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.