The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-07-30
Arsenals Handicapped By Ancient Equipment, But Nearing 12 ,OOO Carand Rifles a Month
RY MAJoR PAuL .. REED

BY MAJOR PAUL |. REED NEA Service Special Correspondent U. s. army capacity for produc- ing small arrns-badly neglected be- fore start of the new defense pro- gram--is expanding so rapidly that l2,OO0 rifles a month are in sight. The arsenal situation as a whole however, is not too good. Most equipment is old, has not been re- placed or modernized since the World war. Many techniques are outmoded, and production bottle necks" hold up mass production. The army has only six arsenals.
 Right now the Springfield, Mass, arsenal is manufacturing 4000 of the new semi-automatic M-1 or Garand rifles month and this rate is being doubled immediately. Manufacture of the Garand utilizes all new equipment.
 When production at the Winches- ter, Conn, private plant begins in october, the total will probably reach 12,000 or 13,000. And this does not take into account third source to be added shortly, according to Chief of Staff Marshall.
 SPRINGFIELD
 SETS THE PACE
 The Springfield arsenal-keeping abreast of best manufacturing methods set 8 pattern for other U. S. arms plants.
 A small armory was first estab- nshed there in TIT at the insist ence of Col. Henry Knox, chief of artillery in Washington's army. From the beginning muskets were the principal product. The famous Springfield rifle, Model 1903, was developed and built there.
 Interchangeable parts manufac- ture, now commonplace, was first applied to army rifles at Spring field. The arsenal there is testing laboratory and a standard or gauge of precision parts manufacture.
 Equipment at Springfield for the manufacture of rifles, machine gun and pistol parts clearly shows the effect of periodic buying and long neglect. Except for World war equipment, most heavy metal work ing tools are obsolete.
 From 1925 to 1884 only four new machines were added to more than 1000 tools. Since 1884 approximate ly PTS tools have been introduced, but many operations have time or precision "bottlenecks" because con- tinued use of inadequate equipment is necessary.
 Watervliet arsenal in New York state is the gun factory of the Ord nance department. It does all ma chining work on the army's big gun barrels and finishing operations on the 3-inch anti-aircraft gun bar rels. All breech mechaniSms are made there.
 A good deal of modern equipment has been added for anti-aircraft gun work, but 80 per cent of the machine tools are more than 20 years old. Principal value of this arsenal to the defense program is to furnish small groups of highly trained workers to the industrial shops which will build field guns and the new anti-aircraft guns. WATERFOWL MAKES ONE
 ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN AT TIME I
 Frankfort arsenal in Pennsylvania manufactures small arms and ar- tillery ammunition and fire-control instruments. Small arms nanufac- turing facilities are good, particu- larly for making 50 caliber cart ridges for machine guns. Some ef- ficient new machines have been in- stalled for operations necessary in machining shell cases.
 Watertown, Mass, arsenal builds coast defense guns and constructs mounts and does the rough work on the barrels of 3-inch anti-air- craft guns, which are then finished at Watervliet.
 Watertown arsenaPs equipment is large and nearly 85 per cent of it is more than 20 years old. Facilities for the anti-aircraft gun provide for only one gun at time. Most of the army's three-inch anti-aircraft guns have been made by private manu- facturer.
 Facilities for the new 37 and 90 nm. anti-aircraft guns are not yet available, but specifications are in the hands of several private manu- lecturers, and building will have priority in the armament program. Picatinny arsenal in New Jersey AASeNAsene "A