Royal Ordnance factories

The most recent UK Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) continuous process for the manuf of TNT is described by Thomas (Ref 90b). It uses a novel method of achieving continuous counter-current contacting between heavy and light phases in the trinitration section and some of the washing stages . The plant is also designed to operate based on the use of 96—100% sulfuric acid in the trinitration stage instead of the oleum used at Radford TNT Purification. 

N.E.C. is the major manufacturer with a complete range of explosives and accessories, with factories in Scotland, Wales and England. Explosives and Chemical Products Ltd., with factories in England, is the other manufacturer of explosives for sale. The major commercial manufacturer of ammunition is Imperial Metal Industries (Kynoch) Ltd. at Witton near Birmingham. The British Government has of course a number of Royal Ordnance Factories and establishments to cover all aspects of military explosives. 

Defence expenditure is not mentioned in Nicholas Crafts comprehensive analysis in his Britain s Relative Economic Performance 1870-1999 (London Institute of Economic Affairs, 2002), but may have been a contributory factor to some of the reasons that he does give cartelisation and poor productivity in firms that were kept going instead of being allowed to fail (defence departments tried to keep contractors going, often peddling out small orders, so that these firms would be available in war) and poor productivity in nationalised industries (which include the royal dockyards and royal ordnance factories, and one major aircraft firm. Short Brothers, taken over in 1943, and kept going on account of the employment it offered in Northern Ireland long after it would have otherwise been closed down). 

By contrast, the War Office was very much constrained by lack of industrial capacity. Of the 250 national factories created by the Ministry of Munitions in the First World War, only three were retained through the inter-war period, and these were held in reserve and not rehabilitated until 1936-7. Munitions production down to 1936 was shared between the three historic royal ordnance factories at Woolwich,... 

RG rifle grenade ROF Royal Ordnance Factory(Brit)... 

After more badgering of officials, Culhane was appointed Manager of a statistical quality control department at a Royal Ordnance Factory and on the basis of her work, she was made a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society in 1943. Because salaries determined travel status, earning less than half the salary paid to males in the same position had a secondary effect — on train journeys to London, her male colleagues travelled First Class, while she had to sit alone in a Third Class compartment. Amazingly, she was not embittered... 

The examples used here are all the results of e qieriniental and investigational work in the Royal Ordnance Factories (Explosives), and the author s thanks are due to Mr. A. C. H. Caims, Mr. A. H. Woodhead, Mr. D. Newman and others whose collaboration has been invaluable in the development of the ideas and outlook presented here. The author is also indebted to Dr. R. C. Bowden, Director of Ordnance Factories (Explosives), for his active interest and encouragement throughout this work. 

Figure 3. Full-scale production (60-liter) kettle of British design as installed at Picatiimy Arsenal. Used at Royal Ordnance Factories for primary explosives manufacture in 2%-5-kg batches.

Subsequently the Chiefs of Staff issued a schedule of ammunition requirements for the overseas garrisons, calculated to be sufficient to fight the theoretical limited war for sixty days in the Middle East, ninety days in the Far East and ninety days south of Suez. A strategic home reserve was required sufficient to replenish the above for six months at a two division contact rate. It was proposed to maintain home reserves sufficient to replace each of the theatre reserves once within two years. As an economy measure duplicate stocks were to be held only for those natures of ammunition which could not be manufactured by the Royal Ordnance Factories or purchased on the open market within the two-year period. 

In the reorganization of July, 1963, Drakelow became S-RC 91 and assumed responsibility for the counties of Shropshire, Hereford and Worcestershire. It was intended that the eastern counties of the region would be administered from a new S-RC established at the redundant Royal Ordnance Factory at Swynerton. With the development of the Sub-Regional Headquarters in the 1970s Drakelow became SRHQ9.2. 

With the gathering of the war clouds in the mid-1930 s, plans were put in hand for a comprehensive scheme of rearmament by sea, land, and air. Ordnance Factories were planned for erection in various parts of the country, the necessary labor recruited and a comprehensive production plan formulated. By 1939 23 Royal Ordnance Factories (ROFs) had been planned and officially approved. By the time war came, seven... 

Directorate of Royal Ordnance Factories, Explosives Report of the Acid Plan Design Committee, Ministry of Supply, London, 1949. 

Royal College of Chemistry, 85, 98 Royal College of Physicians, 87,104-5 Royal College of Science, 122 Royal Flying Corps, 139 Royal Institntion, 69, 82, 84, 92, 97, 101, 104, 249, 257 Royal Ordnance Factory, see Qneensferry... 

One was the weapons side, which was initially based at Fort Halstead in Kent, before moving to Aldermaston. There were some outposts the warhead manufacture took place at the Royal Ordnance Factory at Burghfield, and there was another Royal Ordnance Factory in Cardiff. Orford Ness on the Suffolk coast was used for environmental testing and explosives testing for nuclear weapons, although no fissile material was involved. 

There were various methods for separating the isotopes, one being molecular distillation and another being a chemical process involving an amalgam with mercury. A distillation programme was started but with disappointing results. Eventually a conversion plant was set up at the Royal Ordnance Factory at Chorley in Lancashire. There was also another source of lithium the United States. 

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