CHAPTER V

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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.

[Illustration:

FIGURE 9.

PRODUCTION OF SMOKELESS POWDER AND HIGH EXPLOSIVES, FRANCE AND UNITED STATES COMPARED WITH GREAT BRITAIN.

AVERAGE MONTHLY RATE, AUGUST, SEPTEMBER, AND OCTOBER, 1918.

_Smokeless powder_: Pounds. Per cent of rate for Great Britain.

Great Britain 12,055,000 ========== 100 France 17,311,000 ============== 144 United States 42,775,000 ==================================== 355

_High explosives_:

Great Britain 30,967,000 ========== 100 France 22,802,000 ======= 74 United States 43,888,000 ============== 142

TOTAL PRODUCTION, APRIL 6, 1917, TO NOVEMBER 11, 1918.

_Smokeless powder_: Pounds. Per cent of rate for Great Britain.

Great Britain 291,706,000 ========== 100 France 342,155,000 ============ 117 United States 632,504,000 ====================== 217

_High explosives_:

Great Britain 765,110,000 ========== 100 France 702,964,000 ========= 92 United States 375,656,000 ===== 49]

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.

[Illustration: NITRO, WEST VIRGINIA.]

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.

[Illustration: _HIGH EXPLOSIVE NOSE FUSE SHELL_

_75M/M TYPE_

_Detonator (explosive)_

_Bourrelet_

_Explosive charge (T. N. T.) or (Amatol)_

_Smokeless powder_

_Primer (brass)_

_Adapter (steel)_

_Percussion fuse_

_Booster case, or Jacket, or Gaine. (cold drawn or pressed steel-machined)_

_Copper band or rotating band_

_Cartridge case (drawn brass)_]

[Illustration: GIRLS LOADING POINT-DETONATING FUSES FOR HIGH-EXPLOSIVE SHELL IN BODY-MACHINING DEPARTMENT OF A LOADING PLANT.]

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.

[Illustration: EIGHT-INCH SHELL BEING LOADED WITH AMATOL.

View of extruding machine bulkhead in background.]

[Illustration: MARK V FUSE ASSEMBLY.

This picture shows two complete units for this assembly work. The operation begins in the foreground with cap assembly and progresses toward background, the fulminate detonator being inserted midway down table. The protecting bulkhead for cap supply is shown in the foreground.]

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.

[Illustration: LOADING SMOKELESS POWDER.

Notice safety door at the girl's elbow. A flash in this room will not communicate to an adjoining room. The room is heated by overhead hot-air heating system.]

[Illustration: FULMINATE COMPOSITION CHARGING, STEEL SHIELD, WITH WINDOW OF HEAVY GLASS TO THE RIGHT.

Girl operating the same device on the left. The view shows the bulkhead between the operations.]

[Illustration: SHELL PAINTING.

This view shows the exhaust hood open and turntable lowered. Operator raises turntable by foot lever and closes hood before spraying.]

[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF SHELL-PAINTING ROOM.

Shell is received on the elevated platform and trucked to the edge on hand trucks, where the trolley hook just enters the eyebolt as shell is removed from truck, thus making it unnecessary to lift the shell during any operation in this room.]

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.

[Illustration:

FIGURE 10.

IMPROVEMENT OF FIELD GUNS SINCE THE NAPOLEONIC WARS.

MUZZLE VELOCITY. -----------------------+------------+------------------------------- Type. | Date. | Feet per second. -----------------------+------------+------------------------------- | | Early rifled guns | 1863-1870 | ==== 1090 | | Later rifled guns | 1870-1893 | ===== 1466 | | Early quick firers | About 1900 | ====== 1695 | | Modern quick firers | 1914-1918 | ======= 1770 | | -----------------------+------------+------------------------------- RANGE WITH SHRAPNEL. -----------------------+------------+------------------------------- | | Smooth bores | 1815-1850 | ===== 1257 | | Early rifled guns | 1863-1870 | ======= 2004 | | Later rifled guns | 1870-1893 | =============== 4120 | | Early quick firers | About 1900 | ======================= 6160 | | Modern quick firers | 1914-1918 | ======================== 6,500 | | -----------------------+------------+-------------------------------- RANGE WITH SHELL. -----------------------+------------+-------------------------------- | | Smooth bores | 1815-1850 | === 1,670 | | Early rifled guns | 1863-1870 | ======== 3,965 | | Later rifled guns | 1870-1893 | ============ 6,168 | | Early quick firers | About 1900 | =============== 7,340 | | Modern quick firers | 1914-1918 | ================= 8,500 | | With streamline shell | 1918-19 | ======================== 12,130 | | -----------------------+------------+--------------------------------

The limiting factor in the development of light field guns has always been the continuous hauling power of 6 horses, which is about 4,000 pounds. The gun has been as powerful as possible within the limits of this weight, which includes the carriage and limber as well as the cannon itself. Improved technique and materials have reduced the necessary weight of the cannon from 1,650 pounds in 1815 to about 800 pounds to-day, permitting the use of weight for recoil mechanism and shield of armor plate without exceeding the limit.

The 800-pound nickel-steel gun of 1918 fires as heavy a projectile (12-15 pounds) as the 1,650-pound bronze gun of the Napoleonic wars. The improved material permits a more powerful propellant charge, which results in greater muzzle velocity, a flatter trajectory, and longer maximum range. The latter is due in part also to improved shapes of projectiles and the introduction of rifling. The efficiency of artillery is further increased by the introduction of high-explosive bursting charge. The modern 75-millimeter shell contains about 1.76 pounds of high explosive as against about 0.5 pound of black powder in shell prior to 1893.]

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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