ARMY EQUIPMENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24968, 15 July 1942, Page 3

ARMY EQUIPMENT

DOMINION ACHIEVEMENT 130 UNIVERSAL CARRIERS A MONTH (Special) WELLINGTON, July 14. Considering our limitations of manpower and resources, New Zealand industry has established a record in the production of war material which few, if any, countries can surpass. The greatest of these achievements is the manufacture by our engineers of universal carriers from blue prints and raw materials to the finished vehicle. Within three months of the commencement of final assembly an output of 130 completely equipped carriers a month was reached, and the organisation is now being planned to double this output in the near future. The immensity of this achievement, however, cannot be measured in terms of units alone, for behind it lies an amazing story of planning and organisation. The initial order for hundreds of carriers for local defence has been completed and delivered to the army. Early in the war the Government and the army knew that deliveries of completed carriers from overseas were uncertain and production in New Zealand became a vital question. So urgent was the need and so huge the undertaking that no one factory was capable of expanding within itself to handle such a project. In the key assembly plant of the main contractors, technicians worked to weld all the available resources of New Zealand into one high-speed production unit. For weeks on end they averaged 77 hours a week—a record for New Zealand industry. It was planned to produce 10 pep week after five months, but a rate of 10 per week was achieved by the end of the fifth week. Within three months an output of 130 carriers in one month was reached.

More Than Four Tons in Weight Bigger, heavier, and more powerful than the well-known Bren gun carrier, these universal carriers, weighing more than four tons and capable of high cross-country speeds, were no mere "assembly" job. Had it been so. New Zealand's established plants could have rolled them off their lines in hundreds as just part of the day's work. Nor was it a matter of copying and duplicating specimen parts. All that was available to the many firms who participated in the manufacturing were blue prints and'specifications.

Rough hewn and husky though these carriers are, they contain precision units the manufacture of which was considered impossible by the overseas manufacturer failed to deliver on and physical tests are constantly necessary to ensure satisfaction. Test pieces are flown by plane to delicate machines in a New Zealand university which register to the pound the force necessary to twist them. Typical of the resource of New Zealand engineers was the success achieved with the manufacture of couplings. Because of the terrific stress imposed on the carriers when travelling across rock or ditches, no standard pattern universal joint could possibly stand the strain. A coupling of unique design, containing over 90 precision parts, was imported from overseas. Suddenly a -stoppage of production threatened when the overseas manufacturer failed to deliver on time. So complex was the coupling, involving castings, forgings, special heat treatments, and intricate precision machining to l/2000ths of an inch, that the original suppliers estimated that it would take two to three months just to tool up for production in New Zealand. A Christchurch engineering firm, entrusted with the mass production of these couplings, delivered the first coupling in less than 30 days from the first suggestion that this important part would have to be made in New Zealand. Huge Key Factory From Auckland, from Thames, Palmerston North, Dannevirke, Marton, Stratford, Christchurch and Dunedm, from railway workshops, from factories large and small, scattered throughout the country, flow a stream of these manufactured parts, each one so carefully made and true to blueprint specifications that all come together with a precision which eliminates time-wast-ing " fitting." Initial deliveries arrived ahead of time, and, in many cases, in the opinion of experts, better than imported .components would have been. New Zealand was fortunate in having at hand a key assembly factory. In one of the largest motor plants, occupying more than six acres of floor space, were the huge overhead cranes traversing the. full length of a 460 ft assembly bay, gigantic 400-ton presses, heavy-duty welding, cutting and drilling machines that alone could handle the huge armour plate bodies. Here men had retooled machines, made or erected jigs and gantries and organised a steady inflow of materials. The Munitions Controller, the Ministry of Supply, and other Government departments worked with private enterprise to secure in record time the additional specialised tools, the special steel, the armour plate and raw materials necessary for urgent and early production. In spite of the difficulties, in spite of problems in the supply of raw materials, New Zealand's munitions programme is an accomplished fact. Machine gun carriers, light armoured vehicles, grenades, bombs, trench mortars, munitions in a score of categories, "made in New Zealand," now flow from our factories in an ever-growing flood to swell the strength and power of New Zealand's ability to strike back and strike hard.

SHIPS FOR THE NAVY

PROGRESS IN DOMINION

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, July 14. Giving particulars of New Zealand's naval construction programme to-day, the Minister of Supply, Mr D. G. Sullivan, who stated that details had to be limited for security reasons, said that when the full story of the country's war effort was told after the war the work in the shipyards would take its place as a major item. Already three composite minesweepers had been constructed and were in commission, and the men manning them spoke in the highest terms of their construction and seaworthiness.

While it was not possible to give details of other vessels under construction, he could say the riveting hammers were being kept very busy and the workers were spending long hours on a programme which included minesweepers. 110-foot Fairmile patrol vessels, and 72-foot harbour defence launches. The engines for the minesweepers were being built in New Zealand. The Fairmile vessels were mostly an assembly job, the extent of which would not be realised by the public until they were seen afloat. Mr Sullivan paid a tribute to the Australian and British Governments for helping with supplies of essential materials and equipment, but said the greatest debt of gratitude was due to the workmen who were working long hours, often in exposed positions, to get the vessels into the water in the shortest possible time.