Edgewood Arsenal
The Ordnance Department, in making plans for a shell filling plant, thought to interest existing chemical firms in the manufacture of the required toxic materials. As plans developed, however, difficulties arose in carrying out this program. The manufacture of such material at private plants necessitated its shipment to the filling plant at Edgewood. The transportation of large quantities of highly toxic gases seemed attended with great danger. The Director General of Railroads ruled that all such shipments must be made by special train, a very expensive method of transportation. Still more serious objections were encountered in the attempt to enlist the co-operation of existing firms. They recognized that the manufacture of such material would be attended by very great danger; that the work would be limited to the duration of the war; and that the processes involved, as well as the plants necessary for carrying out their processes, would have little post-war value. Moreover, such firms as had the personnel and equipment were already over-worked. With a few exceptions (notably the American Synthetic Color Company, the Oldbury Electro-Chemical Co., Zinsser & Co., and the Dow Chemical Company) they were unwilling to undertake work of this character on any terms whatever.
Early in December, 1917, therefore, it was decided to erect, on the site of the shell filling plant, such chemical plants as would be necessary to furnish the toxic materials required for filling the shell. The Arsenal is situated in an isolated district, twenty miles east of Baltimore, Maryland, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, and comprises 3,400 acres. Since the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad runs on one side of the tract, while on another is the Bush River, only a few miles from its mouth in Chesapeake Bay, the tract was ideally situated for shipping. This site was referred to, at first, as “Gunpowder Reservation,” but on May 4, 1918, the name was officially changed to “Edgewood Arsenal.”
Fig. 6.—Edgewood Arsenal.
The upper view shows the site as it appeared Oct. 24, 1917. The lower view shows the same as it appeared nine months later.
Some idea of the extent of the work may be gained from the following facts. On October 1, 1918, there were 233 officers, 6,948 enlisted men and 3,066 civilians engaged in work at Edgewood. 86 cantonments were built, accommodating about 8,500 men, while the five officers’ barracks provided accommodations for 290. The completed hospital unit consisted of 34 buildings, accommodating 420 patients under ordinary conditions. The total number of buildings erected on the Arsenal grounds was 550. 14.8 miles of improved roads were built, and 21 miles of standard gauge and 15 miles of narrow gauge railway. A system furnishing 9.5 million gallons of salt water and another furnishing two millions of fresh water daily were successfully installed. Large power plants were built in connection with the shell filling plants and the chlorine plant.
Plants for phosgene, chloropicrin, mustard gas, chlorine and sulfur chloride were built and placed in successful operation. Most of the raw materials, with the exception of sulfur chloride, were obtained from commercial firms. The other gases and manufactured materials used, such as phosphorus, tin and silicon tetrachlorides, bromobenzylcyanide and arsenic derivatives were supplied by various plants scattered through the East and Middle West States.
The raw materials used by the Arsenal in 1918 were as follows:
| Salt | 17,358,000 | pounds |
| Bleach | 42,384,000 | “ |
| Picric acid | 3,718,000 | “ |
| Alcohol | 3,718,000 | “ |
| Sulfur | 24,912,000 | “ |
| Sulfur chloride | 6,624,000 | “ |
| Bromine | 238,000 | “ |
| Benzyl chloride | 26,000 | “ |
The production of toxic materials and the amount shipped overseas in bulk follow:
| Production, Pounds | Shipped in Bulk, Pounds | |
|---|---|---|
| Chlorine: | ||
| Liquid | 5,446,000 | 2,976,000 |
| Gaseous | 2,208,000 | |
| Chloropicrin | 5,552,000 | 3,806,000 |
| Phosgene | 3,233,070 | 840,000 |
| Mustard gas | 1,422,000 | 380,000 |
| Bromobenzyl cyanide | 10,000 | |
| White phosphorus | 2,012,000 | 342,000 |
| Tin tetrachloride | 2,012,000 | 212,000 |
| Titanium tetrachloride | 362,000 |
For nearly a month previous to the signing of the Armistice, the various plants at the Arsenal had shut down or were operated only to an extent sufficient to maintain the machinery and equipment in good working order, on account of the lack of shell into which to fill the gas, so that the above figures do not at all represent maximum productive capacity.
These plants will be described in the appropriate chapters.
The shell filling plant was really composed of several small plants, each of which was made up of units radiating from a central refrigeration plant which would serve all the units. Each unit could then be fitted with machinery adapted for filling shell of a different size, and for a particular gas. Moreover, an accident in one of the units would in no way impair the working of the remainder.
The problem involved in the filling of a shell with toxic material (which is always a liquid or a solid and never a gas under the conditions in which it is loaded in the shell) is similar in a way to that of filling bottles with carbonated water. In the development of plans for the filling plant, many suggestions were obtained from a study of the apparatus used in commercial bottling plants. It was necessary to keep in mind not only the large number of shell to be filled, but also the highly toxic character of the filling material to be used. It was essential that the work of filling and closing the shell should be done by machinery in so far as that was possible, and that the operation should be carried out in a thoroughly ventilated room or tunnel, arranged so that the machinery contained in the tunnel could be operated from the outside. Special care was taken in closing the shell, the closing being accomplished by motors actuated by compressed air, which, in the closing process were driven until they stalled. In this way a uniform closing torque was obtained. The final results secured were admirable, as is evidenced by the fact, reported by the Quartermaster Officer at Vincennes on November 15, 1918, that not a single leaky shell had been found among the 200,000 shell received up to that date.
Fig. 7.—A Typical Shell filling Plant at Edgewood Arsenal.
Details of the filling process will be found in the [chapter on Phosgene].
Besides the ordinary gas filling plants (of which one was completed and two were 80 per cent completed) there was a plant for stannic chloride grenades, one for white phosphorus grenades, and one for smoke shell also filled with phosphorus and a plant for filling incendiary bombs.
Shell are designated by their diameter in inches or millimeters. The approximate amount of toxic gas required for filling each type of shell (10.5 per cent void) is as follows:
| Shell | Phosgene, Pounds | N. C.,[13] Pounds | Mustard Gas, Pounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 75 mm | 1.32 | 1.75 | 1.35 |
| 4.7 inch | 4.27 | 6.20 | 4.20 |
| 155 mm | 11.00 | 15.40 | 10.35 |
| 8 inch | 22.00 | 30.30 | 21.60 |
| Livens | 30.00 |
The gas grenades held 0.446 pound of stannic chloride, and the smoke grenades held 0.67 pound of white phosphorus.
The only type of shell filled was the 75 mm. variety, because either the shell of the other sizes or the accompanying boosters (bursting charges) were not available.
The work done by the filling plant is shown by the following figures, representing the number of shell, grenades, etc.
75 mm. Shell
| Filled | Shipped Overseas | |
|---|---|---|
| Phosgene | 2,009 | |
| N. C. | 427,771 | 300,000 |
| Mustard gas | 155,025 | 150,000 |
| Livens Drum | ||
| Phosgene | 25,689 | 18,600 |
| Grenades | ||
| White phosphorus | 440,153 | 224,984 |
| Tin tetrachloride | 363,776 | 175,080 |
| Incendiary Drop Bomb | ||
| Mark I. | 542 | |
| Mark II. | 2,104 | |
The total monthly capacity of the filling plants at the date of the Armistice was as follows:
| Pounds | |
| 75 mm. shell | 2,400,000 |
| 4.7 inch shell | 450,000 |
| 155 mm. shell | 540,000 |
| 6 inch shell | 180,000 |
| Gas grenade | 750,000 |
| Smoke grenade | 480,000 |
| Livens drum | 30,000 |
One point relating to the casualties resulting from the work should perhaps be mentioned here. The number of casualties should change the mind of anyone who feels that men chose this work as being “safe” instead of going to France. During the six months from June to December there were 925 casualties, of which three were fatal, two being due to phosgene and one to mustard gas. These were divided among the different gases as follows:
| Mustard gas | 674 |
| Stannic chloride | 50 |
| Phosgene | 50 |
| Chloropicrin | 44 |
| Chlorine | 62 |
| Other material | 45 |
Of these 279 occurred during August, 197 during September and 293 during October. Since production stopped early in November, there were only 14 during that month and three during December.
The Staff at Edgewood Arsenal at the signing of the Armistice was as follows:
| Commanding Officer | Colonel Wm. H. Walker | |
| Administrative Officers |  | Lt. Colonel George Cahoon, Jr. |
| Lt. Col. Edward M. Ellicott | ||
| Lt. Col. Wm. C. Gallowhur | ||
| In Charge of Outside Plants |  | Lt. Col. Wm. McPherson |
| Major Adrian Nagelvoort | ||
| Major Charles R. Wraith | ||
| Captain John D. Rue | ||
| Shell Filling Plant | Lt. Col. Edwin M. Chance | |
| Chlorine Plant | Lt. Col. Charles Vaughn | |
| Chemical Plants | Major Dana J. Demorest | |
| Chemical Laboratory | Major William L. Evans | |
As the work of the Arsenal expanded it was necessary to manufacture certain of the chemicals at outside plants. The men in charge of these plants were:
| Bound Brook, N. J. | Lt. William R. Chappell |
| Stamford, Conn. | Lt. V. E. Fishburn |
| Hastings-on-Hudson, N. Y. | Major F. G. Zinnsser |
| Niagara Falls, N. Y. | Major A. Nagelvoort |
| Buffalo, N. Y. | Lt. A. W. Davison |
| Kingsport, Tenn. | Lt. E. M. Hayden |
| Charleston, W. Va. | Lt. M. R. Hoyt |
| Midland, Mich. | Major M. G. Donk |
| Croyland, Pa. | Capt. A. S. Hulburt |
After the Armistice, Edgewood Arsenal was selected as the logical home of the Chemical Warfare Service, and all the outside activities of the Service were gradually closed up and the physical property and files moved to Edgewood. At first the command of the Arsenal was in the hands of Lt. Col. Fries, but when he was appointed Chief of the Service, Major E. J. Atkisson, who had so successfully commanded the First Gas Regiment, A. E. F., was happily chosen his successor. At the present time (July 1, 1921), the organization of Edgewood Arsenal is as follows:
| Commanding Officer | Major E. J. Atkisson |
| Executive Officer | Major R. C. Ditto |
| Technical Director | Dr. J. E. Mills |
| Chemical Division | Mr. D. B. Bradner |
| Mechanical Division | Mr. S. P. Johnson |
| Plant Division | Capt. E. G. Thompson |
| Chemical Warfare School | Major O. R. Meredith |
| Property | Major A. M. Heritage |
| First Gas Regiment | Major C. W. Mason |
| Mask Production Division | Lt. L. A. Elliott |
| Medical Department | Major T. L. Gore |
| Pathological Division | Lt. H. A. Kuhn |
| Quartermaster Department | Capt. H. L. Hudson |
| Finance Department | Capt. C. R. Insley |