Evening Star Newspaper, February 3, 1942, Page 9

American Industry Goes to War— Intricate Machine Guns Roll Off New Assembly Lines Mass Production Methods Speed Up Output, But It Still Is a ‘Handmade’ Weapon (Third of a Series.) By THOMAS R. HENRY. Star Staft Correspondent. DETROIT, MICH,, Feb. 3.—Putting machine guns on the line is the new job of General Motors Corp. engineers. There is a fair prospect that within a few months they will have approached much closer the ideal of a supermachine made up of many machines, into one end of which can be placed a piece of steel and out of the other will come a finished machine gun. Several General Motors factories are making these instruments of death. The largest formerly made spark plugs. It has been on the job nearly a year, gradually®— suspending other activities and im-| ad " = | ow the guns go by “on the line.’ proving methods of Production. | oompared to an automobile line, it There is nothing whatsoever in|ic"qlo ~ Much still must be done common between a machine gUn | japorigusly by hand. But at that and a spark plug, its official say, and | the plant is able to put out a lot it has been necessary to replace in| e oyngy day and the conveyor belts this plant for the durnt!gn of the never stop moving. More special war nearly all the machinery de-|machines—drills, polishers, stamps, signed for making the latter. etc—could be constructed. but it Production Speed Increased. | would be difficult to obtain them Fitting the machine gun into the | from the overburdened machine mass production technique presents tools companies. problems never encountered in the Hole Punching Speeded. automobile industry. A Browning| gy the engineers do not like the gun, for example, consists of 300 | jqeq of punching one hole at a time. parts. One of them, the bolt, re-|one part of the Browning requires quires 130 separate operations. Some | & Iot of holes of a definite size and of the mechanisms are as delicate | shape punched in a thin metallic as those of a watch and if th_ey do‘cyunder. The job used to be done not function perfectly the price is|one hole at a time. Here in Flint human life. Still the engineers have | it has been simplified to the point been able to speed up some of the | ghere six can be punched at once. operations tenfold, and rifling the | ot another General Motors plant barrel, the slowest job of all, will| g]] are punched in a sheet of flat be speeded 25-fold if a machine now | metal, which afterward is made into | under test proves practical. | a cylinder. The ideal of the automobile in-; A good deal might be accom- dusiry is to have a machine for| plisher the engineers say, by slight every part of whatever is being| changes in the design of the machine | made—a machine which will pro- | gun, but the Army requires that duce that part perfectly and auto- | parts made today be interchange- }Tuncnlly ;nrm the 1;!50 pO:;ib‘l;J able with those made years ago. uman interference. oW evi | - the best of cars most parts have a ize’lt‘lheb;‘ ‘dce);nrimg::t::mk‘\! ::':RE considerable tolerance—a few ten- |, o department, the bolt depart- thousandths of an inch or so. There | yo¢ otc The ieneral picture is car. be no such tolerance for most | thatof 4 flow of materials down of the parts of a machine gun. each department production line. lot of filing and rubbing has Deen | mor every pound of machine gun necessary by men with trained | ipa¢ reaches final assembly. 3 hands and eyes. In fact, the ma- | soungs of metal enter the plant. chine gun has been what the engi- | 4o oyimately 3000 separate op- neers call “handmade,” despite the grationg are necessary many machines which have entered i | 40 Per Cent Girls. into its production in the past. Used Old Machines. | Under the General Motors method 4 = in | ® machine operator is just that and ‘The qemand for machine guns in | no"rnooe He or she—about 40 per the United States has been small. cont are girls—are taught a few ‘The last World War was in pre-mass | production days. There has been no incentive for the private manu- facturer, or even for the Govern- ment, to construct a supermachine for turning them out, such as has been set up for every major make some machines from Government arsenals. Some of them were 25 years old. They were intended to make one part at a time, and skilled mechanics were required. These machines still are in use, but better ones are being constructed. e a 2. Poxr z'}'s,,',’,;",'tn'& 6 g, Just empty Tm:.xn m'}f;:d'bw"* pechege o WinE Ly, e (&5 first time yougrs i dients ‘l:%n': n‘o meat stock. OF! G 4 e TR SERVINGS g 2 5 i A e Mlfim”fl‘h‘wm Cooking hlh—vlod. and Fri, Hear Betty Cracker e Hot od only . 1c offer 9° SPL""". tory packages T«h:lc mNGS:: Jours today as THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, simple movements such as placing the part in the fixture, manipulating the necessary levers, and gauging. Setting up and adjusting the machine are jobs for set-up men, ‘The training program was started with a nucleus of eight experienced foremen from the regular staff. They were sent to school at Army arsenals and private small arms plants. After learning how to make guns themselves, they trained other experienced men from outside and in this way a staff of about 80 fore- men and assistantWforemen was as- sembled. The next step to obtain from the Flint schools, which had set up two shifts of night courses for the pur- pose, partially trained boys who aould be developed as set-up men. Now about 2,000 men and women are employed on the project, three- fourths of them hired through local | schools. Tomorrow: Buick Men Make Tanks. | CaliforniaWanIS Aii;n Japs| \Moved From Coastal Areas| ! By the Associated Press. | SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 3—Cali- | fornia law enforcement officers voted |last night to ask the Federal Gov- |ernment to remove all alien Jap- anese immediately from all terri- | tories in the State within 200 miles iof the Pacific Coast. The nearly 100 district attorneys and sheriffs attending a conference with State Attorney General Earl | Warren also outlined a program for | strict enforcement of California’s | | alien land act, deciding to file civil | suits for State seizure of land held | | illegally by Japanese. | Mr. Warren earlier had told the | meeting that California is wide open | | to any kind of sabotage and fifth | | column activity. R ST STYLES CHANGE DRY LUMBER DOESN'T 1 Call TUROVER WI. 6622 BETHESDA, MD. w,, DRY L R N Always Under Cover” Nation's Model Lumber Yard - Lost and Found | Lost Ads ond Death Notices { may be pluced in The Star | up to 12 noon—Lost and Found Ads are on page 3 every doy. Buy U.S. Defense Bonds Now of automobile and for most other mechanisms which have enriched " daily living. ‘When General Motors receiyed its first order it did not have a single machine really adapted for machine | gun making. Its employes had no experience in the art of constructing them. The first step was to get aAve.S0- Second A ons Kitchen. Sa7' s0 easy g a2 5 Gail Brancel, (00 e Test K 31Grand itS Mis inneapolis. ¢ M foe Betty Croc 1% tastes delici make. 100- " eady to COOK- ready der today- : : Minneapolit e prayer, hall of the Metropolis Apartments. Dr. Richard Purcell of the Catho- Metropolis View Defense Class fo Be Opened te Griversicy spoke on tne il f ‘Warden schools have been organ-| F. G. Sartwell made a plea in ized and are now ready to begin op- [ behalf of the Metropolitan Police eration in the area, Roland A. Speer | Boys’ Clubs, now conducting a drive told the Metropolis View Citizens’|for funds, and received $10. | Association last night. Mr. Speer, ————— who succeeded Vincent P. Boudren as executive warden of the area, NGVY Renames Yacht said schools will instruct persons in first ald and other essential air-| The Navy announced yesterday it raid courses every night except Fri- | is renaming the yacht Firenze, which day. it has acquired from Col. 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