“SPIT AND POLISH”

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXXI, Issue 8833, 14 October 1942, Page 3

“SPIT AND POLISH”

DOING AWAY WITH PRACTICE BRITAIN’S NEW CAP BADGES LONDON, July 25. One million cap badges which do not need “spit and polish” are the latest contribution of Britain’s. plastic industry to .the war. Plastics do not shine like the metal they are saving but the heavier relief of the moulding process unexpectedly brings out the details of the design. An entire Army division can be equipped with_ the new badges in two or three days. Only about one cwt. of cellulose acetate is required, as against five times the quantity of metal and the orders for the first million badges have been placed with factories which in peace time made brooches, buttons and fancy goods. For each badge a special die is made in high quality steel and units which already have their own die include the New Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Army Catering Corps, Intelligence Corps, Army Physical Training Corps, R.A.0.C., R.A., R.A.P.C., R.A.S.C., and line units like the Suffolk, Middlesex and West Yorks Regiments. The Reconnaissance Corps, Army Air . Corps and Army Educational Corps will soon be having their dies, as will the General Service Enlistment Corps into which all recruits are now being directed for six weeks to find out what they can do. Ten of the new badges weigh one ounce, as against two of metal to the ounce. Apart from metal, they save solder because, instead of being soldered on, their metal attachment is embedded in the moulding as it cools.