Edgewood Arsenal manufacturing plants

Three suhposts fell in 1968 under the administrative control of Edgewood Arsenal. They were Pine Bluff Arsenal, Ark Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Colo and Weldon Spring Army Chemical Plant, Mo. The first two specialized in various aspects of chemical testing, procurement, manufacture, and research, whereas the Weldon Spring facility was readied for the production of a chemical defoliant for use in Vietnam... 

Conduct exploratory and engineering activities in the methods and technology of manufacture as applied to assigned commodities and their components, materials and ancillary equipment except projectile metal parts wiiich are the responsibility of Frankford Arsenal, and specified elements of chemical items which are tne re. sponsibility of Edgewood Arsenal. This is to include support of plant/facilities modernization within ARMCOM, abatement of environmental contamination caused by manufacturing processes and exploitation of automation techniques... 

Fig. 2-20. The Mustard Manufacturing Plant at Edgewood Arsenal, Md. Photograph Chemical and Biological Defense Command Historical Research and Response Team, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.

Chemical Plants, Edgewood Arsenal. By 1918, toxic agents totaling 6jy tons per week were being manufactured here. 

The peacetime restrictive policy of the War Department had a marked effect on CWS procurement and supply activities. Manufacture of all toxics was completely discontinued and the plants at Edgewood Arsenal fell into a state of disrepair. The only toxics in existence in the U.S. Army from 1922 to 1937 were some leftovers from World War I that were held in... 

After the armistice the service selected chloroacetophenone as the standard American tear gas. It erected a manufacturing plant at Edgewood Arsenal (1922), and developed a number of munitions for dispersing solid CN or solutions of CN in the field. The solid could be scattered from shells and grenades by means of high explosives, and volatilized from pots and candles by means of heat. Solutions of CN in chloroform (CNC), with chloropicrin in chloroform (CNS), and in carbon tetrachloride and benzene (CNB) could be thrown out by grenades, shells, and high pressure cylinders. 

As a result of our recent visit to Edgewood Arsenal, I am not favorably impressed with the idea of rehabilitating the Chemical Warfare manufacturing plant. It would seem advisable to have more manufacturing work done by commercial plants and utilize funds to become available for the Edgewood Arsenal for experimental and developmental projects. The question of secrecy in manufacturing processes may have some effect on outside manufacture but should not prevent it. ... 

The amounts appropriated to the CWS were arrived at only after the most painstaking calculations. As previously, the CWS passed its estimates on to the General Staff, but in June 1940 Mr, Knudsen also become interested in the estimates. On 11 June Mr. Knudsen informed the Assistant Secretary of War that he wanted the answers to two questions "How much munitions productive capacity does this country need and how rapidly must it become available. That Mr. Knudsen did not confine his attention solely to the broad aspects of these questions is shown by the fact that on the very day he made his inquiry he personally received a reply from the Chief, CWS, listing quantities and unit prices of critical items as approved by the War Department for procurement and manufacture by CWS, as well as supplemental lists of critical and essential items. Six days later the Chief, CWS, in a memorandum to the Assistant Secretary of War, gave detailed data on the new arsenal and plant facilities that would be needed to meet the requirements of the PMP (1,000,000 men), and its augmentation to 4,000,000 men, and requested that the data be passed on to Commissioner Knudsen, who was evidently anxious to get the facts. The Chief, CWS, listed the rehabilitation of Edgewood Arsenal which he estimated would require 15 months to complete, a new 21,000,000 arsenal to require 18 months, and 5,000,000 worth of government owned plants in industry to require 15 months to complete. 

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. 

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