Dominion Arsenals Artillery Shells WWI

[buffdog]

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Dominion Arsenals - Making Artillery Shells WWI

Cutting cases to length
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Drilling and Boring the shell cavity.
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Measuring the diameter of the shell
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Drill and tap base of shell
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Weighing powder charges
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Bundle and tie charges for inserting
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Weighing shells
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Painting Shells
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[Flying_Finn]

Some great old pics there. That isan interesting one with the powder charges. Any idea what they were? Obviously not loose powder. Maybe something like a gun cotton? I love seeing these old pics.

 

[Keller]

Some great old pics there. That isan interesting one with the powder charges. Any idea what they were? Obviously not loose powder. Maybe something like a gun cotton? I love seeing these old pics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordite

 

[Avalonthas]

why would they waste time painting the shells

 

[purple]

Uncoated steel will rust/corrode under storage and field conditions.

A lot of women were emplyed in shell filling during the war. Constant exposure to the chemical fumes tended to turn their skin a yellow color. This led to them being called "canary ladies".

There was a high incidence of defective shells and fuzes during WWI which caused a high percentage of duds which are still being policed up and disposed of to the present day.

 

[hacer2]

I live 5 minutes walk away from one of these old factory the sites and old buildings are quite impressive

 

[Zanelike]

I love that the extent of safety measures was rolling up your sleaves! Wouldn't get away with that these days

 

[Shelldrake]

I believe Dominion Arsenals evolved into Canadian Arsenals, which evolved into IVI and now GD.
I had a tour of their artillery ammo plant in Montreal about 15 years ago. It would seem that things haven't changed at all from WW1. Ladies were still using sewing machines to manually sew the charge bags together, etc.

The machine they used for putting the 5.56mm ammo together looked like it came right out of the 19th century.

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

Man, all hand-work, one at a time.

 

[ArtyMan]

why would they waste time painting the shells

Paint also denotes payload (smoke/HE etc...)

 

[Coyote Ugly]

Man, all hand-work, one at a time.

Creates Employment!

 

[Cocked&Locked]

cripes...running that cold saw and lathe with no saftey glasses.......i've had way to many chips bounce off my face....that gives me the willy's

 

[CanAm]

amazing amount of hand labour; one step at a time on manual machines. In old "daylight" factories.

 

[ATOM]

I love that the extent of safety measures was rolling up your sleaves! Wouldn't get away with that these days

I was thinking just that. Long sleeves, no eye or hearing protection, no paint box, multiple people standing around a propellant bundling table. My excuse-writing hand goes numb just thinking about it.

Great pix - thanks!

 

[oldlithgow]

Here Is a cut away of a 18 Pdr shrapnel round showing the cordite.

Some great old pics there. That isan interesting one with the powder charges. Any idea what they were? Obviously not loose powder. Maybe something like a gun cotton? I love seeing these old pics.

 

[tjsudbury]

Uncoated steel will rust/corrode under storage and field conditions.

A lot of women were emplyed in shell filling during the war. Constant exposure to the chemical fumes tended to turn their skin a yellow color. This led to them being called "canary ladies".

There was a high incidence of defective shells and fuzes during WWI which caused a high percentage of duds which are still being policed up and disposed of to the present day.

I saw lots coming out of plowed fields, and stacked like firewood on the side of the farm tracks a few miles east of Arras a few years ago. Evey once in a while, they get collected and taken away to be disposed of

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[buffdog]

I believe Dominion Arsenals evolved into Canadian Arsenals, which evolved into IVI and now GD.
I had a tour of their artillery ammo plant in Montreal about 15 years ago. It would seem that things haven't changed at all from WW1. Ladies were still using sewing machines to manually sew the charge bags together, etc.

The machine they used for putting the 5.56mm ammo together looked like it came right out of the 19th century.

About 40% of the 5.56 ammo used for training (supposedly) in the United States during the Vietnam Was was made by IVI.

Then, Canada adopted the 5.56 mm round as standard and, guess what. IVI got over two million dollars so that they could now make up the tooling to manufacture the "new" Canadian Military round.
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[x westie]

About 40% of the 5.56 ammo used for training (supposedly) in the United States during the Vietnam Was was made by IVI.

Then, Canada adopted the 5.56 mm round as standard and, guess what. IVI got over two million dollars so that they could now make up the tooling to manufacture the "new" Canadian Military round.
.

And apparently IVI quality control on our "new" Canadian 5.56mm rd. was pretty pathetic,..lot of 5.56mm were duds

Maybe some of the guys who were in the Forces can shed more info on this

 

[ATOM]

And apparently IVI quality control on our "new" Canadian 5.56mm rd. was pretty pathetic,..lot of 5.56mm were duds

Maybe some of the guys who were in the Forces can shed more info on this

Didn't hear of many duds. They did however apparently have a significant problem with bullets coming apart under the stress of 300,000 RPM spin. Initial lots apparently had passed quality assurance checks but this had been overlooked, so DND wound up paying for it anyway.

 

[TGC]

Look at all the safety violations, call my union rep lol