Munitions

At the start of the war artificer staff, who are normally employed on repairs to machinery and the manufacture of specialised machines, stamp plates, dies and seals, were redeployed to munitions work. Between 1939 and 1945 285 mechanics, including 50 women, produced munitions. When valued on a time and material basis this work exceeded £500,000, which roughly equates to £22 million today.

Machine for weighing and gauging ammunition cartridges

The munitions work was extremely varied but it all relied heavily on the precision engineering skills that Mint artificer had acquired through years of having to ensure that coins are weighed to extremely fine tolerances. These skills were adapted to producing cartridge weighing and gauging machines for ammunition, and the Mint’s Chief Mechanician, E W Steljes, designed a new automatic machine for this purpose. Nearly 200 of these were built in the Mint, including 19 which were packed and delivered overseas.