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Showing results for tags 'ww1 victory shell lamp'.
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ww1 victory shell lamp WW1 Victory Shell Lamp
Gildwiller1918 posted a topic in De-activated and Antique Guns, Munitions and Fuzes
Here is an interesting item I just picked up, a WW1 victory shell that was made into a lamp. It has an inscription on the driving band that reads: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation. Shall they learn war anymore." This is a shell from the T.A. Gillespie run Morgan shell loading plant explosion which occurred on October 4th 1918 in New Jersey, USA. At the time, this plant was one of the largest munitions factories in the world. Around 730 in the evening, there was an explosion, believed to be accidental in nature, which quickly spread fires resulting in additional explosions, which lasted for 3 days. The explosions and fire destroyed the plant and over 300 surrounding buildings. The plant employed around 6,000 people and it is estimated that at least a hundred died and hundreds more were wounded. Damages exceeded 18 million dollars (around 350 million dollars today) and it was estimated that the munitions lost could have supplied the western front for 6 months. While not the largest explosion in history it is noted that since it lasted over three days and over 12 million pounds of explosives were set off. Since there were live munitions spread over several miles, the surrounding areas had to be evacuated, with around 60,000 people moved out of harms way, however this had a negative side effect as the evacuees were placed in tightly packed areas, the influenza pandemic spread quickly through those areas, and people in this region suffered very high losses. The shell shown below is a high explosive 75mm or 3 inch shell, used by the French and US forces. The war was over by the time the plant was safe to enter, so remaining stocks of ammunition were sold off or converted to other products, such as the lamp made by the Snead Company, patented in April of 1919. To this day, shells and shrapnel are still being discovered.