The trend toward the acquisition of machinery that could perform operations rapidly was more obvious after the first decade of the twentieth century. High speed cutting steels, which were such a critical part of the movement known as Scientific Management, began to effect machining processes at a number of Ordnance Department facilities before the war. Many of the older machine tools could not handle the faster cutting speeds that new alloy cutting tools made possible. The introduction of higher speeds seems to have been a gradual process at Springfield, but in time it would help to create a strong demand for improved machine tools. The Armory purchased new furnaces for use with high speed steel cutters in 1908. A 1913 contract for Lincoln millers specified that "The bed is to be deep and is to be cast solid with a large oil pan, making an extremely rigid machine." The contract for this type of milling machine in 1902 had said nothing about the need for great rigidity, an attribute that becomes essential as cutting speeds increase.1

Pratt & Whitney Two Spindle Belt Driven Profiling Machines

Automatic operation was another way to speed up production, and it sometimes provided an additional economic benefit by reducing the level of skill required to run a machine. The above-mentioned 1913 contract asked that the millers have "a power quick return attachment" designed to "knock off automatically" at the end of the stroke. Automatic profilers purchased from Pratt & Whitney in 1912 were to have separate spindles for roughing and finishing and "automatic feed and hurryup [sic] motion between parts to be milled upon." In 1906 the Armory "designed and manufactured" its own automatic screw machine for making windage screws, increasing production to 400 screws in eight hours. Only 168 had been made with the "hand screw machines previously used." A single operator in 1916 made firing pin sleeves for the M1903 rifle at a rate of thirty per hour in one operation on a Cleveland automatic screw-machine, using six different cutting tools. An Armory order with Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Company in 1918 asked for automatic screw machines in three different sizes as well as automatic cutting off machines. By the end of the war, many operations were being done on automatic or partially automated machines.2

During World War I, the armory was unable to meet the heavy demand for rifles. The maximum combined production of the model 1903 rifle by both Springfield and Rock Island Arsenal was inadequate, and the Army had to turn to private makers who could manufacture the model 1917 modified Enfield rifle in large numbers.