matter
of machines as well as men. In August 1914 the Company issued a notice
asking as many as possible to enlist, particularly young men, and,
though the need for continuity in the factory was pointed out, nearly
500 joined up during August. By the end of the year one-third colours.
Although the War Office began to refuse those who could not produce
a certificate of dispensability, it was not until a year after war
broke out that the drain of valuable men from the works was stopped.
Far too many craftsmen had left—a lesson that was borne in mind
on a later occasion.
 Manufacturing
activities were carried on not only under difficult conditions with
regard to men and materials but also under a special sense of urgency;
the annual summer shut-down was forgone for a time. Rapid output was
essential, and it had to be secured with an ever-changing body of
workers. Men went off to the services and were replaced by others
with less skill or, more frequently, by women and girls; these certainly
rose to the occasion, but they had to be trained at a time when every
minute was important.
Almost
everything that was made had a war purpose, direct or indirect.
There was an enormous demand for equipment for power supply, for
munition factories and for use in the field and at sea, and this
greatly increased the load on the works. As examples at random,
marine turbines were made for the 'standard' ships built to offset
those sunk by submarines, other turbines were made for Russian ordnance
factories, and narrow-gauge petrol-electric locomotives were made
for carrying ammunition and supplies on service.
Actual
war material manufactured included field gun parts, engines for
tanks and submarines, mines and mine-sweeping paravanes, shells,
bombs and fuses, and aircraft magnetos. As these last had been practically
a German monopoly, some supplies of Dixie magnetos were got from
America, but the work of modifying them came to a sudden end when
a Zeppelin was brought down at Cufley. A Bosch magneto salvaged
from the wreckage was sent to the works, and in due course machine
and assembly shops were set up in the instrument and meter department
and manufacturing methods developed, chiefly by G. A. Cheetham.
The results were creditable enough, as the 'Bosch' magnetos eventually
produced in large numbers were said to be the best used by our airmen.
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