MARK II BOMB RELEASE MECHANISM FOR HANDLEY-PAGE MACHINE, SHOWING MARK I AND MARK IV BOMBS IN PLACE.
MARK IX-A RELEASE MECHANISM AS ATTACHED TO MARK II RELEASE FOR HANDLEY-PAGE PLANE.
The A. O. Smith Corporation had tooled up their factory so as to become one of our largest producers of airplane bombs. In addition to the contract already mentioned, during 1918 this concern received orders for approximately 300,000 demolition bombs of the 100-pound (Mark I) size. By November 11, 1918, they had turned out 153,000 of these and had developed a capacity for building 7,000 drop bombs daily. Another large manufacturer of drop bombs was McCord & Co., of Chicago, a concern which in 1918 received orders for nearly 100,000 bombs of the 250-pound, 550-pound, and 1000-pound sizes. By the day the armistice was signed this concern had produced 39,400 completed bombs. These bombs were the heaviest and largest ones intended for use by our service abroad.
The fragmentation bombs differ from the demolition bombs in that they have thick metal walls and consequently smaller charges of explosive. They throw showers of fragments like those of high-explosive artillery shell. The demolition bombs contain, on the other hand, the maximum possible amount of explosive and produce destruction by the force of explosion. Fragmentation bombs always have instantaneous firing mechanisms, while demolition bombs are usually provided with delayed fuses, allowing them to penetrate the target before explosion.
The fragmentation bombs produced by the Ordnance Bureau were smaller than the demolition type, the size most commonly used weighing 24 pounds. These bombs had thick cases and were constructed so that they would explode a few inches above the ground. As the bombs reach a velocity downward of over 500 feet per second, the mechanism had to operate to an accuracy of less than one-thousandth of a second. They were designed for use against bodies of troops.
The fragmentation bombs were a late development in this class of work. The timing device to explode the bomb at the proper distance from the ground was undertaken by three concerns. The contracts for approximately 600,000 of these devices were let in July, 1918. The John Thomson Press Co. of New York City completed its contract for 100,000 mechanisms by the end of October, 1918. The National Tool & Manufacturing Co. of St. Louis completed its contract for 100,000 shortly after the armistice was signed. The Yale & Towne Manufacturing Co., Stamford, Conn., which had contracted to build approximately 400,000 of these devices, had turned out 150,000 by the end of November, 1918. Other concerns which manufactured various parts for the fragmentation bombs were the American Seating Co. of Grand Rapids, Mich., makers of school desks and seats, and the Dail Steel Products Co. of Lansing, Mich.
Some idea of the quantity of fragmentation bombs in our program may be gained from the fact that the contract for the Cordeau-Bickford fuse used in the fragmentation bomb, let to the Ensign-Bickford Co. of Simsbury, Conn., called for the manufacture of 550,000 linear feet of fuse, or more than 100 miles of it. The contracts for fuse were placed in August and September, 1918, and the Ensign-Bickford Co. finished up the job on November 7, four days before the armistice was signed.