America's Munitions 1917-1918United States. War Department
History
America's Munitions 1917-1918
United States. War Department
United States. Army -- Supplies and stores; Weapons; World War, 1914-1918 -- United States -- Equipment and supplies
At the beginning of the war all textile equipment, such as cartridge
belts, bandoleers to carry ammunition, haversacks, pack carriers,
pistol holsters, canteen covers and similar material were supplied in
woven material. Only two concerns in this country could manufacture
articles of this quality. They were the Mills Woven Cartridge Belt
Co., Worcester, Mass., and the Russell Manufacturing Co., Middletown,
Conn. Although these two concerns practically doubled their output and
worked day and night to supply the material, the demand was too great,
and belts and carriers were designed to be stitched and sewn and not
woven. Equipment made in this manner is inferior to the woven article.
However, the Mills Woven Cartridge Belt Co. produced approximately
3,200,000 of these articles and the Russell Manufacturing Co.,
1,500,000. Large producers of the stitched and sewn material were the
Plant Brothers Co., Boston, Mass.; R. H. Long Co., Framingham, Mass.;
L. C. Chase Co., Watertown, Mass.
For the Browning automatic rifle and the Browning machine gun there
were specially designed belts and bandoleers. The rifleman had his
own special belt, and his first and second assistants had their own
individual belts, and the assistants also had two bandoleers each, one
right and one left, which were carried across their shoulders. These
were manufactured in quantities by the following manufacturers:
R. H. Long Co., Framingham, Mass. 175,000
Plant Bros., Boston, Mass. 75,000
L. C. Chase Co., Watertown, Mass. 20,000
Many small articles of textile equipment were produced in immense
quantities. There were approximately four and a half million canteen
covers produced prior to November 1. Large contracts were placed with
the following concerns: Perkins-Campbell Co., Cincinnati, Ohio; Brauer
Bros., St. Louis, Mo.; L. C. Chase Co., Watertown, Mass.; Miller-Hexter
Co., Cleveland, Ohio; Powers Manufacturing Co., Waterloo, Iowa; R. H.
Long Co., Framingham, Mass.; Bradford Co., St. Joseph, Mich.; Galvin
Bros., Cleveland, Ohio; Progressive Knitting Works, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Approximately four and a half million haversacks were produced and
delivered prior to November 1, 1918. Large manufacturers producing
these were as follows: Canvas Products Co., St. Louis, Mo.; Rock
Island Arsenal, Rock Island, Ill.; Plant Bros., Boston, Mass.; Simmons
Hardware Co., St. Louis, Mo.; R. H. Long Co., Framingham, Mass.;
Liberty, Durgin (Inc.), Haverhill, Mass.; Wiley, Bickford & Sweet,
Hartford, Conn.
It is impossible here to enumerate the entire range of ordnance
munitions produced, outside of the development of guns and their
ammunition; but their manufacture, in orders that ordinarily amounted
to the millions of individual pieces, engaged the activities of a large
number of manufacturers of the United States.
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