Edgewood Arsenal inspection

Unless otherwise indicated the section on power-driven decontamination units is based on (1) History of the Pittsburgh CWPD, pp, 228-34 (2) History of Chicago CWPD, 1 Jan 43-15 Aug 54, p. 70 (3) CWS Report of Produaion, 1 Jan 40 through 31 Dec 45, p. 2 (4) Hinckley interv, 9 Jan 58 (5) Interv, Hist Off with Col Carl Casto, 17 Apr 58 Casto was chief of the Edgewood Arsenal Inspection Off in WW II, which inspected the power-driven decon apparatus and made numerous suggestions for its improvement and (6) Interv, Hist Off with Ferdinand J. d Eustachio, 24 Apr 58. Mr. d Eustachio worked on the inspection and engineering problems of the decon apparatus in World War II. 

In the afternoon, another boat arrived with the commanding officer for this operation. He was a high officer in the chemical warfare corps, and he came directly from Edgewood Arsenal, the Chemical Warfere Service (CWS) headquarters. The officer sat in his boat fishing. From time to time his sergeant, as instructed, drove the boat to other points along the shore. He never got out of his boat to inspect the soldiers work and never spoke to anyone on the island. Finally, the officer and his sergeant went back to the fort. 

Between the summer of 1940 and the declaration of war, two changes were effected at CWS installations. In August 1940 Fort Hoyle, a Field Artillery installation adjacent to Edgewood Arsenal, was vacated and the land and buildings turned over to the CWS. This space was sorely needed in the period of expansion. In December 1940 an arsenal operations department was set up at Edgewood to supervise strictly arsenal functions such as production, service, and inspection. 

The actual writing of the specifications was done by the Technical Division at Edgewood Arsenal. All specifications were reviewed by a board made up of representatives of the Technical, Production, and Inspection Divisions of the arsenal. After the board had made a preliminary review of the specifications, the chiefs office sent them through the procurement district office to industrial firms experienced in the manufacture of the item. Final approval had to come from the Standards Division, Office of the Assistant Secretary of War. ... 

One of the greatest difficulties of the period was meeting the need for trained inspectors. In the peacetime years all CWS inspection was carried on at Edgewood Arsenal under the supervision of the Inspection, Safety, and Proof Division. Inspection was on a 100 percent basis that is, every major component was inspected on the manufaemring line and later each finished end item was inspected. In addition to the inspection of items being... 

Mass production of the gas mask gave rise to a number of problems. The mask and its major components were specialized military items unfamiliar to private industry moreover, as equipment which might mean the difference between life and death to the individual soldier, the Army required a high standard of precision in its manufacture. The first need of the contractors was for skilled and experienced workmen. There was but one place, Edgewood Arsenal, from which to draw them accordingly men and women from Edgewood s gas mask plant joined the assembly lines at the factories as instructors and inspectors. In some cases they remained to form the nucleus of permanent inspection teams. 

Maj F. B. Shaw, Jr., "Crating, Packing and Marking (a lecture before the Inspection School, Edgewood Arsenal), 15 Sep 43. CWS 314.7 Storage File. Major Shaw, a CWS reserve officer, directed CWS packaging research. (2) Pritchard, Birdsell, and Kleber, Chemicals in Combat. 

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