Procurement of Impregnating Plants

Three types of impregnating plants, based on American Laundry Machine Co. models, were developed and standardized by 1S 43 (1) The Ml plant (zone of interior), a fixed type with a capacity of 9,000 units of clothing each 24 hours (2) the Ml plant (theater of operations) and (3) the M2 plant (theater of operations), which was a semifixed type with a capacity of almost 4,000 pounds per 24-hour day or 13,300 sets of clothing weekly. Both of the Ml plants were designed for the standard solvent process of impregnation in which CC-2 and chlorinated paraffin as a binder were dissolved in acetylene tetrachloride, applied to the clothing by uniform saturation, and the solvent then evaporated.  

Each zone of interior Ml plant cost 358,000 and each theater of operations Ml plant approximately 79,000. A total of thirty-four Ml theater of operations plants was procured in 1942 and 1943 from the American Laundry Machinery Co, and Proctor and Schwartz, Inc., under the super- 

Draft table, Dollar Volume of CWS Procurement, Protective Material, in folder. Unit and Dollar Summaries, Protective Storage and Issue, 1 Jul 40-31 Dec 45. CWS 314.7 Procurement Statistics File. 

The M2 plant used a water suspension method, developed in 1942 by a group under Dr. P. L. Salzberg at the Du Pont chemistry laboratories, involving micronized CC-2, chlorinated paraffin, and suspension and dispersing agents. This process, through the elimination of the toxic solvent, was simpler, safer, and more economical than the solvent process and was standardized for both the Army and Navy in mid-1943.  

The major portion of these M2 plants replaced Ml s or provided initial equipment for the thirty-nine processing companies activated between 1S 41 and 1945. All but one of these companies saw service overseas. In the absence of gas warfare, the companies were given secondary missions, in 

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