The Wyandotte herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1879-1943, 1942-08-07
i. Tanks Are
Hard Fighters
Precision-Built and They Can
Outrun and Outlast All
Other Models.

WASHINGTON.-Pound for pound,
tanks being made with American
skill surpass any similar types IN
mobility and mechanical reliability.
Hard hitting, tough, capable of out
running and outlasting other mod
els, American tanks didn't just hap
pen to be good. Superiority was
built into them by hundreds of pre-
cision tools. Each part is made to
exact measurements and machine
tools used to make them are of a
special nature and size. The Office
Of Emergency Management is the
authority for these statements.
Thirty to so per cent of the weight
OF any tank is armor plate. To
build tank, hard thick steel that
cannot be pierced by a rife OF
machine-gun bullet must be pressed,
drilled and turned and reamed and
milled to exact dimensions. Into a
tank goes steel, nickel, brass, cop
per, aluminium, rubber, leather,
glass, cotton, plastic, tin, lead and
petroleum products. In its skeleton
are rolled plates, castings, forgings,
rivets, bolts, wire, tubing, ball and
roller bearings, gears, electric mo-
tors, instruments, batteries and
valves.
10000 Pieces in 'Heavies.'
In light tank are $4,000 individu-
al pieces; in a medium tank, $4,000;
in a heavy tank, 10000, that must
be machined and assembled. Many
of the metal parts must be ma
chined on boring mills, radial drill
ing machines, milling machines and
similar tools of much larger size
than found in ordinary shops. The
turret casting alone is as heavy as
the average automobile.
Armor castings and forgings are
so tough that tungsten-carbide tools
have to be used in nearly all turning
and boring operations. Cutters OF
high speed steel containing a high
cobalt content must be used in
milling and similar operations.
From beginning to end, the build
ing of tank is task for machine
tools. Without them, tanks would
remain thin lines on drafting paper
with the right type of tools, they
become the backbone of our ar
mored forces.
Up to several years ago there
were almost as many tanks sitting
as World war monuments in public
squares as there were in fighting
trim in the army. Even these relics
bore no battle scars, because nc
American-made tanks fought in
France. We used British heavy
tanks and French light tanks, and
the total number was less than 300
mot enough to equip one of our
modern armored divisions.
Faster Output Necessary.
The need for modern mechanical
fighting equipment, so forcefully
demonstrated by the armored forces
abroad, meant an end had to be
put to this slow, tedious production
method. American industry was
asked to produce in great numbers
vehicle that was neither a tractor,
a truck, nor locomotive. It was
something in between, with a func.
T ton all its own.
Joining in the program to produce
this distant cousin of their civilian
products are the locomotive, auto
motive and farm equipment indus.
tries. Helping them are plants that
once made railroad cars, automobile
and trailer bodies, automobile mo.
tors, Diesel engines, airplane mo.
tors, tractors, oil well drilling equip
ment, type foundry equipment, shoe
machines and compressed air equip
ment. Together they created a new
industry to build monsters that cost
81 pound and weigh up to $4,000
pounds.
It was on April 80, 1910, that the
first delivery was made, and since
then other production lines have
started and more are being set up
Later models are going into produc-
ton.