Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1916-03-09
SCREW EXPERT AIDS
FRENCH SALVATION
Chicago Authority on Manu-.
features speeded Up NUM-
tions Factories.
From the Chicago Tribune.

HicIl the SiilGdSO 1IlOQic-
When France heard the all for
greater and still greater supplies OF
munitions for its armies in the field it
was to America and to Chicago that
1t came for a certain American who
would cross the water and furnish
much needed assistance no less import
ant than that furnished to the strug-
Cling American %coloniStS by the Mar
quis Lafayette.
n mar who has repaid. partially
at least, the debt of all Americans to
one high spirited Frenchman has re-
turned to his work in Chicago. He
IS William +. Carmody, foreman of the
Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing com
pany, at 1717 North Paulina street.
He sits at a table on the fourth floor
of h big machine plant and ~inspects
small pieces of tool work whose dimen-
slonS must be accurate to the thous-
andth. part of an inch. His knowledge
and experience with the installation
and operation Of the modern screw
expert.
Finds Itself Unprepared.
Frence. working under old methods
based on the needs Of former wars,
suddenly found hat with its resources
and believed PREPAREDNESS it was Ia
bic to produce in two or three days
the munitions that it's armies con-
uiiiGh III Vic udS. IL was dulSh "
learn that the life of the nation de-
pended upon greater efficiency.
With this decision the reputation for
mechanical supremacy Immediately
passed from the old world to the new
ana the American screw machine. with
a capacity for output 10 times as great
as the European machinery, stepped
into it's own.
When france called f, I the man
in America most capable Of changing
the French munition plants to con
form with American methods of eff
ficiency, the screw machine manufac-
turers even went outside their own
plants n recommended Carmody.
Carmody's salary as foreman at the
Felt and Tarrant plant is nothing
small. but the compensation which the
French government offered for his
services doubled it several times and
then ONE. He obtained a furlough and
sailed last April.
In the company OF French army Of
ficials and engineers he vas rushed
from one munition plant to another.
He found antiquated, time losing ma
chinery being worked night and day.
but only producing an output far be-
low the demand.
Hard Work; Small Output.
Some French screw machines needed
two and three men each to operate
$1,000 ~ IGV
the superiority of the American ma
chine, five of which could be tended by
one man. The installation of the
American machines followed. Hun
dreds Of thousands of dollars worth
of them survived the dangers of tor
pedoes n We're landed in France.
Through interpreters Carmody in
structed foremen in the operation of
the machines. These in turn instructed
the Workmen. The American machin-
list was kept on the &C night and day.
plant to another by automobile.
Machines in Paris Plants.
In Paris he installed 60 of the ma
chimes in two plants, both of which
had been making automobile parts be-
fore the war. He directed changes in
the application of power in other
plants, to the increase OF efficiency and
output.
In Marseilles he placed rs of the
American machines and transformed
one plant that had been making mo-
tors and bakers machines into a
shrapnel factory. In st. Chambon, Or
leans n elsewhere he replaced the
methods of 1870 with up to the min
ute American efficiency, and increased
the output tenfold.
Carmody returned to Chicago last
month, his work abroad finished. Let
ters bearing the appreciation of the
French people preceded him. Carmody
is modest about his work. and refuses
to talk about it. Not so with his
friends, who tell the story of one en-
thusiastic French patriot who kissed
the American machinst as he was
leaving Paris and f%ervently declared:
You have saved France!"