large quantities of shell are produced.

The cavity left in the amatol by the tube of the extruding machine is filled with molten T. N. T., and a cavity is produced in this T. N. T. into which the booster fits. This is necessary in order to provide for complete detonation. The booster cavity is produced either by the use of a former, which upon removal leaves a cavity of the proper size, or by plunging the booster into the shell filling before this is cooled, or by drilling out a cavity for the booster after the filling has been thoroughly cooled.

A large number of rounds of ammunition of all calibers had also to be loaded with a flashless compound that was inserted in the propelling charges, so that the discharge of the guns would not betray their positions to the enemy at night, while a smoke compound was inserted in a large quantity of shell so that each missile of this character might be located after firing to determine the accuracy of the shot.

Coordination of manufacture of metallic parts so as to cause the proper quantities of shell, fuse, and boosters to be produced without leaving any incomplete rounds that would have to be held awaiting other components caused the greatest difficulty.

The magnitude of the task of providing the necessary shell components in the tremendous quantities required can be better appreciated by a realization of the fact that the various parts of each component must be made to fit each other properly and perfectly. Gauging had to be resorted to frequently in the process of manufacture to make certain that there was perfect interchangeability of parts of each component to prevent any waste of time in selecting parts to fit each other.

The complete components, too, must themselves be made with equal care and scrupulous attention to make certain that they fit properly. Thus, the booster had to be made in such a fashion and with such precision and accuracy that it would fit perfectly into the shell as well as into the booster cavity in the shell filling into which it is screwed and also at the same time accommodate the fuse which screws into the booster.

This extreme accuracy made necessary a large number of gauges, which had to be designed at the same time as, and in coordination with, the design of the component. For example, in a complete round of artillery ammunition, 80 dimensions must be gauged. To standardize the gauges used for these 80 dimensions, 180 master gauges are required, while the actual number of different gauges used during the various stages of manufacture of a complete round is over 500.

Government inspectors required over 200 gauges in their work of inspecting and gauging the finished components for the shell, so in all about 800 gauges were used in the process of manufacturing a complete round of artillery ammunition, to insure interchangeability of parts, proper fit for the projectile in the gun, and perfect functioning of the various parts.

All fixed ammunition was assembled at the shell-filling plants, making it necessary to install at these points storage capacity and equipment to handle the propellant powder as well as to fill the high-explosive shell. Boosters and fuses were loaded at separate plants and shipped to the shell-filling assembly places to be packed for shipment with the shell for transportation overseas.

The cost of a loaded 75-millimeter shell with the fuse and propellant charge ready to be fired is about $11. Such a shell contains a little over 1½ pounds of high explosive, which costs $1. The loading and assembling of the complete round costs $4.

A loaded 155-millimeter shell complete with fuse costs about $30, exclusive of the propellant charge of powder, which is loaded separately. A shell of this caliber holds about 14¼ pounds of high explosive, which costs $10, while the loading and assembling costs $4.

The 75-millimeter and 155-millimeter shell were used in the greatest quantities on the European battle fields, and at the time of the signing of the armistice our American loading plants were concentrating on filling ammunition for guns of these two calibers.

The nature of the work carried on at these shell-loading plants, of course, made the danger of a disaster ever present. Prior to our entry into the war an explosion at the Canadian Car & Foundry Co.'s plant, Kingsland, N. J., resulted in the entire destruction of the plant with large loss of life.

In October, 1918, the Morgan plant of the T. A. Gillespie Co., South Amboy, N. J., was wiped out by an explosion in which about 100 employees lost their lives. Plans for rebuilding this plant, had progressed far when the armistice was signed. In the fall of 1917, 40 people were killed in an explosion at the Eddystone Loading Plant, Eddystone, Pa.

For the successful carrying out of our program for the production of vast quantities of explosives and propellants, as well as shell loading, the women of America must be given credit, on account of the highly important part they took in this phase of helping to win the war. Fully 50 per cent of the number of employees in our explosive plants were women, who braved the dangers connected with this line of work, to which they had been, of course, entirely unaccustomed, but whose perils were not unknown to them.

In connection with the production of shell themselves, the American Ordnance Department adopted certain changes of design which were not only radically different from what we had known before the war but were interesting for the way in which they were brought about and for the results they accomplished.

The modern shell as we knew it before the war was simply a metal cylinder cut off squarely at the base and roundly blunted at the nose. The shell is zoned with a so-called rotating ring, a circular band of copper which by engaging the rifling channels of the gun gives to the shell the whirl that keeps it from tumbling over and over and thus holds it accurately on its course in flight.

In the proof-firing of the 6-inch seacoast guns it was discovered that their fire was none too accurate; and the American ordnance engineers began studying the shell to see if the fault lay there. One of these experts was Maj. F. R. Moulton, who before accepting a commission in the Army had been professor of astronomy at the University of Chicago. Maj. Moulton began a study of the 6-inch shell; and soon it was discovered that the mathematics which could chart the orbits of comets could also deal with the flight of projectiles, calculate the influences of air resistance and gravitation, and eventually work out new, scientific contours for offsetting these influences as much as possible.

Maj. Moulton first dealt with the inaccuracy of our 6-inch shell. He discovered the cause in the rotating band. Although but a slight portion of this band was upraised above the surface of the shell's circumference, yet the enormous force exerted upon the projectile to start it from the gun actually caused the cold copper to "flow" backward. The result was that when the shell emerged from the muzzle of the gun it bore around its sides an entirely unsuspected and undesirable flange. This flange not only shortened the range of the shell by offering resistance to the air, but it was seldom uniform all the way around, a condition giving rise to the idiosyncracies of our 6-inch shell as they were fired at the target.

The remedy for this was a redesigned rotating band, making it somewhat thicker in front. The "flow" of the copper could thus be accommodated without causing any detrimental distortion to the projectile. When this improvement was made the 6-inch shell became as accurate as any.

But Maj. Moulton was to make an even greater contribution to the 6-inch shell. This shell, like those of our other types, was square ended at the base. Maj. Moulton in his new design tapered in the sides somewhat, making the shell "boat ended." He elongated the nose, bringing it out to a much sharper point. The result was the first American "streamline" design for a shell. Shell of this new model were built experimentally and tested. The 6-inch gun could fire its old shell 17,000 yards, while the streamline shell went 4,000 or 5,000 yards farther--2 or 3 miles added to the range of an already powerful weapon by the application of brains and mathematics.

The French were experimenting with streamline shell. We adopted the French streamline 75-millimeter shell and put it into production, calling it our Mark IV shell. Our regular 75-millimeter shell, known as the Mark I 1900 shell, had a maximum range of 9,000 yards. The Mark IV shell proved to have a maximum range of 12,130 yards, giving an increase in range of well over a mile. America up to April 3, 1919, turned out about 524,000 of these streamline shell.

The French also built shell of semisteel, steel to which iron was added. It was claimed that these shell, by bursting into fine fragments upon exploding, were more effective against troops than all-steel shell, because the fragments of the latter were larger. We adopted this shell also and produced it experimentally. In contour it was a compromise between the old cylindrical shell and the extreme streamline type and was easier to make than the latter.

_Artillery ammunition, complete rounds--Acceptances in United States and Canada on U. S. Army orders only._

[Figures in thousands of rounds.]

--------------------------+------+----------------------------------------- | To | 1918 | Jan. +------+------+------+------+------+------ | 1. | Jan. | Feb. | Mar. | Apr. | May. | June. --------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------ Calibers for American | | | | | | | Expeditionary Force | | | | | | | program. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 75-mm. gun H. E. | | | | | | | 235 75-mm. gun shrapnel | 20| 121 | 124 | 483 | 888 |1,011 |1,049 75-mm. gun gas | | | | | | | 75-mm. A. A. shrapnel | | | | | | | 3-inch A. A. shrapnel | | | | | | | 4.7-inch gun H. E. | | | | | | | 4.7-inch gun, shrapnel | 9| 9 | 14 | 17 | 18 | 23 | 35 5-inch S. C. gun H. E. | | | | | | | 6-inch S. C. gun H. E. | | | | | | | 2 155-mm. gun H. E.[21] | | | | | | | 155-mm. howitzer H. E.[21]| | | | | | | 155-mm. shrapnel | | | | | | | 8-inch howitzer H. E. | | | | | | | 9.2-inch howitzer H. E. | | | | | | | 240-mm. howitzer H. E. | | | | | | | 8-inch S. C. gun H. E. | | | | | | | 10-inch S. C. gun H. E. | | | | | | | +------+------+------+------+------+------+------ Total |[22]29|[22]130|[22]138|[22]500|[22]906|[22]1,034|1,321 +======+======+======+======+======+======+====== Calibers for use in | | | | | | | United States only. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2.95-inch mountain gun | | | | | | | H. E. | 22| | | | | | 2.95-inch mountain gun | | | | | | | shrapnel | 37| | | | | | 3-inch F. G. H. E. | 333| 73 | 212 | 142 | 128 | 95 | 3 3-inch F. G. shrapnel | 957| 164 | 231 | 174 | 55 | 60 | 15 3.8-inch howitzer H. E. | 3| 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | | 3.8-inch howitzer shrapnel| 12| 1 | | | | | 4.7-inch howitzer H. E. | 14| 4 | | | 5 | 1 | 1 4.7-inch howitzer shrapnel| | | | | | 4 | 6-inch howitzer H. E. | 20| 1 | 3 | 24 | 35 | | 6-inch howitzer shrapnel | | | | | | | 1 +------+------+------+------+------+------+------ Total | 1,398| 246 | 448 | 342 | 224 | 160 | 20 +======+======+======+======+======+======+====== Grand total | 1,427| 376 | 586 | 842 |1,130 |1,194 |1,341 --------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------

--------------------------+-----------------------------------------+----- | 1918 +------+------+------+------+------+------+Total | July | Aug.| Sept.| Oct.| Nov.| Dec.| --------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+----- Calibers for American | | | | | | | Expeditionary Force | | | | | | | program. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 75-mm. gun H. E. | 287 | 809 |1,168 | 1,122| 1,175| 790 | 5,586 75-mm. gun shrapnel | 730 | 732 | 802 |1,057 | 812| 738 | 8,567 75-mm. gun gas | | 188 | 164 | 213 | 15 | | 580 75-mm. A. A. shrapnel | | 92 | 97 | 185 | 134 | 126 | 634 3-inch A. A. shrapnel | | | | 11 | 59 | 2 | 72 4.7-inch gun H. E. | | | 32 | 45 | 43 | 46 | 166 4.7-inch gun, shrapnel | 23 | 38 | 29 | 28 | 15 | 19 | 277 5-inch S. C. gun H. E. | | | 7 | | | 5 | 12 6-inch S. C. gun H. E. | | | 1 | 36 | 23 | | 62 155-mm. gun H. E.[21] | | | | 9 | 33 | 51 | 98 155-mm. howitzer H. E.[21]| 11 | 113 | 193 | 119 | 173 | 140 | 749 155-mm. shrapnel | | 12 | 22 | 66 | 41 | 93 | 234 8-inch howitzer H. E. | | | | 91 | 8 | | 99 9.2-inch howitzer H. E. | | | 13 | 8 | 24 | 3 | 48 240-mm. howitzer H. E. | | | | 2 | | | 2 8-inch S. C. gun H. E. | | | | 20 | 11 | | 31 10-inch S. C. gun H. E. | | | 20 | 50 | 4 | 11 | 85 +------+------+------+------+------+------+------- Total |1,051 |1,984 |2,548 |3,062 |2,570 |2,024 |17,297 +======+======+======+======+======+======+====== Calibers for use in | | | | | | | United States only. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2.95-inch mountain gun | | | | | | | H. E. | | | | | | | 22 2.95-inch mountain gun | | | | | | | shrapnel | 9 | 14 | 2 | | | | 62 3-inch F. G. H. E. | 1 | 84 | | | | | 1,071 3-inch F. G. shrapnel | | | | | | | 1,656 3.8-inch howitzer H. E. | | | | | | | 11 3.8-inch howitzer shrapnel| | | | | | | 13 4.7-inch howitzer H. E. | 1 | 1 | | | 12 | | 39 4.7-inch howitzer shrapnel| 23 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 10 | | 60 6-inch howitzer H. E. | | | | | | | 83 6-inch howitzer shrapnel | | 3 | | | | | 4 +------+------+------+------+------+------+------ Total | 34 | 107 | 10 | 10 | 22 | | 3,021 +======+======+======+======+======+======+====== Grand total |1,085 |2,091 |2,558 |1,072 |2,592 |2,024 |20,318 --------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------

[21] All thick walled type; not all supplied with fuses.

[22] Shrapnel only.

The following table lists the name of each manufacturer of the various types and sizes of shell for big guns and states the quantity turned out by each:

---------------------------------+--------------------+------------------- | Forgings. | Machinings. +----------+---------+---------+--------- | Quantity | Quantity| Quantity| Quantity Contractor. | ordered | accepted| ordered | accepted | to | to | to | to | Nov. 1, | Nov. 1,| Nov. 1,| Nov. 1, | 1918. | 1918. | 1918. | 1918. ---------------------------------+----------+---------+---------+--------- _3-inch antiaircraft | | | | high-explosive shell._ | | | | | | | | Hydraulic Pressed Steel Co., | | | | Cleveland, Ohio | 1,938,806| 135,435| | John Inglis Co., | | | | Toronto, Ontario | 500,000| 131,542| | Saskatchewan Bridge & Iron Works,| | | | Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan | | | 84,000| West Shell & Box Co., | | | | North Edmonton, Alberta | | | 83,000| Manitoba B. & I. Co., | | | | Winnipeg, Manitoba | | | 83,000| Medicine Hat P. & B. Co., | | | | Medicine Hat, Alberta | | | 83,000| Dominion Bridge Co., | | | | Winnipeg, Manitoba | | | 84,000| Salisbury Wheel & Axle Co., | | | | Jamestown, N. Y. | | | 500,000| 1,097 | | | | 3-inch antiaircraft shrapnel. | | | | | | | | Symington Machine Corporation, | | | | Rochester, N. Y. | 1,052,099|1,013,199|1,000,000|1,000,000 | | | | _75-millimeter antiaircraft | | | | high-explosive shell._ | | | | | | | | Moline Forge Co., Moline, Ill. | 939,866| 540,532| | Jackson Munitions, Jackson, Mich.| 225,000| | | Spencer Engine Co., Toledo, Ohio | 500,000| 28,293| | Chamberlain Machine Works, | | | | Waterloo, Iowa | 365,000| 23,669| | | | | | _75-millimeter antiaircraft | | | | shrapnel._ | | | | | | | | Symington Manufacturing Co., | | | | Rochester, N. Y. | 672,625| 672,625| 672,625| 672,625 | | | | _75-millimeter gas and | | | | high-explosive shell._ | | | | | | | | T. A. Gillespie, Parlin, N. J. | 1,400,000|1,400,000|1,400,000|1,977,149 American International | | | | Corporation, New York City | 3,000,000|2,433,438| | American Can Co., New York City | 7,000,000|2,563,151|4,000,000| 399,728 Hydraulic Pressed Steel Co., | | | | Cleveland, Ohio |12,000,000|4,455,090| | Valley Forge Co., Verona, Pa. | 4,000,000| 880,263| | New York Air Brake Co., | | | | New York City | 2,000,000| 192,774|1,300,000| 17,652 Worthington Pump Machine Co., | | | | New York City | 2,650,000|1,473,929|2,660,000| 634,159 The Canadian Allis-Chalmers Co., | | | | Toronto, Ontario | 2,267,062|1,802,117| 435| 140,647 Canada Car & Foundry Co., | | | | Montreal, Quebec | 1,656,302|1,592,877| | A. P. Smith Co., Orange, N. J. | | | 125,000| S. A. Wood Manufacturing Co., | | | | Boston, Mass. | | |1,500,000| 405,344 Vermont Farm Machine Co., | | | | Bellows Falls, Vt. | | | 750,000| 188,300 American Machinery Corporation, | | | | Port Huron, Mich. | | | 200,000| Consolidated Car Heating Co., | | | | Albany, N. Y. | | | 810,000| 181,885 Wire Wheel Corporation, | | | | Springfield, Mass. | | | 300,000| 71,239 The Canadian Crocker Wheeler, | | | | St. Catherines, Ontario | | | 475,000| 160,935 Lachine Manufacturing Co., | | | | Lachine, Quebec | | | 660,000| 255,264 The Electric Steel & Metal Co., | | | | Welland, Ontario | | | 11,458| 11,458 J. Bertram & Co., Dundas, Ontario| | | 100,000| 51,141 Canadian Fairbanks Morse, Toronto| | |1,584,548|1,377,800 W. H. Banfield & Sons, Toronto | | |1,620,000| 670,000 Canadian Bridge Co., | | | | Walkerville, Ontario | | |1,450,000| 456,993 Canadian Metal Co., Toronto | 3,250,000|1,154,371| | Goldie & McCullough, | | | | Galt, Ontario | 1,100,000| 921,206| 410,000| 61,476 John Inglis Co., Toronto | 1,700,000| 775,033| 75,000| 42,400 Cluff Ammunition Co., Toronto | 600,000| 509,343| | G. W. McFarland Engineering Co., | | | | Paris, Ontario | 1,500,000| 285,335| | Dayton, Ohio, Products Co., | | | | New York City | 3,500,000| 732,842| | E. W. Bliss Co., Brooklyn, N. Y. | 1,300,000| 701,804| | Lymburner (Ltd.) Co., | | | | Montreal, Quebec | 800,000| 630,978|2,474,000|1,126,556 Moline Forging & Machining Co., | | | | Moline, Ill. | 1,500,000| 471,281| | Laconia Car Co., Laconia, N. H. | 550,000| | | Symington Machine Co., | | | | Rochester, N. Y. | 4,025,000| |6,025,000|1,200,686 Roberts Filter Co., Darby, Pa. | | | 600,000| 151,975 Auto Transportation Co., | | | | Buffalo, N. Y. | | | 350,000| 107,441 Dominion Bridge Co., | | | | Montreal, Quebec | | | 795,000| 301,144 Canadian Ingersoll Rand Co., | | | | Sherbrooke, Quebec | | |1,100,000| 290,431 Steel Co. of Canada, | | | | Brantford, Ontario | | | 515,000| 162,399 Allis-Chalmers Co., | | | | Milwaukee, Wis. | | |1,520,000| 347,635 Jackson Munitions, Jackson, Mich.| | | 775,000| 67,570 Maxwell Motor Co., Detroit, Mich.| | | 800,000| 61,761 Batavia Steel Products, | | | | Batavia, N. Y. | | |1,175,000| 311,417 Wheeling Mold & Foundry, | | | | Wheeling, W. Va. | | | 500,000| 118,496 Eddystone Munitions, | | | | Eddystone, Pa. | | |1,000,000| 190,100 Lachine Manufacturing Co., | | | | Lachine, Quebec | | | | The International Clay & Machine,| | | | Dayton, Ohio | | | 124,000| 3,812 Smead & Co., | | | | Jersey City, N. J. | | |1,100,000| 246,841 Manufacturing Production Co., | | | | Dayton, Ohio | | |1,600,000| 340,885 Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co., | | | | Chicago, Ill. | | | 250,000| 132,321 Mueller Manufacturing Co., | | | | Port Huron, Mich. | | | 500,000| 78,300 The Westfield Manufacturing Co., | | | | Westfield, Mass. | | |1,740,000| 413,578 The Platt Iron Works, | | | | Dayton, Ohio | | |1,600,000| 170,312 The Mueller Metal Co., | | | | Wayne, Mich. | | | 750,000| | | | | _75-millimeter field-gun | | | | shrapnel._ | | | | | | | | American Can Co., New York City | 969,039| 969,039| 904,067| 904,067 Eddystone Munitions Co., | | | | Eddystone, Pa. | 769,961| 769,961| 750,000| 750,000 Bartlett-Hayward Co., | | | | Baltimore, Md. | 6,565,519|4,272,900|6,200,000|3,492,863 Symington Machine Co., | | | | Rochester, N. Y. | 5,459,378|4,868,942|8,375,000|3,329,025 Frankford Arsenal, | | | | Philadelphia, Pa. | 650,000| 4,713| 750,000| 4,713 Laconia Car Co., Laconia, N. H. | 450,000| 369,483| | Bossert Corporation, Utica, N. Y.| 200,000| | | Hydraulic Pressed Steel Co., | | | | Cleveland, Ohio | 2,285,000| 10,000| | Canada Forge Co., | | | | Welland, Ontario | 730,000| | | The Liberty Ordnance Co., | | | | Bridgeport, Conn. | 1,000,000| 27,000| | | | | | _155-millimeter howitzer | | | | high-explosive shell, | | | | Mark I, type B._ | | | | | | | | Whittaker Glessner, | | | | Portsmouth, Ohio | 130,000| 137,406| | American Rolling Mills, | | | | Middletown, Ohio | 100,000| 49,785| | Pressed Steel Car Co., | | | | Pittsburgh Pa. | 600,000| 552,867| | American Car & Foundry Co., | | | | New York City | 2,800,000|1,110,964| | New York Air Brake Co., | | | | New York City | 350,000| 1,158| 138,316| Wm. Wharton Manufacturing Co., | | | | Philadelphia, Pa. | 280,000| 61,224| | Standard Steel Car Co., | | | | Pittsburgh, Pa. | 450,000| | | Standard Forging Co., | | | | Chicago, Ill. | 21,141| | | Curtis & Co., Manufacturing Co., | | | | St. Louis, Mo. | 500,000| 404,645| | American Steel Foundry Co., | | | | Chicago, Ill. | 412,042| 412,042| | Midvale Steel & Ordnance Co., | | | | Philadelphia, Pa. | 130,000| 130,000| | Detroit Shell Co., | | | | Detroit, Mich. | | | 500,000| 45,563 J. J. Cavrick, Batavia, N. Y. | | | 300,000| 92,974 Standard Sanitary Co., | | | | Pittsburgh, Pa. | | | 600,000| 94,409 Potter & Johnson, | | | | Pawtucket, R. I. | | | 175,000| North American Motor Co., | | | | Pottstown, Pa. | | | 30,000| 29,446 Minneapolis Steel & Machine Co., | | | | Minneapolis, Minn. | | | 400,000| 245,344 W. J. Oliver Manufacturing Co., | | | | Knoxville, Tenn. | | | 130,000| 88,662 Twin City Forge & Foundry Co., | | | | Stillwater, Minn. | | | 600,000| 54,483 Winslow Bros. Co., Chicago, Ill. | | | 600,000| 176,081 American Brake Shoe & Foundry | | | | Co., New York City | | | 750,000| 184,697 American Clay & Machine Co., | | | | Bucyrus, Ohio | | | 700,000| Elyria Machine Co., Elyria, Ohio | | | 100,000| 32,139 American Machine & Manufacturing | | | | Co., Atlanta, Ga. | | | 240,000| 75,063 Haroun Motor Corporation, | | | | Wayne, Mich. | | | 200,000| 23,899 Wagner Electric Manufacturing | | | | Co., St. Louis, Mo. | | | 300,000| 12,569 | | | | _155-millimeter howitzer | | | | high-explosive shell, | | | | Mark IV, type D._ | | | | | | | | National Tube Co., | | | | Pittsburgh, Pa. | 800,000| 48,263| | P. Lyall & Sons, | | | | Montreal, Quebec | 400,000| 4,774| 150,000| 2,559 National Iron Works, | | | | Toronto, Ontario | 400,000| 9,137| | Dominion Steel Foundry, | | | | Hamilton, Ontario | 400,000| 23,270| | Studebaker Corporation, | | | | Detroit, Mich. | 800,000| | 800,000| Fairfax Forge Co., | | | | Montreal, Quebec | 400,000| | 150,000| Pressed Steel Car Co., | | | | Pittsburgh, Pa. | 1,000,000| 15,122| | Cleveland Crane Co., | | | | Wickliffe, Ohio | 500,000| | | Bethlehem Steel Co., | | | | South Bethlehem, Pa. | 600,000| 139,103| | G. W. McFarland, Paris, Ontario | 370,000| 521| | LaClede Gas Light Co., | | | | St. Louis, Mo. | 850,000| | 850,000| Standard Forging Co., | | | | Chicago, Ill. | 500,000| | | Whittaker Glessner Co., | | | | Portsmouth, Ohio | 900,000| 31,909| | Curtis & Co., St. Louis, Mo. | 130,000| | | Warden King & Co., | | | | Montreal, Quebec | 180,000| | | John Inglis Co., | | | | Toronto, Ontario | 400,000| | | Canada Iron Foundry Co., | | | | Montreal, Quebec | 100,000| | 100,000| Cluff Ammunition Co., | | | | Toronto, Ontario | 500,000| | | Taylor Forbes (Ltd.), | | | | Toronto, Ontario | 90,000| | | Moon Motor Co., St. Louis, Mo. | | | 200,000| Standard Sanitary, | | | | Pittsburgh, Pa. | | | 150,000| Holden Morgan Thread Co., | | | | Toronto, Ontario | | | 100,000| E. Leonard & Sons, | | | | London, Ontario | | | 80,000| Otis Fenson Elevator Co., | | | | Hamilton, Ontario | | | 200,000| Dominion Copper Products, | | | | Montreal, Quebec | | | 150,000| 2,056 Caron Bros., Montreal, Quebec | | | 125,000| 235 Potter & Johnson, | | | | Pawtucket, R. I. | | | 350,000| Biscoe Motor, Jackson, Mich. | | | 325,000| Hudson Motor, Detroit, Mich. | | | 400,000| Munition & M. N. (Ltd.), Sorel | | | 50,000| John Bartram Sons, | | | | Dundas, Ontario | | | 450,000| | | | | _155-millimeter howitzer | | | | gas shell._ | | | | | | | | American Rolling Mills, | | | | Middletown, Ohio | 500,000| 492,399| | Midvale Steel & Ordnance Co., | | | | Philadelphia, Pa. | 120,000| 96,799| | American Radiator Co., | | | | Washington, D. C. | 625,000| 500| 416,667| Wilson Foundry & Machine Co., | | | | Pontiac, Mich. | 400,000| | 300,000| Rathbone Sard & Co., Aurora, Ill.| 600,000| | 400,000| | | | | _155-millimeter gun | | | | high-explosive shell, | | | | Mark III, type B._ | | | | | | | | Standard Steel Car Co., | | | | Pittsburgh, Pa. | 1,000,000| 568,092|1,000,000| 431,238 Whittaker Glessner Co., | | | | Portsmouth, Ohio | 350,471| 350,471| | Standard Forging Co., | | | | Indiana Harbor, Ind. | 800,000| 730,950| | Mead Morris & Co., | | | | Gloucester, Mass. | 300,000| 2,056| | Twin City Forge & Foundry Co., | | | | Stillwater, Minn. | 425,000| 136,053| | Chicago Rlg. Equipment Co., | | | | Chicago, Ill. | 400,000| 23,356| | Minneapolis Steel & Machine Co., | | | | Minneapolis, Minn. | | | 200,000| 41,254 International Arms & Fuse, | | | | Bloomfleld, N. J. | | | 500,000| 310,130 North American Motors, | | | | Pottstown, Pa. | | | 70,000| Potter & Johnson, | | | | Pawtucket, R. I. | | | 100,000| 73,836 Templer Motor Co., | | | | Cleveland, Ohio | | | 450,000| 45,014 New York Air Brake Co., | | | | New York City | | | 211,684| Jackson Munitions, Jackson, Mich.| | | 177,500| 25,981 Pullman Co., Pullman, Ill. | | | 300,000| New Home Sewing Machine Co., | | | | Orange, Mass. | | | 200,000| | | | | _155-millimeter gun | | | | high-explosive shell, | | | | Mark V, type D._ | | | | | | | | Symington Chicago Corporation, | | | | Chicago, Ill. | 1,000,000| | 805,000| American Rolling Mills, | | | | Middletown, Ohio | 755,000| 36,161| | Milton Manufacturing Co., | | | | Milton, Pa. | 10,000| | | Whittaker Glessner Co., | | | | Portsmouth, Ohio | 750,000| | | Dominion Foundry & Steel Co., | | | | Hamilton, Ontario | 500,000| | | Winslow Bros., Chicago, Ill. | | | 400,000| Grant Motor Car Co., | | | | Cleveland, Ohio | | | 260,000| Cribbon Sexton Co., | | | | Chicago, Ill. | | | 200,000| | | | | 155-millimeter gun gas shell. | | | | | | | | Bethlehem Steel Co., | | | | South Bethlehem, Pa. | 100,000| 92,430| | Kohler Co., Kohler, Wis. | 850,000| 100| 657,000| 100 American Radiator Co., | | | | Washington, D. C. | 125,000| | 83,333| Whittaker Glessner Co., | | | | Portsmouth, Ohio | 5,000| 5,000| | American Car & Foundry Co., | | | | New York City | | |1,350,000| 63,914 | | | | _155-millimeter gun and | | | | howitzer shrapnel._ | | | | | | | | Dayton, Ohio, Production Co., | | | | Dayton, Ohio | 850,000| 131,329| | Wm. Wharton, jr., | | | | Philadelphia, Pa. | 540,947| 345,457| | Bartlett-Hayward Co., | | | | Baltimore, Md. | 200,000| |1,600,000| 135,590 Frankford Arsenal, | | | | Philadelphia, Pa. | 100,000| | | | | | | 3.8-inch howitzer shell. | | | | | | | | Frankford Arsenal, | | | | Philadelphia, Pa. | 1,000| 1,000| 15,928| 11,757 Hydraulic Pressed Steel Co., | | | | Cleveland, Ohio | 105,000| | | F. R. Wilford & Co. | 105,000| | | | | | | 3.8-inch howitzer shrapnel. | | | | | | | | Frankford Arsenal, | | | | Philadelphia, Pa. | 18,522| 14,264| 43,522| 14,264 Hydraulic Pressed Steel Co., | | | | Cleveland, Ohio | 35,000| | | | | | | 4.72-inch shell. | | | | | | | | National Tube Co., | | | | Christie Pks. Works | 12,500| 5,614| | United States Government | 1,850| 1,850| 1,850| 1,850 Buffalo Pitts Co., Buffalo, N. Y.| | | 12,705| Twin City Forge, | | | | Stillwater, Minn. | | | 2,500| | | | | 4.7-inch antiaircraft shell. | | | | | | | | National Tube Co., | | | | Christie Pks. Works | 230,000| 188,495| | Maritime Manufacturing Co., | | | | Montreal, Quebec | | | 100,000| Spartan Manufacturing Co., | | | | Montreal, Quebec | | | 46,000| 45,159 Darling Bros., Montreal, Quebec | | | 42,500| 15,060 Alberta Foundry & Machinery Co., | | | | Alberta | | | 42,500| 6,170 | | | | 4.7-inch antiaircraft shrapnel.| | | | | | | | The E. W. Bliss Co., | | | | Brooklyn, N. Y. | 10,000| | | Frankford Arsenal, | | | | Philadelphia, Pa. | 60,000| | 60,000| National Tube Co., | | | | Christie Pks. Works | 100,000| 42,840| | Alberta Foundry & Machinery Co., | | | | Alberta | | | 42,500| | | | | 4.7-inch drill projectile. | | | | | | | | Grand Rapids Brass Co., | | | | Grand Rapids, Mich. | 2,975| 404| 2,975| 405 | | | | 4.7-inch gun gas shell. | | | | | | | | Milton Manufacturing Co., | | | | Milton, Pa. | 400,000| 194,612| 400,000| 92,342 American Radiator Co., | | | | Buffalo, N. Y. | | | 189,360| | | | | 4.7-inch gun shrapnel. | | | | | | | | Frankford Arsenal, | | | | Philadelphia, Pa. | 22,897| 22,440| 22,897| 22,440 Bartlett-Hayward Co., | | | | Baltimore, Md. | 312,005| 327,183| 701,500| 306,635 National Tube Co., | | | | Christie Pks. Works | 754,777| 338,507| | Metal Production Co., Beaver, Pa.| | | 150,000| 11,264 | | | | 4.7-inch howitzer shell. | | | | | | | | Frankford Arsenal, | | | | Philadelphia, Pa. | 87,833| 26,614| 87,833| 26,614 | | | | 4.7-inch howitzer shrapnel. | | | | | | | | Bartlett-Hayward, Baltimore, Md. | 46,115| 46,294| 40,000| 40,000 Frankford Arsenal, | | | | Philadelphia, Pa. | 79,865| 19,999| 79,865| 20,379 | | | | _4.7-inch gun | | | | high-explosive shell._ | | | | | | | | National Tube Co., | | | | Christie Pks. Works | 1,284,848| 908,543| | Allegheny Steel Co., | | | | Pittsburgh, Pa. | 900,000| 435,978| | The E. W. Bliss Co., | | | | Brooklyn, N. Y. | 10,000| | | Frankford Arsenal, | | | | Philadelphia, Pa. | 40,286| 12,047| 40,286| 12,047 Milton Manufacturing Co., | | | | Milton, Pa. | 700,000| 351,731| 700,000| 285,000 Hydraulic Pressed Steel Co., | | | | Cleveland, Ohio | 200,000| | | Darling Bros., Montreal, Quebec | | | 65,000| Spartan Machine Co., | | | | Montreal, Quebec | | | 165,000| Robb Engineering Co., | | | | Amherst, N. J. | | | 95,000| 3,720 Motor Trucks Co., | | | | Brantford, Ontario | | | 205,000| 11,083 P. Lyall & Sons, Montreal, Quebec| | | 845,000| 318,578 Steel Products Co., | | | | Huntington, W. Va. | | | 100,000| 9,023 Armstrong Ck. Co., Lancaster, Pa.| | | 475,000| 20,238 Campbell Howard Machine Co., | | | | Sherbrooke, Quebec | | | 350,000| Thurlow Steel Works, Chester, Pa.| | | 136,500| 35,116 Bell Manufacturing Co., | | | | Fairmount, Ind. | | | 75,000| 5,289 Buffalo Pitts Co., Buffalo, N. Y.| | | 350,000| 70,975 Indiana Fiber Co., Marion, Ind. | | | 75,000| 12,520 Canadian Westinghouse Co., | | | | Hamilton, Ontario | | | 300,000| 94,156 Ry. Ind. Engineering Co., | | | | Greensburg, Pa. | | | 100,000| 34,347 Sherbrooke Ironworks, Sherbrooke | | | 60,000| 14,026 Bridgeport Project Co., | | | | Bridgeport, Conn. | | | 20,000| 16,802 American & British Manufacturing | | | | Co., Bridgeport, Conn. | | | 87,319| 57,932 Maritime Manufacturing Co., | | | | St. Johns, New Brunswick | | | 100,000| Alberta Foundry & Machinery Co., | | | | Alberta | | | 50,000| | | | | _8-inch gun and howitzer | | | | high-explosive and gas shell._ | | | | | | | | Carnegie Steel Co., | | | | Pittsburgh, Pa. | 561,548| 210,171| | Root & Vandervoort Engineering | | | | Co., East Moline, Ill. | 40,000| 40,928| 190,000| 144,815 Wagner Electrical & Manufacturing| | | | Co., St. Louis, Mo. | 40,000| 40,000| 170,000| 48,586 McMyler Interstate Co., | | | | Cleveland, Ohio | 500,000| 263,674| 450,000| 238,470 Pollak Steel Co., New York City | 100,000| | | Curtis & Co., St. Louis, Mo. | 295,000| 167,202| | Midvale Steel & Ordnance Co., | | | | Philadelphia, Pa. | 140,000| 135,176| | Standard Steel Car Co., | | | | Butler, Pa. | 100,000| 6,072| | Pressed Steel Car Co., | | | | Pittsburgh, Pa. | 250,000| | | Westinghouse Electric & | | | | Manufacturing Co., | | | | Pittsburgh, Pa. | | | 360,000| 166,803 Willys Overland Co., | | | | Toledo, Ohio | | | 600,000| Motor Products Corporation, | | | | Detroit, Mich. | | | 100,000| British War Mission, Munsey | | | | Building, Washington, D. C. | 101,817| 100,277| | Imperial Munitions Board, Ottawa | 8,612| 7,722| | Pollak Steel Co., New York City | 75,000| 22,681| | American Steel Foundry Co., | | | | Chicago, Ill. | 570,000| 247,649| | Dominion Steel Foundry Co., | | | | Hamilton, Ontario | 100,000| 91,191| | Canada Cement Co., | | | | Montreal, Quebec | 150,000| 22,304| 650,000| 4,700 British Forgings (Ltd.), | | | | Toronto, Ontario | 275,000| 24,933| | Dominion Bridge Co., | | | | Montreal, Quebec | 150,000| 55,324| | Standard Forging Co., | | | | Chicago, Ill. | 300,000| 38,659| | Pressed Steel Car Co., | | | | Pittsburgh, Pa. | 250,000| 85,750| | Wm. Wharton, jr., & Co., | | | | Philadelphia, Pa. | 125,000| | | Dominion Foundries & Co. (Ltd.), | | | | Hamilton, Ontario | 250,000| 10,746| | American Brake Shoe & Foundry | | | | Co., New York City | | | 250,000| 197,250 Maritime Manufacturing | | | | Corporation, St. John, | | | | New Brunswick | | | 460,000| 26,000 | | | | _9.2-inch howitzer | | | | high-explosive shell._ | | | | | | | | Russell Motor Car Co., | | | | Toronto, Ontario | | | 335,000| 15,049 St. Lawrence Bridge Co., Montreal| | | 335,000| 31,880 United States Ammunition | | | | Corporation, Poughkeepsie, N. Y.| | | 250,000| 6,486 Fisher Motor Co., Orilla, Ontario| | | 180,000| 100 Canadian Bridge Co., | | | | Walkersville, Ontario | | | 110,000| | | | | _240-millimeter | | | | high-explosive shell._ | | | | | | | | Carnegie Steel Co., | | | | Pittsburgh, Pa. | 190,000| 92,316| | Curtis & Co. Manufacturing Co., | | | | St. Louis, Mo. | 275,000| 174,174| | American Car & Foundry Co., | | | | New York City | 90,000| | 400,000| 47,953 American Steel Foundries Co., | | | | Chicago, Ill. | 80,000| 3,277| | Scullin Steel Co., St. Louis, Mo.| 350,000| | | A. F. Smith Manufacturing Co., | | | | East Orange, N. J. | | | 25,000| Motors Truck (Ltd.), | | | | Brantford, Ontario | | | 125,000| Laclede Gas Light Co., | | | | St. Louis, Mo. | | | 526,014| | | | | 5-inch seacoast gun shell. | | | | | | | | Cleveland Crane & Engineering | | | | Co., Wickliffe, Ohio | 244,812| 122,324| | McMyler Interstate Co., | | | | Cleveland, Ohio | 5,000| 5,107| | Milton Manufacturing Co., | | | | Milton, Pa. | 30,000| 29,121| | Machine Products Co., | | | | Cleveland, Ohio | | | 75,000| 21,532 A. J. Vance & Co., | | | | Winston-Salem, N. C. | | | 40,000| 1,578 Twin City & Foundry Co., | | | | Stillwater, Minn. | | | 400| A. B. Ormsby Co. (Ltd.), | | | | Toronto, Ontario | | | 50,000| 10,029 P. Tyrall Construction Co., | | | | Montreal | | | 105,000| 38,385 | | | | 6-inch seacoast gun shell. | | | | | | | | Frankford Arsenal, | | | | Philadelphia, Pa. | 40,950| 25,957| 40,950| 25,957 Bethlehem Steel Co., | | | | Bethlehem, Pa. | 16,000| 22,053| 16,000| 15,910 Columbian Iron Works, | | | | Chattanooga, Tenn. | 40,000| 40,346| 132,542| 149,281 The Pressed Steel Car Co., | | | | McKeesport, Pa. | 385,000| 370,677| | Standard Steel Car Co., | | | | Hammond, Ind. | 400,000| 376,827| | Anniston Steel Co., | | | | Anniston, Ala. | 243,812| | | Westinghouse Electric | | | | Manufacturing Co., | | | | Pittsburgh, Pa. | 35,000| 31,310| 385,000| 192,684 Wm. Wharton, jr., Easton, Pa. | 24,000| | | The Southern Machinery Co., | | | | Chattanooga, Tenn. | | | 447,458| 19,537 | | | | 10-inch seacoast gun shell. | | | | | | | | American Car & Foundry Co., | | | | New York City | 24,360| 24,360| 275,000| 130,040 Carnegie Steel Co., | | | | Pittsburgh, Pa. | 60,000| 61,770| | Carnegie Steel Co., Munhall, Pa. | 225,000| 137,168| | | | | | 12-inch seacoast gun shell. | | | | | | | | Carnegie Steel Co., | | | | McKees Rocks, Pa. | 165,000| 7,627| | Watertown Arsenal, | | | | Watertown, Mass. | 15,000| 1,449| | Washington Steel & Ordnance Co., | | | | Giesboro Manor, D. C. | 28,631| 6,129| 38,000| 1,907 Leaside Munitions Corporation, | | | | Toronto, Ontario | 105,000| | 105,000| Standard Forging Co., | | | | Chicago, Ill. | 15,000| | | Bethlehem Steel Co., | | | | Bethlehem, Pa. | 32,000| | | American Clay Machine Co., | | | | Bucyrus, Ohio | | | 15,000| | | | | 14-inch seacoast gun shell. | | | | | | | | Carnegie Steel Co., | | | | McKees Rocks, Pa. | 10,000| 220| | Watertown Arsenal, | | | | Watertown, Mass. | 9,000| | | Washington Steel & Ordnance Co., | | | | Washington, D. C. | | | 80| | | | | _16-inch seacoast | | | | howitzer shell._ | | | | | | | | Washington Steel & Ordnance Co., | | | | Washington, D. C. | 140| | 140| ---------------------------------+----------+---------+---------+---------

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VI. SIGHTS AND FIRE-CONTROL APPARATUS

At the threshold of the war with Germany we were confronted with the problem of providing on a large scale those instruments of precision with which modern artillerists point their weapons. As mysterious to the average man as the sextant and other instruments which help the navigator to bring his ship unerringly to port over leagues of pathless water, or as those devices with which the surveyor strikes a level through a range of mountains, are the instruments which enable the gunner to drop a heavy projectile exactly on his target without seeing it at all.

The old days of sighting a cannon point-blank at the visible enemy over the open sights on the barrel of the weapon passed with the Civil War. As the power of guns increased and their ranges lengthened, the artillerists began firing at objects actually below the horizon or hidden by intervening obstacles. These conditions necessarily brought in the method of mathematical aim which is known as indirect fire.

In the great war indirect firing was so perfected that within a few seconds after an aviator or an observer in a captive balloon had definitely located an enemy battery, that battery was deluged with an avalanche of high-explosive shell and destroyed, even though the attacking gunners were located several miles away and hills and forests intervened to obscure the target from view. With the aid of correlated maps in the possession of the battery gunners and the aerial observer, a mere whisper of the wireless sufficed to turn a torrent of shell precisely upon the enemy position which had just been discovered. So accurate had indirect artillery fire become that a steel wall of missiles could be laid down a few yards ahead of a body of troops advancing on a broad front, and this wall could be kept moving steadily ahead of the soldiers at a walking pace with few accidents due to inaccurate control of the guns firing the barrage.

The chief difference between the old and the new methods of artillery practice is the degree of precision attained. At the time of the Civil War the artillery was fired relatively blindly, reliance being placed upon the weight of the fire regardless of its accuracy and its effectiveness; but modern artillery has recognized the importance of the well-placed shot and demands instruments that must be marvels of accuracy, since a slight error in the aiming at modern ranges means a miss and the total loss of the shot. Such uncanny accuracy is made possible by the use of those instruments of precision known as fire-control apparatus. The gunner who is not equipped with proper fire-control instruments can not aim correctly and is placed at a serious disadvantage in the presence of the enemy. These instruments must not only be as exact as a chronometer, but they must be sufficiently rugged to withstand the concussion of close artillery fire.

Equipment classified under "Sights and fire-control apparatus" comprises all devices to direct the fire of offensive weapons and to observe the effect of this fire in order to place it on the target. Included in this list are instruments of a surveying nature which serve to locate the relative position of the target on the field of battle and to determine its range. For this purpose the artillery officer uses aiming circles, azimuth instruments, battery commander telescopes, prismatic compasses, plotting boards, and other instruments. Telescopes and field glasses equipped with measuring scales in them are also employed in making observations.

Instruments of a second group are attached directly to the gun to train it both horizontally and vertically in the directions given by the battery commander. These devices include sights of different types, elevation quadrants, clinometers, and other instruments. The intricate panoramic sight which is used especially in firing at an unseen target is one of the most important instruments of this group.

Still another set of instruments comprises devices such as range deflection boards, deviation boards, and wind indicators which, together with range tables and other tables, assist the battery commander to ascertain the path of the projectile under any condition of range, altitude, air pressure, temperature, and other physical influences. When it is understood that the projectile fired by such a weapon as the German long-range gun which bombarded Paris at a distance of 70 miles mounts so high into the air that it passes into the highly rarified layers of the air envelope surrounding the earth and thus into entirely different conditions of air pressure, it can be realized how abstruse these range calculations are and how many factors must be taken into account. The fire-control equipment enables the artilleryman to make these computations quickly.

In addition to the above items many auxiliary devices are needed by the Artillery, notable among these being the self-luminous aiming posts and other arrangements which enable the gunners to maintain accuracy of fire at night. This whole elaborate set of instruments is supplied to the field and railway artillery--the big guns--and in part to trench-mortar batteries and even to machine guns, which in the latter months of the war were used in indirect firing.

Still another group of pointing instruments is used by antiaircraft guns against hostile aircraft to ascertain their altitude, their speed, and their future location in order that projectiles fired by the antiaircraft guns may hit these high and rapidly moving targets. Sights are also used on the airplanes themselves to aid the pilot and the observer in the dropping of bombs and in gunfire against enemy planes or targets. One of these sights corrects automatically for the speed and direction of the airplane.

Fuse setters, which enable the gunner to time the fuse in the shell so that the projectile moving with enormous speed explodes at precisely the desired point, were required in large numbers.

The responsibility for the design, procurement, production, inspection, and supply of the above equipment to the American Expeditionary Forces was lodged in the Ordnance Department. The effectiveness of the artillery on the field of battle depended directly on the fire-control equipment furnished by this bureau.

The optical industry in this country before the war was in the hands of a few firms. Several of these were under German influence, and one firm was directly affiliated with the Carl Zeiss Works, of Jena, Germany; the workmen were largely Germans or of German origin; the kinds and design of apparatus produced were for the most part essentially European in character; optical glass was procured entirely from abroad and chiefly from Germany.

It was easier and cheaper for manufacturers to order glass from abroad than to develop its manufacture in this country. Educational and research institutions obtained a large part of their equipment from Germany and offered no special inducement for American manufacturers to provide such apparatus. Duty-free importation favored and encouraged this dependence on Germany for scientific apparatus.

With our entrance in the war the European sources of supply for optical glass and optical instruments were cut off abruptly and we were brought face to face with the problem of furnishing these items to the Army and Navy for use in the field. Prior to 1917 only three private manufacturers in the United States had built fire-control apparatus in any quantity for the Government. The Bausch & Lomb Optical Co., Rochester, N. Y., had made range finders and field glasses for the Artillery and Infantry, and gun sights, range finders, and spy glasses and field glasses for the Navy; the Keuffel & Esser Co., Hoboken, N. J., had produced some fire-control equipment for the Navy; the Warner & Swasey Co., Cleveland, Ohio, with J. A. Brashear, Pittsburgh, Pa., had furnished depression-position finders, azimuth instruments, and telescopic musket sights to the Army. The only other source of supply in this country had been the Frankford Arsenal.

Prior to 1917 the largest order for fire-control equipment which our Army had ever placed in a single year amounted to $1,202,000. The total orders for such instruments placed by the Ordnance Department alone during the 19 months of war exceeded $50,000,000, while the total orders for fire-control apparatus placed by the Army and Navy exceeded $100,000,000.

To meet the situation, existing facilities had to be increased, new facilities developed, and other, allied, industries converted to the production of fire-control material.

Quantity production had to be secured through the assembling of standardized parts of instruments which heretofore had either never been built in this country or only in a small, experimental way. A large part of the work had of necessity to be done by machines operated by relatively unskilled labor. The manufacturing tolerances had to be nicely adjusted between the different parts of each instrument, so that wherever less precise work would answer the purpose the production methods were arranged accordingly. Only by a careful coordination of design, factory operations, and field performance could quantity production of the desired quality be obtained in a short time. Speed of production meant everything if our troops in the field were to be equipped with the necessary fire-control apparatus and thus enabled to meet the enemy on even approximately equal terms.

To accomplish this object a competent personnel within the Army had to be organized and developed; the Army requirements had to be carefully scrutinized and coordinated with reference to relative urgency; manufacturers had to be encouraged to undertake new tasks and to be impressed with the necessity for whole-hearted cooperation and with the importance of their part in the war; raw materials had to be secured and their transportation assured. These and other factors were faced and overcome.

Although American fire-control instruments did not reach the front in as large numbers as were wanted, great quantities were under way, and we had attained in the manufacturing program a basic stage of progress which would have cared for all of our needs in the spring and summer of 1919. Incidentally there has been developed in this country a manufacturing capacity for precision optical and instrument work, which, if desired, will render us independent of foreign markets. At the present time there exists in this country a trained personnel and adequate organization for the production of precision optical instruments greatly in excess of the needs of the country. One of the problems which we now have to consider is the conversion of this development brought about by war-time conditions into channels of peace-time activity.

At the present time American manufacturers are in a position to make instruments of precision equal to the best European product, and the industry will continue, provided there is an adequate market for its product. Such a market will exist if the universities and commercial laboratories of the country will obtain scientific apparatus from American manufacturers rather than import it from abroad as has heretofore been the custom.

In April, 1917, the most serious problem in the situation was the manufacture of optical glass. Prior to 1914 practically all of the optical glass used in the United States had been imported from abroad; manufacturers followed the line of least resistance and preferred to procure certain commodities, such as optical glass, chemical dyes, and other materials difficult to produce, direct from Europe rather than to undertake their manufacture here. The war stopped this source of supply abruptly, and in 1915 experiments on the making of optical glass were under way at five different plants--the Bausch & Lomb Optical Co. at Rochester N. Y.; the Bureau of Standards at Pittsburgh, Pa.; the Keuffel & Esser Co. at Hoboken, N. J.; the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. at Charleroi, Pa.; the Spencer Lens Co. at Hamburg, Buffalo, N. Y.

By April, 1917, the situation had become acute; some optical glass of fair quality had been produced, but nowhere had its manufacture been placed on an assured basis. The glass-making processes were not adequately known. Without optical glass fire-control instruments could not be produced; optical glass is a thing of high precision and in its manufacture accurate control is required throughout the factory processes. In this emergency the Government appealed to the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington for assistance.

This laboratory had been engaged for many years in the study of solutions, such as that of optical glass, at high temperatures and had a corps of scientists trained along the lines essential to the successful production of optical glass. It was the only organization in the country with a personnel adequate and competent to undertake a manufacturing problem of this character and magnitude. Accordingly, in April, 1917, a group of its scientists was placed at the Bausch & Lomb Optical Co. and given virtual charge of the plant; its men were assigned to the different factory operations and made responsible for them. By November, 1917, the manufacturing processes at this plant had been mastered and large quantities of optical glass of good quality were being produced. In December, 1917, the work was extended, men from the Geophysical Laboratory taking practical charge of the plants of the Spencer Lens Co. and of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co.

The cost to the Geophysical Laboratory of contributing to the Government the solution of the optical glass problem amounted to about $200,000, but the results attained surely more than justified these expenditures. These results could not have been attained, however, without the hearty cooperation of the manufacturers and of the Army and Navy, which assisted in the procurement and transportation of the raw materials. An ordnance officer was in charge of the Rochester party from the Geophysical Laboratory and was responsible for much of the pioneer development work accomplished there. It was at this plant, that of the Bausch & Lomb Optical Co. at Rochester, that the methods of manufacture were first developed and placed on a production basis. The Bureau of Standards aided in the development of a chemically and thermally resistant crucible in which to melt optical glass; also in the testing of optical glass, and especially in the testing of optical instruments. The Geological Survey aided in locating sources of raw materials, such as sand of adequate chemical purity.

By February, 1918, the supply of optical glass was assured; but the manufacture of optical instruments was so seriously behind schedule that a military optical glass and instrument section was formed in the War Industries Board and took charge of the entire optical instrument industry of the country. Through the efforts of its chief, Mr. George E. Chatillon, of New York, the entire industry was coordinated. By September, 1918, the production of fire-control instruments in sufficient quantities to meet the requirements of both the Army and Navy during 1919 was believed to be assured.

To the accomplishment of this result the Ordnance Department contributed most effectively. The information and long experience of Frankford Arsenal in instrument manufacture and in the work of precision optics were placed at the service of contractors; trained officers of the Ordnance Department were stationed at the different factories; in many factories these officers rendered valuable aid in devising and developing proper and adequate factory operations, in establishing production on a satisfactory basis, in securing the proper inflow of raw materials, in devising testing fixtures, in establishing proper manufacturing tolerances, and in testing the performance of the assembled instruments. Schools for operatives in precision optics were established at Frankford Arsenal, Philadelphia, Pa., at Rochester, N. Y., and at Mount Wilson Observatory, Pasadena, Cal. To many contractors financial aid had to be extended. The fire-control program required, in short, all the available talent and resources of the country to carry it to a successful finish.

The general procedure adopted by the Ordnance Department was to assign the more difficult instruments to manufacturers who had had experience along similar lines. To others, who had produced articles allied only in a distant way to fire-control instruments, less intricate types of instruments were awarded. In certain instances the optical elements were produced by one firm, the mechanical parts by another, the final assembly of the instrument being then accomplished by the latter.

Because our Army had adopted a number of French guns for reproduction here, it became necessary to build sights for these weapons according to the French designs. This gave us much trouble, not only because of the delay in securing samples and drawings from France, but because of the difficulties in producing articles from these French drawings by American methods and with American workmen.

The most intricate of these French sights was the Schneider quadrant sight. It was used with the French 155-millimeter gun, the 155-millimeter howitzer, and the 240-millimeter howitzer. The structure of this sight was highly complicated, and extreme accuracy was required at every stage of production. These sights were put into production by the Emerson Engineering Co. of Philadelphia, the Raymond Engineering Co. of New York, and by Slocum, Avram & Slocum of New York.

The design of this sight was received from France early in 1918, yet it was the 1st of November--10 days before the armistice was signed--when the first Schneider sight was delivered to the Army; but at all times the progress made was as rapid as could be expected. A total of 7,000 Schneider quadrant sights was ordered, which meant a year's work for 1,000 men. Of this order 3,500 sights were to be manufactured by the Schneider Co. in France and the rest by the three firms in this country. On November 11 the American factories had delivered 74 sights and since that time over 560 have been completed.

The amount of labor involved in the case of Schneider quadrant sights is shown by the fact that while the raw material for it cost about $25, the finished sight is worth about $600. In order to expedite production the Government extended financial assistance to some of the factories to aid in the procurement and installation of additional equipment. On November 11 the number of these sights completed was short of requirements for installation on completed carriages by about 400, but the rate of progress which had been attained in production would have overtaken the output of gun carriages by January 1, 1919.

Another difficult task was the construction of telescopic sights for the French 37-millimeter guns, the "Infantry cannon" which we adopted for reproduction in this country. Here again we encountered the same difficulty of adapting French plans to our methods. The original contract was placed with a firm which had had no experience with optical instruments of precision, but no other company was available for the work. When by May, 1918, this concern had produced only a few sights the contract was taken from it and placed with a subcontractor, the Central Scientific Co., of Chicago, who had been building mechanical parts for the sights. In this plant the complete force had to be educated in the art before any production could begin. When the armistice was signed the gun factories had produced 884 of the 37-millimeter guns, but only 142 telescopic sights had been completed. The rate of production of these sights by the Central Scientific Co. was such, however, that the shortage would have ceased to exist shortly after January 1, 1919.

The French design for the telescopic sight for the 37-millimeter gun used on the tanks was also adopted by the Army. Here again difficulty was experienced in manufacture, but excellent progress was made especially by one firm (Burke & James of Chicago, Ill.), and the output in adequate quantities was assured for 1919. The French collimator sight for the 75-millimeter gun presented difficulties to the manufacturer, especially in the optical parts. These were, however, overcome by the Globe Optical Co., who furnished the optics to the Electric Auto-Lite Corporation and to the Standard Thermometer Co. of Boston, with the result that at the time of the signing of the armistice the production of these sights was progressing well.

Periscopes from 20 inches to nearly 20 feet in length were produced in quantity. These periscopes enabled the men in the front-line trenches to look over the top with comparative safety. The long periscopes were used in deep-shelter trenches and bomb proofs. The production of the short-base periscopes and also of the battery commanders' periscopes by the Wollensak Optical Co., Rochester, N. Y., and of the 3-meter and 6-meter periscope by the Andrew J. Lloyd Co. of Boston, Mass., was progressing at such a rate that the needs of the Army for 1919 would be met on time.

At the outbreak of the war the policy followed by the Ordnance Department was to place orders for standard fire-control apparatus, such as range finders of different base lengths, battery commander telescopes, aiming circles, panoramic sights, musket sights, and prismatic compasses with firms of established reputation and experience. The result was that when requests from the Army in France came for instruments of new design, new sources of manufacture had to be sought out and these organizations educated in the methods of precision optics. Such a procedure necessarily caused delay, but it was the only course of action left. Wherever possible part of the total contract was awarded to an experienced manufacturer, so that some production was assured.

The records show that the experienced manufacturers overcame the difficulties encountered and had obtained in general a rate of output which was satisfactory at the time of the signing of the armistice. Thus the Bausch & Lomb Optical Co. had delivered large numbers of range finders of base lengths of 80 centimeters, 1 meter and 15 feet, and battery commanders' telescopes; Keuffel & Esser had made many prismatic compasses and a few range finders; the Spencer Lens Co. had produced aiming circles in quantity; the Warner & Swasey Co., with J. A. Brashear of Pittsburgh, had furnished large numbers of the valuable panoramic sights with which much of the artillery fire is directed. Much credit is due the above organizations for the efficient manner in which they placed the manufacture of these items on a high-speed production basis. Frankford Arsenal proved to be a most reliable source of supply for battery commander telescopes, panoramic sights, azimuth instruments for 3-inch telescopes, plotting boards, and other ordnance fire-control instruments.

The manufacture of many other types of instruments was undertaken in this country. Among these the French sitogoniometer, a device which assists the battery commander in obtaining data for the direction of fire, was successfully produced by the Martin-Copeland Co. of Providence, R. I.; quadrant sights for the 37-millimeter gun by the Scientific Materials Co. of Pittsburgh; lensatic compasses and Brunton compasses were furnished by Wm. Ainsworth & Sons of Denver, Colo.; prismatic compasses by the Sperry Gyroscope Co. of Brooklyn, N. Y.; telescopes for sights on antiaircraft carriages by the Kollmorgen Optical Corporation of Brooklyn; altimeters, gunners' quadrants, elevation quadrants, and aiming stakes by the J. H. Deagan Co. of Chicago, Ill.; panoramic telescopes and fuse setters by the Recording & Computing Machines Co. of Dayton, Ohio; battery commander telescopes by Arthur Brock of Philadelphia; tripods for fire-control instruments by the National Cash Register Co. of Dayton, Ohio. Optics for different sights were furnished by the American Optical Co. of Southbridge, Mass., and by the Mount Wilson Observatory of Pasadena, Calif. These and other organizations entered into the task and devoted their energy to the production of equipment desired by the Government.

At no time during the fighting did our artillery units have a sufficient supply of fire-control instruments. This was due to the fact that we were not able to secure in Europe the amount of this equipment required to take care of our needs while our own industry was being developed.

With almost a total lack of optical glass in this country, with an equal lack of factories and workmen familiar with military optical instrument-making, we were suddenly called upon to produce about 200 different types of instruments in large quantities. These included many new designs of fire-control apparatus made necessary by new artillery developments both among the allies and in our own factories, by the adoption of trench warfare in place of open warfare, by the development of weapons for use against aircraft, by the extension of indirect fire-control methods to weapons which formerly had been fired by direct sighting, and by the use of railway and seacoast artillery.

While we did not solve all the difficulties in this development, we had met and conquered the worst of them, and we were making such great strides in production when the war ended that all the requirements of the Army would have been met early in 1919. It has been a source of inspiration to witness the high sense of patriotic duty and cooperation shown by the manufacturers which made possible the remarkable expansion of the optical glass and instrument industry in the United States during the period of the war.

The following table shows the principal items of sights and fire-control apparatus, the firms that did the work, the quantity of the various kinds of instruments ordered, and the deliveries made up to November 11, 1918, and to February 20, 1919:

--------------------+---------------------------+---------+----------------- | | | Deliveries to-- Material. | Firm. | Total +--------+-------- | | ordered.|Nov. 11,|Feb. 20, | | | 1918. | 1919. +-------------------+---------------------------+---------+--------+--------- Aiming circle, |Spencer Lens Co., | 1,473 | 717 | 1,117 model 1916 | Buffalo, N. Y. | | | | | | | Do. |Frankford Arsenal, | 98 | 98 | 98 | Philadelphia | | | | | | | Aiming stakes |J. C. Deagan Co., | 16,618 | | 1,320 for machine gun | Chicago, Ill. | | | | | | | Aiming posts, |Metropolitan Manufacturing | 16,791 | 25 | 250 field artillery | Co., Detroit, Mich. | | | | | | | Do. |Dahlstrom Metallic Door | 10,791 | | | Co., Jamestown, N. Y. | | | | | | | Aiming devices |National Vitaphone | 5,700 | | 150 | Corporation, | | | | Plainfield, N. J. | | | | | | | Angle of |Atwater Kent | 4,468 | 4,401 | 4,468 site instruments | Manufacturing Co., | | | | Philadelphia | | | | | | | Do. |Blair Tool Machine Co., | 1,090 | 1,090 | 1,090 | New York City | | | | | | | Azimuth instruments,|Warner & Swasey Co., | 129 | 126 | 129 model 1910 | Cleveland, Ohio | | | | | | | Azimuth instruments,|Spencer Lens Co., | 669 | | 1 model 1918 | Buffalo, N. Y. | | | | | | | Boards, |Premier Metal Etching Co., | 13 | | gun deflection | New York City | | | | | | | Boards, |Metallograph Corporation, | 628 | | Pirie deviation | New York City | | | | | | | Boards, plotting |McFarlan Motor Co., | 4,811 | 4,811 | 4,811 | Connersville, Ind. | | | | | | | Boards, Pratt range |F. F. Metzger, | 134 | | 65 | Philadelphia, Pa. | | | | | | | Boards, |Gorham Manufacturing Co., | 741 | | range deflection | Providence, R. I. | | | | | | | Boards, rocket |Liquid Carbon Co., | 3,000 | | 630 | Chicago, Ill. | | | | | | | Chronographs |Precision Thermometer Co., | 19 | 9 | 19 | Philadelphia, Pa. | | | | | | | Chronographs, |Leeds Northrup Co., | 20 | 18 | 20 Aberdeen | Philadelphia, Pa. | | | | | | | Clinometers, |Atwater Kent | 26,972 | 8,270 | 21,972 machine-gun | Manufacturing Co., | | | | Philadelphia, Pa. | | | | | | | Do. |Central Scientific Co., | 10,644 | | | Chicago, Ill. | | | | | | | Clinometers, machine|F. F. Metzger, | 25 | 25 | 25 gun, model 1912 | Philadelphia, Pa. | | | | | | | Compass, lensatic |Wm. Ainsworth & Sons, | 11,651 | 8,150 | 11,651 | Denver, Colo. | | | | | | | Compass, prismatic |Sperry Gyroscope Co., | 9,575 | 600 | 3,000 | Brooklyn, N. Y. | | | | | | | Do. |Keuffel & Esser Co., | 4,028 | 3,828 | 4,028 | Hoboken, N. J. | | | | | | | Compass, transit, |Wm. Ainsworth & Sons, | 1,500 | 1,500 | 1,500 pocket, Brunton | Denver, Colo. | | | | | | | Cylinders, |Wilton Tool Co., | 8,000 | 8,000 | 8,000 cannon pressure | Boston, Mass. | | | | | | | Depression position |Pratt-Whitney Co., | 90 | 81 | 90 finders, Lewis | Hartford, Conn.; J. A. | | | | Brashear, Pittsburgh, Pa.| | | | | | | Electrical equipment|Line Material Corporation, | 26,888 | | 11,765 for aiming posts | Milwaukee, Wis. | | | | | | | Electric lighting |Guide Motor Lamp Co., | 5,352 | | devices | Cleveland, Ohio | | | | | | | Flash lights |Delta Electric Co., |136,861 | 73,066 |125,448 | Marion, Ind. | | | Do. |Novo Manufacturing Co., | 13,563 | 13,563 | 13,563 | New York City | | | | | | | Do. |American Ever-ready Works, |341,373 |194,878 |257,258 | Long Island City, N. Y. | | | | | | | Glass, optical, lbs.|Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co.,| 45,000 | 23,761½| 24,010 | Charleroi, Pa. | | | | | | | Do. |Spencer Lens Co., Buffalo, | 3,490 | | 517½ | N. Y. | | | | | | | Do. |Bausch & Lomb Optical Co., | 4,450 | 4,450 | 4,450 | Rochester, N. Y. | | | | | | | Goniometers, |Sloane & Chase | 90 | | model 1917 | Manufacturing Co., | | | | Newark, N. J. | | | | | | | Levels, |Young & Sons, | 1,310 | 934 | 1,201 longitudinal, | Philadelphia, Pa. | | | 3-inch | | | | | | | | Levels, |Arthur Brock, jr., | 1,474 | 864 | 864 longitudinal | Philadelphia, Pa. | | | | | | | Levels, sight |Electric Auto-Lite | 1,277 | 560 | 1,277 | Corporation, Toledo, | | | | Ohio | | | | | | | Levels, testing |Carlson-Wenstrom Co., | 1,620 | 196 | 590 | Philadelphia, Pa. | | | | | | | Lighting devices for|Globe Machine & Stamping | 27,240 | | 8,000 field carriages | Co., Cleveland, Ohio | | | | | | | Night firing boxes |New Method Stove Co., | 16,618 | | 3,196 for machine gun | Mansfield, Ohio | | | | | | | Do. |Delta Electric Co., | 16,818 | | 4,417 | Marion, Ind. | | | | | | | Periscopes, battery | do. | 11,701 | 289 | 5,000 commander's | | | | | | | | Periscopes, mirror |J. R. Young Co. (Penn Toy | 60,000 | 60,000 | 60,000 | Co.), Pittsburgh, Pa. | | | | | | | | | | | Do. |Seneca Camera Co., | 36,625 | 72 | 72 | Rochester, N. Y. | | | | | | | Periscopes, rifle, |Oneida Community, |140,527 |115,236 |115,236 model 1917 | Oneida, N. Y. | | | | | | | Do. |John W. Browne | 58,313 | 58,313 | 58,313 | Manufacturing Co., | | | | Detroit, Mich. | | | | | | | Periscopes, 3 m. |A. J. Lloyd Co., | 2,234 | | 16 deep, shelter | Boston, Mass. | | | | | | | Periscopes, 6 m. | do. | 2,234 | 276 | 700 deep, shelter | | | | | | | | Periscopes, trench, |Wollensak Optical Co., | 32,512 | 2,948 | 9,252 No. 10 | Rochester, N. Y. | | | | | | | | | | | Plane tables |Pfau Manufacturing Co., | 4,928 | 3,200 | 4,928 | Norwood, Ohio | | | | | | | | | | | Protractors, |Metallograph Corporation, | 13,945 | | Alidade | New York City | | | | | | | | | | | Do. |Wm. Ainsworth & Co., | 1,000 | | 108 | Denver, Colo. | | | | | | | Protractors and |Frankford Arsenal, | 1,284 | 1,284 | 1,284 straightedges | Philadelphia, Pa. | | | | | | | Do. |Eugene Dietzgen Co., | 35,112 | 35,112 | 35,112 | Chicago, Ill. | | | | | | | Do. |Whitehead Hoag Co., | 5,000 | | 3,500 | Newark, N. J. | | | | | | | Do. |Celluloid Co., | 12,422 | 12,422 | 12,422 | New York, N. Y. | | | | | | | Do. |Keuffel & Esser Co., | 6,509 | 6,509 | 6,509 | Hoboken, N. J. | | | | | | | Quadrants, elevation|Recording & Computing | 214 | 74 | 106 | Machine Co., | | | | Dayton, Ohio | | | | | | | Do. |J. C. Deagan Co., | 120 | 45 | 120 | Chicago, Ill. | | | | | | | Quadrants, gunner's |International Register Co.,| 72 | 72 | 72 | Chicago, Ill. | | | | | | | | | | | Do. |Central Scientific Co., | 6,245 | | 2,852 | Chicago, Ill. | | | | | | | | | | | Do. |J. C. Deagan Co., | 6,245 | | 2,552 | Chicago, Ill. | | | | | | | | | | | Do. |Gorham Manufacturing Co., | 491 | 137 | 329 | Providence, R. I. | | | | | | | | | | | Quadrants, range |Talbot Reel Manufacturing | 200 | 101 | 186 | Co., Kansas City, Mo. | | | | | | | Do. |Slocum, Avram & Slocum, | 1,386 | 431 | 940 | Newark, N. J. | | | | | | | Range finders, 80-cm|Bausch & Lomb Optical Co., | 5,470 | 2,167 | 2,600 | Rochester, N. Y. | | | | | | | | | | | Do. |Keuffel & Esser Co., | 1,000 | | | Hoboken, N. J. | | | | | | | Range finders, |Bausch & Lomb Optical Co., | 7,131 | 1,508 | 1,665 1-meter | Rochester, N. Y. | | | | | | | Range finders, | do. | 65 | 55 | 55 15-foot | | | | | | | | Range finders, |Keuffel & Esser Co., | 86 | | 9-foot | Hoboken, N. J. | | | | | | | Recording |Bristol Co., | 439 | 439 | 439 thermometers | Waterbury, Conn. | | | | | | | Rules, battery |Wescott Jewel Co., | 26,406 | 26,406 | 26,406 commander's | Seneca Falls, N. Y. | | | | | | | Do. |Stanley Rule & Level Co., | 1,500 | 1,500 | 1,500 | New Britain, Conn. | | | | | | | Rules, elevation, |J. E. Sjostrom Co., | 200 | 200 | 200 slide, model 1918 | Detroit, Mich. | | | | | | | Rules, Hitt-Browne, |U. S. Infantry Association,| 24,058 | | 24,058 for machine gun | Washington, D. C. | | | | | | | | | | | Rules, musketry |Taft-Pierce Manufacturing | 80,000 | 80,000 | 80,000 | Co., Woonsocket, R. I. | | | | | | | Do. |Metallograph Corporation, | 55,067 | | 55,067 | New York | | | | | | | Rules, slide |J. H. Weil Co., | 4,852 | 4,852 | 4,852 | Philadelphia, Pa. | | | | | | | Rules, slide, |Frankford Arsenal, | 1,500 | 1,500 | 1,500 model E | Philadelphia, Pa. | | | | | | | Rules, 2-foot |Stanley Rule & Level Co., | 52,519 | 52,519 | 52,519 | New Britain, Conn. | | | | | | | | | | | Do. |Lufkin Rule Co., | 38,540 | 38,540 | 38,540 | Saginaw, Mich. | | | | | | | Do. |Upson Nut Co., | 14,358 | 14,358 | 14,358 | Cleveland, Ohio | | | | | | | Do. |Chapin-Stephens Co., | 7,040 | 7,040 | 7,040 | Pine Meadow, Conn. | | | | | | | Rules, zinc, for |Clapp Eastman Co., | 5,193 | | 5,193 machine guns | Cambridge, Mass. | | | | | | | Rules, 3-foot |L. S. Starrett Co., | 343 | 343 | 343 | Athol, Mass. | | | | | | | Rules, boxwood |Stanley Rule & Level Co., | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | New Britain, Conn. | | | | | | | Do. |Lufkin Rule Co., | 15,630 | 3,000 | 7,509 | Saginaw, Mich. | | | | | | | Rule, zigzag | do. | 2,312 | 2,312 | 2,312 | | | | Sights, |Recording & Computing | 25 | 25 | 25 antiaircraft, | Machines Co., | | | model 1917 | Dayton, Ohio | | | | | | | Do. |New Britain Machine Co., | 60 | 1 | 60 | New Britain, Conn. | | | | | | | Sights for | do. | 519 | 27 | 63 antiaircraft | | | | carriages | | | | | | | | Sights, telescopes, |Kollmorgen Optical Co., | 519 | 66 | 255 for antiaircraft | Brooklyn, N. Y. | | | carriages | | | | | | | | Sights, telescopes, | do. | 90 | | 16 for goniometers | | | | | | | | Sights, optics, for |Mount Wilson Observatory, | 467 | | 467 altimeter | Pasadena, Calif. | | | telescope, | | | | model 1917 | | | | | | | | Sights, bomb |Globe Optical Co., | 100 | 100 | 100 | Boston, Mass. | | | | | | | Sights, bore |Benjamin Electric | 2,191 | 1 | 2,191 | Manufacturing Co., | | | | Chicago, Ill. | | | | | | | Do. |Poole Engineering | 1,500 | 524 | 1,357 | & Machine Co., | | | | Hagerstown, Md. | | | | | | | Do. |Buffalo Forge Co., | 900 | 900 | 900 | Buffalo, N. Y. | | | | | | | Sights, panoramic, |Atwater-Kent | 6,000 | | 525 for machine gun | Manufacturing Co., | | | | Philadelphia, Pa. | | | | | | | Do. |Scientific Materials Co., | 4,510 | | | Pittsburgh, Pa. | | | | | | | Sights for 1917 |Recording & Computing | 123 | 123 | 123 6-inch gun | Machines Co., | | | carriages | Dayton, Ohio | | | | | | | Sights, luminous |Radium Luminous Material | 1,250 | 1,215 | 1,250 | Corporation | | | | | | | Sights, luminous, |Watson Luminous Gunsight |123,236 | 18,018 | 87,236 for machine gun | Co., New York | | | | | | | Sights, panoramic, |Warner & Swasey Co., | 9,500 | 1,336 | 2,180 model 1917 | Cleveland, Ohio | | | | | | | Do. |Frankford Arsenal, | 800 | 800 | 800 | Philadelphia, Pa. | | | | | | | Do. |Recording & Computing | 6,000 | 100 | 230 | Machines Co., | | | | Dayton, Ohio | | | | | | | Sights, panoramic, |Frankford Arsenal, | 237 | 237 | 237 model 1915 | Philadelphia, Pa. | | | | | | | Sights, panoramic, |Recording & Computing | 30 | 30 | 30 for 8-in gun | Machines Co., | | | | Dayton, Ohio | | | | | | | Sights, quadrants, |Emerson Engineering Co., | 800 | | Schneider | Philadelphia, Pa. | | | | | | | Do. |Raymond Engineering Co., | 764 | | 1 | New York City | | | | | | | Do. |Slocum, Avram & Slocum, | 3,800 | 74 | 567 | New York City | | | | | | | Sights, telescopic, |Winchester Repeating Arms | 89 | | 89 rifle, style B | Co., New Haven, Conn. | | | | | | | Sights, telescopic, | do. | 400 | 400 | 400 rifle, 5A, | | | | mounted on rifle | | | | | | | | Sights, telescopic, | do. | 32,000 | | rifle, model 1918 | | | | | | | | Sights, telescopic, |Warner & Swasey Co., | 4,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 rifle, model 1913 | Cleveland, Ohio | | | | | | | Sights, optics for |Eastman Kodak Co., | 42,607 | | telescopic, | Rochester, N. Y. | | | rifle, model 1918 | | | | | | | | Sights, telescopic, |Central Scientific Co., | 4,100 | 142 | 578 37-mm. Infantry | Chicago, Ill. | | | gun | | | | | | | | Sights, Telescopic, |Universal Optical Co., | 1,225 | | for 37-mm. | Providence, R. I. | | | Infantry gun | | | | | | | | Sights, telescopic, |Globe Optical Co., | 50 | 50 | 50 for 37-mm gun | Boston, Mass. | | | | | | | Sights, optics, |American Optical Co., | 1,692 | 910 | 1,692 clinometer, for | South Bridge, Mass. | | | 37-mm. gun | | | | | | | | Sights, telescopic, |Burke & James Co., | 6,576 | 50 | 386 for 37-mm tank | Chicago, Ill. | | | gun | | | | | | | | Sights, optics for |American Optical Co., | 784 | 784 | 784 telescopic, for | South Bridge, Mass. | | | 37-mm gun | | | | | | | | Sights, quadrant, |Scientific Materials Co., | 3,192 | 600 | 1,207 for 37-mm gun | Pittsburgh, Pa. | | | | | | | Sights for 75-mm. |Electric Auto-lite | 2,632 | 221 | 1,100 gun | Corporation, | | | | Toledo, Ohio | | | | | | | Do. |Standard Thermometer Co., | 2,000 | | | Boston, Mass. | | | | | | | Sights, master, for |Electric Auto-Lite | 820 | | 7 75-mm. gun | Corporation, Toledo, | | | | Ohio | | | | | | | Do. |Standard Thermometer Co., | 410 | | 26 | Boston, Mass. | | | | | | | Sights, optics for |Globe Optical Co., | 2,632 | 385 | 1,500 model 1901, for | Rochester, N. Y. | | | 75-mm. gun | | | | | | | | Sights, model 1918, |Ansco Co., | 3,142 | | for 75-mm. gun | Binghamton, N. Y. | | | | | | | Sights, shanks for |American Standard | 2,178 | | telescopic, model | Motion-Picture Machine | | | 1918, for 75-mm. | Co., New York | | | gun | | | | Sights, for 3-inch |Peerless Printing Press | 1,456 | 455 | 591 gun, model 1916 | Co., Palmyra, N. Y. | | | | | | | Sights, peep, for |Standard Thermometer Co., | 2,000 | 900 | 1,600 3-inch gun | Boston, Mass. | | | | | | | Sights for 3-inch |Frankford Arsenal, | 366 | 366 | 366 gun | Philadelphia, Pa. | | | | | | | Sights, model 1916, | do. | 40 | 40 | 40 for 3.8-inch | | | | howitzer carriage | | | | | | | | Sights, peep, for |Electro Auto-Lite | 2,632 | 96 | 960 Schneider | Corporation, | | | quadrants | Toledo, Ohio | | | | | | | Sights, peep, for | do. | 720 | 24 | 4.7-inch gun | | | | | | | | Sights, for |Carlson-Wenstrom Co., | 286 | 70 | 126 4.7-inch gun | Philadelphia, Pa. | | | | | | | Do. |Emerson Engineering Co., | 500 | | 125 | Philadelphia, Pa. | | | | | | | Sights for 5-inch |Blair Tool & Machine Co., | 26 | | improvised gun | New York City | | | carriage | | | | | | | | Sights for 6-inch | do. | 143 | | improvised gun | | | | carriage | | | | | | | | Sights, dial, |Arthur Brook, jr., | 75 | | 8-inch howitzer | Philadelphia, Pa. | | | | | | | Sights, clinometer, | do. | 75 | | 8-inch howitzer | | | | | | | | Rocking bar, 8-inch | do. | 75 | | | | | | Sights, lens for |Central Scientific Co., | 615 | | 615 master, for 75-mm.| Chicago, Ill. | | | gun | | | | | | | | Sitogoniometer |Martin Copeland Co., | 5,100 | | 5,100 | Providence, R. I. | | | | | | | Squares, zinc |Metallograph Corporation, | 13,551 | 13,551 | 13,551 | New York | | | | | | | Squares, zinc, for |Clapp Eastman Co., | 12,752 | 456 | 12,752 machine gun | Cambridge, Mass. | | | | | | | Staffs, sighting |Colson Co., Elyria, Ohio | 1,205 | 1,205 | 1,205 | | | | Staffs, Jacob's, |McFarlan Motor Co., | 15,745 | | 15,745 for field glass | Connersville, Ind. | | | supports | | | | | | | | Tapes, steel, |Justus Roe & Sons, | 50,000 | | 50,000 5 feet | Patchogue, N. Y. | | | | | | | Do. |Lufkin Rule Co., | 31,791 | 31,791 | 31,791 | Saginaw, Mich. | | | | | | | Tapes, steel | do. | 4,250 | 4,250 | 4,250 60 feet | | | | | | | | Tapes, steel | do. | 1,422 | | | | | | Tapes, metallic | do. | 10,441 | 5,608 | 8,988 linen | | | | | | | | Telescopes, azimuth |Spencer Lens Co., | 1,579 | | instrument, | Buffalo, N. Y. | | | model 1918 | | | | | | | | Telescopes, battery |Bausch & Lomb Optical Co., | 6,428 | 2,820 | 3,698 commander's | Rochester, N. Y. | | | | | | | Do. |Arthur Brock, jr., | 2,029 | | | Philadelphia, Pa. | | | | | | | Do. |Central Scientific Co., | 2,000 | | | Chicago, Ill. | | | | | | | Do. |Frankford Arsenal, | 52 | 52 | 52 | Philadelphia, Pa. | | | | | | | Telescopes, battery |National Cash Register Co.,| 15,730 | 9,858 | 15,730 commander's, | Dayton, Ohio | | | tripod | | | | | | | | Telescopes for |Recording & Computing | 217 | 41 | 50 panoramic 4 and | Machines Co., | | | 10 power | Dayton, Ohio | | | | | | | Telescopes, |Keuffel & Esser Co., | 1,579 | | periscopic | Hoboken, N. J. | | | | | | | Tripods for machine-|Herschede Hall Clock Co., | 7,854 | | gun sights | Cincinnati, Ohio | | | +-------------------+---------------------------+---------+--------+---------

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VII. MOTORIZED ARTILLERY

Complete motorization of field artillery and its ammunition supply is almost certain to be one of the far-reaching and highly important results of our country's experiences in its participation in the war.

Practically all field artillery was of the horse-drawn type previous to our entry into the war, but with the evolution and perfection of the heavier siege artillery, 5-ton, 10-ton, and even heavier, traction engines were brought into play as means of motive power for the big guns and howitzers, with such success that the horse in the field artillery operations was being supplanted to a large degree by mechanical power.

Strictly speaking, the foundation for this departure had been laid before 1917, in the Mexican campaign of 1916 and in experiments that had been conducted at the Rock Island Arsenal. Insufficiency of funds, however, had prevented the experiments from being either thorough or extensive.

A consideration of the difficulties that vehicles of all sorts had to contend with in the battle areas of Europe made it evident at the outset that two general types of motor carriers would be required by the Army so far as ordnance was concerned--one type for far-advanced work, for hauling artillery over the worst possible kind of shell-torn and water-soaked earth, and the other for bringing up ammunition, supplies, equipment for repairs and the like in less advanced zones and areas, but over roads and country that had been cut and hacked and made almost impassible by the activities of the contending forces.

TRUCKS.

The standard four-wheel-drive commercial trucks, modified to meet the special needs of the service, were adopted immediately after war began, while experimental work was put under way to develop a standard type that would set this country far in advance of all others in this line of activity.

A total of 30,072 of the four-wheel-drive trucks was ordered, and before the armistice 12,498 of this number had been completed, while 23,499 had been turned out by the 31st of January, 1919.

In round numbers, 25,000 of these trucks were to be equipped with bodies for the hauling of ammunition, and the balance with special bodies and equipment suitable for artillery supply and repair, for repair of equipment, and for heavy mobile ordnance.

Special bodies were manufactured by these concerns:

American Car & Foundry Co., Berwick, Pa. J. G. Brill Co., Philadelphia, Pa. Hale & Kilburn Corporation, Philadelphia, Pa. Dumbar Manufacturing Co., Chicago, Ill. Pullman Co., Pullman, Ill. Kuhlman Car Co., Cleveland, Ohio. C. R. Wilson Body Co., Detroit, Mich. Insley Manufacturing Co., Indianapolis, Ind. Lang Body Co., Cleveland, Ohio. Heil Co., Milwaukee, Wis. Variety Manufacturing Co., Indianapolis, Ind. J. E. Bolles Iron & Wire Co., Detroit, Mich.

The first contract for these trucks was placed on August 18, 1917, and 9,420 were shipped to the American Expeditionary Forces overseas by the date of the armistice.

It required considerable time to work out and perfect all the details of the special bodies and equipment, as most of these were exceedingly complicated, and in a number of cases there were as many as 700 items of equipment on a single truck.

Representatives of the allied governments were not hesitant in asserting that the line of artillery repair trucks developed for our Army was the most complete and well worked out in detail that any army ever received.

These manufacturers did the work of turning out the special trucks:

Nash Motors Co., Kenosha, Wis. Four-Wheel-Drive Auto Co., Clintonville, Wis. Mitchell Motor Car Co., Racine, Wis. Premier Motor Corporation, Indianapolis, Ind. Kissel Motor Car Co., Hartford, Wis. Hudson Motor Car Co., Detroit, Mich. National Motor Car Co., Indianapolis, Ind. Paige Motor Car Co., Detroit, Mich. Commerce Motor Car Corporation, Detroit, Mich. White Co., Cleveland, Ohio. Dodge Motor Car Co., Detroit, Mich.

About 4,000 of the 5,000 special body type of trucks were delivered before the middle of December, 1918.

TRAILERS.

There were developed five different types of four-wheeled trailers. Each type, being for a particular use, required a special study and individual design, with all the consequent specially prepared machines and specialized shop work.

For antiaircraft service, a 1½-ton and a 3-ton trailer were worked out; for the 75-millimeter field gun, a special 3-ton trailer; for the mobile repair shops, a 4-ton trailer; and for the small tank, a special 10-ton trailer.

By the middle of December, 2,157 of these trailers had been delivered of the 4,847 that had been ordered and put in production.

Concerns engaged in turning out trailers were:

Sechler & Co., Cincinnati, Ohio. Trailmobile Co. of America, Cincinnati, Ohio. Ohio Trailer Co., Cleveland, Ohio. Grant Motor Car Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio.

It might also be stated at this point, too, that two special types of passenger motor vehicles were designed and built. One of these was for staff observation and the other for reconnaissance. Nearly all of the total of 2,250 that were ordered of these two types were completed by mid-December, 1918, delivery of them having started in the month of April, 1918.

CATERPILLAR TRACTORS.

It was found after a comprehensive study of the needs of the various branches of ordnance and the requirement of the big guns that five sizes of caterpillar tractors would be required--of capacities of 2½ tons, 5 tons, 10 tons, 15 tons, and 20 tons.

Commercial types of machines of the 15-ton and 20-ton sort, with only slight alterations, were found to be suitable, but special designs were made for those of 2½-ton, 5-ton, and 10-ton capacity. Our experience in Mexico and the experiments at the Rock Island Arsenal had taught us the need of the special designs of machines of those sizes.

In all, 24,791 of these five types of caterpillar tractors were ordered. The 5-ton machine reached production in the summer of 1918 and the 2½-ton machine in the fall. By the end of the following January, 5,940 of the tractors had been delivered. Manufacturers who had orders for the caterpillar tractors were:

Holt Manufacturing Co., Peoria, Ill. Chandler Motor Car Co., Cleveland, Ohio. Reo Motor Car Co., Lansing, Mich. Maxwell Motor Car Co., Detroit, Mich. Federal Motor Truck Co., Detroit, Mich. Interstate Motor Co., Indianapolis, Ind.

Throughout the production of tractors during the war period there was continuous and persistent experimentation, and satisfactory solutions of many of the problems were being reached at the time of the signing of the armistice.

Self-propelled caterpillar gun mounts were the subject of the most important of these experiments. The self-propelled caterpillar gun mounts differ from the ordinary caterpillar tractors in that they have the guns mounted directly on them, the guns forming an integral part of the entire machine. Six types of these were being developed, and 270 had been ordered when the armistice came.

A 2½-ton tractor mounting a 75-millimeter gun and a 5-ton tractor containing a gun of the same size were far along the road to success in their first state of development.

Development of caterpillar cargo carriers or caissons for bearing supplies over any sort of terrain, no matter how rough the going might be and regardless of whether there were roads or not, was so far along the pathway of success that two sizes were about to go into production on November 11.

A 2½-ton ammunition trailer, a 2-ton 11-inch trench mortar trailer, and a 4.7-inch antiaircraft gun trailer were also in development, but not in production, at the time of the signing of the armistice.

So successful were the experiments with new types of four-wheel-drive trucks and tractors that orders for what would probably have proven the best type of four-wheel-drive truck and the best type of four-wheel-drive tractor ever produced had been placed, but the signing of the armistice forced cancellations of these orders. In the course of the experiments, all types of American four-wheel-drive vehicles were examined and two of the best French types.

The purchase of $365,000,000 worth of trucks, trailers, and tractors was obligated in about 3,000 separate orders.

SELF-PROPELLED CATERPILLAR GUN MOUNTS.

In Europe, the French had been the only people to experiment with caterpillar mounts for guns. They produced the St. Chamond type, but this had not gone far beyond the experimental stages.

Prior to the early months of 1918, our own efforts along this line consisted in the building of one caterpillar mount, self-propelled by a gasoline engine and carrying an antiaircraft gun. Around this nucleus an ambitious caterpillar program was built.

An 8-inch howitzer was placed on this antiaircraft caterpillar mount and fired at angles of elevation varying up to 45°. Maneuvered over difficult ground, the machine withstood the firing strains and road tests in a highly satisfactory manner.

As a result of the success of these tests, orders were placed for three more experimental caterpillars to mount 8-inch howitzers. Tests of two of these completed units were so gratifying that it was felt they warranted quantity production. Accordingly, orders were placed for 50 units of the 8-inch howitzer caterpillars to cost about $30,000 apiece, for 50 caterpillar units mounting 155-millimeter guns, and for 250 units mounting 240-millimeter howitzers.

The Standard Steel Car Co., Hammond, Ind., was to produce the 240-millimeter howitzer caterpillars, the Harrisburg Manufacturing & Boiler Co., Harrisburg, Pa., was to turn out the 8-inch howitzer caterpillars, and the Morgan Engineering Co., of Alliance, Ohio, was to produce the 155-millimeter gun caterpillars.

Mountings for the 8-inch howitzer and 155-millimeter gun were practically identical. Both utilized many of the standard Holt caterpillar parts. The only real change was in the carriage for the 155-millimeter gun. This was made sufficiently sturdy to carry higher-powered guns. A 194-millimeter gun is now being machined in France, and when finished it will be shipped to this country to be mounted upon the 155-millimeter caterpillar mount for experiment.

The 240-millimeter howitzer mounts were of two types--one following closely the St. Chamond type of the French and the other being a self-contained unit designed by Ordnance Department engineers. The self-contained type is a single unit that mounts both the power plant and the howitzer and for which it is necessary to provide additional cargo-carrying caterpillars to haul ammunition and fuel. Two units make up the St. Chamond type. One mounts the gun and electric motors; the other, a limber, mounts the power plant and carries ammunition.

In the battle area the St. Chamond type had the peculiar advantage that the power-plant unit could be run to shelter and be available for a rapid advance or change of location of the gun mount as the situation might demand. With the self-contained unit a direct hit by the enemy would put both gun and power plant out of commission.

Contracts for the caterpillar mounts called for the completion of the entire program not later than February, 1919. All the firms engaged on the work of production were putting forth every effort when the armistice was signed and there was every reason to believe deliveries would be as scheduled. The termination of hostilities caused all contracts to be reduced. Provisions have been made for only enough caterpillars of each type to provide for further experimental work.

Twenty mounts equipped with caterpillar treads and mounting 7-inch Navy rifles were built by the Baldwin Locomotive Co. for the Navy Department. These were so successfully operated that orders were placed for 36 similar units for the use of the Army, but since the signing of the armistice this order has been cut to 18.

The great gun on a caterpillar mount fires its death-dealing projectile, and almost before the shot has reached its destination the caterpillar mount has moved the gun to another point. With motor still running the gun is fired again and once more quickly moved on to another location, so that the enemy's artillery is unable to get its range.

Ordnance motor production table.

TRACTORS. ---------------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------- | | Quantity| Quantity| Size. |Quantity | accepted| accepted| Floated | ordered.| Nov. 11,| Jan. 31,| to Nov. | | 1918. | 1919. | 11, 1918. ---------------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------- 2½-ton | 5,586 | 10 | 25 | 2 5-ton | 11,150 | 1,543 | 3,480 | 459 10-ton | 6,623 | 1,421 | 2,014 | 628 15-ton | 267 | 267 | 267 | 232 20-ton | 1,165 | 126 | 154 | 81 ---------------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------- TRAILERS. ---------------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------- 1½-ton antiaircraft machine gun | 2,289 | 150 | 562 | 126 3-inch field gun | 830 | 235 | 472 | 15 4-ton shop bodies | 576 | 101 | 384 | 12 4-ton shop chassis | 576 | 260 | 555 | 10-ton | 540 | 104 | 245 | 1 3-inch antiaircraft | 612 | 542 | 611 | 199 ---------------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------- TRUCKS. ---------------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------- F. W. D. chassis | 13,907 | 5,361 | 10,615 | 3,561 Nash chassis | 16,165 | 7,137 | 12,884 | 5,859 Ammunition bodies | 24,729 | 18,212 | 21,709 | Ammunition mountings | 24,729 | 9,615 | 11,024 | 6,955 Artillery repair | 1,332 | 1,318 | 1,332 | 350 Artillery supply | 5,474 | 813 | 1,838 | 444 Light repair | 1,012 | 1,012 | 1,012 | 362 Dodge chassis | 1,012 | 1,012 | 1,012 | 436 Commerce chassis | 1,500 | 1,500 | 1,500 | 24 Machine-gun body, mounted on | | | | Commerce or White 1-ton chassis| 1,500 | 486 | 1,306 | 241 1-ton supply | 60 | 60 | 60 | 55 White chassis | 1,695 | 1,929 | 2,695 | 575 Reconnaissance | 1,081 | 712 | 1,003 | 320 Staff observation | 1,175 | 1,164 | 1,175 | 189 Equipment repair | 310 | 310 | 310 | 121 H. M. R. S. trucks | 624 | 287 | 416 | 12 ---------------------------------+---------+---------+---------+----------

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