Waste not, want not---Brodie helmets

[JMB1943]

I know, probably from the GWF, that the British Army sent out teams to recover arms & equipment from the battlefield.

This salvaged material could be potentially cleaned/refurbished etc back to standard and then re-issued.

This had me wondering about wastage that occurred during manufacturing processes, and whether there were any recycling procedures.

The only two processes of which I currently have numerical knowledge are those for the production of steel helmets (shown here) and the Patt. 1907 bayonet (to be shown in Arms sub-forum).

 

Starting with,

 Total number of furnace heats (i.e. batches of steel) from all steel-makers, N ~ 2274 (estimated from observed numbers stamped on underside of brim of helmet).

                                          Total of helmets produced H ~ 6 x 10^6

                                          [Avge. number helmets per batch is (6 x 16^6)/2274 = 2639]

                                          Helmet blank is 14.5 x 14.5 x 0.036 inches

                                          Wt. of blank = [(14.5 x 25.4)^2 x 0.036 x 25.4 x 7.89] = 979 g (34.5 oz), where density of steel ~ 7.89 g/mL 

                                          Specified maximum weight of helmet shell = 27 oz

                                          So wastage per helmet is 34.5 - 27 = 7.5 oz

                                          Total wastage is 6 x 10^6 x 7.5 = 45 x 10^6 oz

                                          Dividing by 34.5 gives = 1.3 x 10^6 additional helmets lost to wastage.

 

This was Hadfield steel (~13% manganese content), which allowed the helmets to be cold-pressed and there was no subsequent heat treatment.

I have seen no reference to the fate of the steel off-cuts.

From a metallurgical perspective, presumably this steel wastage could have been recycled.

 

Regards,

JMB

 

 

[aef1917]

In the manufacture of US m1917 helmets the scrap was recycled during the war and auctioned off after the war.  Since the US copied nearly everything else about the manufacture of Mk I helmets, it wouldn't surprise me if that were the case in the UK as well.

[Michael Haselgrove]

JMB,

Thanks for your post which I find very interesting, although I don't pretend to understand the maths. 

I can't specifically answer the question about the left-over material from pressing steel helmets although I would mention that some of the helmets were pressed from circular metal plates rather than square ones (see Sheffield's Great War and Beyond by Peter Warr) which may alter your calculations?

However, overall there was a massive effort to reduce waste and salvage left over metal and I see no reason to suppose that left-over metal from helmet manufacture was not included.  I attach a link to Hansard from June 1917. 

 

https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1917/jun/28/ministry-of-munitions

 

You may not want to read the whole thing but if you go to 575 in the right-hand margin in that paragraph this is reported:

"We have also instituted a system of scrap collecting and distribution. This is now getting into working order througout the country under the direction of Mr. Alexander Walker, and I hope that it will lead to the disappearance of those masses of scrap of all kinds which I have often seen in or about munition works."  He continues:

"We established an extensive Salvage Department, under Sir Charles Ellis, which works in co-operation with the Armies at the front, for the salvage, reshipping to this country, reforming and reissue of a large number of parts of munitions. We are now able to reform hundreds of thousands of 18-pounder cartridge cases per week. When it is remembered that the price of a new case is about 7s., and that it can be reformed four times, and that we are reforming cases at the cost of 4d. a case, the importance of this branch of work is obvious.".

As far as steel helmets are concerned, many of them were made in Sheffield.  Mr Joseph Ward of T.W. Ward & Co. of Sheffield was Chairman of the Ministry of Munitions' Scrap Advisory Committee.  As an aside, I was amazed to see the attached photo taken from Peter Warr's excellent book. 

Regards,

Michael.

 

[JMB1943]

AEF & Michael,

 

Thank you both for your comments.

My data for the 14.5 x 14.5 x 0.036 inch plate are from 

"Helmets and Body Armor in Modern Warfare" by Bashford Dean, 1920, Yale Univ. Press; available online.

His description is of the manufacture in the US, and I was not aware that some (at least) circular plates were pressed in the UK.

I have just looked at Peter Warr's book on Google Books, but the relevant section is, naturally, not available in the preview.

 

Regards,

JMB

 

 

 

 

 

[GRANVILLE]

Over on the thread concerning Production of Gas Masks, the booklet referred to has a fascinating section concerning the extraordinary lengths that British industry went to in the salvaging of respirators and their bags, so I have no doubts that every aspect of the Brodie helmet and its production would also have taken salvage very seriously, as indeed all aspects of war production.

David 

 

[JMB1943]

David,

 

With the U-boats sinking everything in sight, I'm sure that you are right.

Very little would have been wasted, but I don't recall seeing anything detailed in print, other than that booklet.

This may be a function of one only finds what one looks for!

 

Regards,

JMB