Chemical defense equipment early

In the late 1990s the company finally conceded defeat and disposed of many of its unrelated businesses. It sold its defense business in 1997 and sold off or formed joint ventures in a number of specialty chemicals operations in the following years. In 2001 came the big step the spin off of the company s food and equipment businesses into a new company, FMC Technologies. FMC Corporation itself remained a focused producer of specialty, industrial, and agricultural chemicals—about half its size in the early 1990s, but more profitable. 

The Gas Service was enlarged to meet the demands of its many responsibilities whenever men and equipment became available. For example, a completely staffed and equipped laboratory arrived in France early in 1918 and an officers training camp was organized in France later in the year. The provision of a laboratory had been one of the projects of the Office of Gas Service since the time of its organization in the United States in October 1917. The increasing demands on the service resulted in the reorganization of Fries s immediate office in March 1918 to combine offense and defense into a Military Division and to establish a Technical and a Production and Supply Division. In May the Military Division was again separated into Offense and Defense Divisions. Finally, in June, the Gas Service in the United States was converted into the Chemical Warfare Service, National Army. The Gas Service, AEF, became the CWS AEF, officially the... 

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