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Show NEW PLANTS ARE CONSTRUCTED FOR U. S. DEFENSE It is almost impossible for any citizen to visualize the immense progress the United States is making mak-ing toward adequate defense. One of the most significant phases of this preparation is the construction of new plants to produce pro-duce weapons, munitions and supplies. sup-plies. It is impossible to keep up with all construction, but, occasionally, occas-ionally, the newspapers tell of a spectacular achievement. An example of this is the plant recently opened in Connecticut to, produce powerful, armor-piercing machine guns. Six months ago, a: vacant lot was selected as the site of the plant, and it is now producing pro-ducing more than 1500 weapons a month. The gun in production was designed de-signed by Carl G. Swebilius, well-known well-known producer of automatic weapons. wea-pons. It is a .50 calibre type machine ma-chine gun, firing 750 bullets per .minute. Each slug, a half-inch in diameter, and almost two inches long, leaves the muzzle of the weapon wea-pon with a velocity of 2,350 feet per minute. The plant is now working on a contract to provide 12,000 weapons for the British. It began operating less than seven months after the contract was discussed, because the company did not wait for new machine tools but took used machinery ma-chinery wherever possible and rebuilt re-built it when necessary. In fact, some of the machinery used in the factory came to the United States from France after the fall of that country to the Nazi invaders. |