Ordnance department

History. The US Army organization that formerly, for over 100 years, had responsibility for the design, manufacture and procurement from private industry of weapons, ammunition and vehicles, for the training of personnel in their use, and for their storage, issue and maintenance. The Ordnance Department also served both the Navy and Air Force as directed by higher authority... 

The formation of the Ordnance Department resulted from four events following cessation of hostilities in 1784. In 1785, the Secretary of War was charged with taking into his care all military stores, equipment, and supplies of the US Army. Second, a Surveyor of Ordnance was authorized in 1789. Third, Congress provided for the erection and repair of magazines and arsenals, and for the establishment of national armories. Fourth, in 1795, a Purveyor of Public Supplies was appointed to conduct the procurement of all military and naval stores necessary for the service of the USA. Finally, the establishment of the Ordnance Department as a separate corps was effected by Congressional Act of 14 May 1812... 

On 28 June 1950, Public Law 581, known as the Army Reorganization Act, replaced the National Defense Act of 1920, changing the name of the Ordnance Department to Ordnance Corps, and merged Field and Coast Artillery (Ref 2)... 

The mission originally assigned to the Ordnance Department was to design, develop, procure, store, maintain, and supply to the Army such equipment and supplies as are assigned to the Ordnance Department for procurement, in such quantities and at such times as are required to meet the requirements of Army supply programs and other directives of higher authority. 

Organization. The monolithic structure of the Ordnance Department culminated in 1945 with the following organization and responsibilities ... 

In 1879 (Congress appropriated funds for the establishment of a powder depot near New York. Major F.H. Parker of the Ordnance Department inspected nine possible ates within 100 miles of Manhattan. On the basis of those attributes already mentioned, the Picatinny Valley site was chosen. On September 6, 1880, the War Department purchased 1866 acres in the valley for 62,750. The Secretary of War designated the reservation as the Dover Powder Depot. Four days later he issued an order changing the name to the Picatinny Powder Depot. Six days later, on September 16,1880, Major Parker was named the first Commanding Officer. In June 1883, the name was again changed to the U.S. Powder Depot... 

During die period 1920—1941 extended research was conducted by the Ordnance Department to develop small arms explosive bullets. No round was developed which functioned with complete satisfaction in a hot machine gun barrel, the decomposition temperature of all known military explosives is lower than the temperature encountered in the combat firing of small arms machine guns. The nearest approach to a satisfactory explosive cartridge was the TI Pomeroy type... 

Under Behavior Towards Metals and Other Substances. AN very definitely attacks shellac, baked oils and natural rubber compounds if applied as a coating. The only materials that we know of which can be used as coatings for AN and AN solutions are certain polyvinyl chloride coatings and a number of epoxy resins. The Ordnance Department used acid-proof black paint, shellac, baked oil and rubber paints. All were quite unsuccessful over long periods of time... 

Up until 1950 it was known as Army Ordnance Department. The Dept was created by an Act of Congress. 14 May 1812. Prior to this, in colonial days, the colonists used ammunition and weapons seized from the British either on land or seas and originally the Quartermasters Corps handled supply problems. Some muskets were produced by locksmiths imported from France and West... 

After establishing the Army Ordnance Department, the construction of several arsenals (qv)was authorized by the Congress. For testing of weapons and ammunition, the so-called Sandy Hook Proving Ground, New York was established. This was replaced in 1917 by the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland... 

After WWU the activities of the Dept were greatly reduced, but were again increased when the Korean War started (1950). At this time the Army Ordnance Department was renamed the Army Ordnance Corps... 

Refs 1)H.W.Miller, "Railway Artillery," Ordnance Department Document No 2034, Washington, DC (1922) 2)J.R.Newman, "Tools of War," Doubleday Doran Co,... 

Co ward-McCann,NY(l 946) 5)H.Bimey l Cross Reference Dictionary of Abbreviations and Symbols, Ordnance Department Research and Development Division,FortBliss,Texas(1949)... 

Loss of weight. One of the oldest and simplest quantitative methods is the determination of the loss of weight of a sample heated at a constant temperature. The original Sy-test [90] used in the U.S.A. for determining the stability of nitrocellulose and nitrocellulose powder ( U.S. Ordnance Department 115° Test ) consisted in heating a sample of the substance on a watch-glass at 115+0.5°C. 

Figure 56. C. G. Storm. Author of numerous articles and government publications on the properties, testing, and analysis of smokeless powder and high explosives. Explosives Chemist at Navy Powder Works, 1901-1909, at U. S. Bureau of Mines, 1909-1915 Directing Chemist, Aetna Explosives Company, 1915-1917 Major and Lieutenant-Colonel, Ordnance Department, 1917-1919 Research Chemist, Trojan Powder Company, 1919 Chief Explosives Chemical Engineer, Office of the Chief of Ordnance, War Department, 1919-1942 since early in 1942, Technical Director, National Fireworks, Inc.

About 1900 the Navy Department built the Naval Powder Factory at Indian Head, Maryland. The plant was capable of producing several thousand pounds of smokeless powder per day, and was enlarged during the course of a few years to a capacity of about 10,000 pounds daily. About 1907 the Ordnance Department, U. S. Army, built at Picatinny Arsenal, Dover, New Jersey, a powder plant with a capacity of several thousand pounds per day. 

Lead azide is produced as a white precipitate by mixing a solution of sodium azide with a solution of lead acetate or lead nitrate. It is absolutely essential that the process should be carried out in such manner that the precipitate consists of very small particles. The sensitivity of lead azide to shock and to friction increases rapidly as the size of the particles increases. Crystals 1 mm. in length are liable to explode spontaneously because of the internal stresses within them. The U. S. Ordnance Department specifications require that the lead azide shall contain no needle-shaped crystals more than 0.1 mm. in length. Lead azide is about as sensitive to impact when it is wet as when it is dry. Dextrinated lead azide can apparently be stored safely under water for long periods of time. The belief exists, however, that crystalline service azide becomes more sensitive when stored under water because of an increase in the size of the crystals. 

Ordnance Department or Depot outside diameter Organization for European Economic Cooperation oskolochno-fugasnyi(Rus) (fragmentation with heaving action)... 

Chemical Symbols and British Standard No 813," London(1938) 2)H.J.Stephenson,"A Dictionary of Abbreviations Macmillan,NY(lS>43) 3)Barnes-Gibson Raymond, Division of Associated Spring Corp,"A Civilian Dictionary of Wartime Abbtevi ations",Detroit ll,Michigan(1945) 4) .F.Allen, "Allen s Dictionary of Abbreviations and Symbols" Coward-McCann,NY(1946) 5)H.Bimey, CK)ss Reference Dictionary of Abbreviations and Symbols,"Ordnance Department Research and Development Division,FortBli5S,Texas(lS>49)... 

J. vonNeumann, First Draft of a Report on the Edvac , Contract No. W-670-ORD-4926 between the U. S. Army Ordnance Department and the University of Pennsylvania Moore School of Electrical Engineering, University of Pensylvania, 1945. 

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