SIXTEEN SHELLS A MINUTE.

Taihape Daily Times, 6 May 1918, Page 6

SIXTEEN SHELLS A MINUTE.

The Schneider-Creusot works, the ! ammunition works where'the greatest number of the famous French 75's are made, covers a total area of 15,000 acres, 150 of which are used for buildings, says the Scientific American. To connect the different parts of the big plant 180 miles of railroad track are needed and 65 locomotives and 5700 cars. A total of 116,000 horse-power is employed in operating the works of which 4600 horse-power is electric. This plant has 80,000 employees and 4200 machine tools are in operation. One of these is 160 ft long. Outside the Schneider-Creusot works, France has, of course, a great number of other important armament plants. Several of these are entirely new. The 75 m.m. gun will shoot as many as 16 shells a minute, and there are guns which have fired 2000 shells a day. This means that 4000 to 5000 men will have to be continually on the job to make the shells needed for eight guns only. Of course, it happens very rarely that one gun is called upon tor such an achievement; but it is generally said that the French fired during the battle of the Marne a t" least 150,000 shells, weighing approximately 1350 tons. A factory equipment costing approximately 90,000 dollars, is required to turn out 100,000 rifle cartridges a cV.y, enough for a regiment of men for a day's battle.