Carrier armour manufacturer?

[kosbie]

having had my Canadian Mk I blasted prior to restoration I came a cross a stamping 'SDA GALT' I have not seen before on the rear protection plate - see photo. I assume the location is chance as it is upside down and oblique. The carrier was made by Ford but I assume they didn't make their own armour so I can only assume this was that GALT was the company making the armour? Can any of the Canadian guys confirm this?

Rick

[Grant Bowker]

I almost guarantee that Galt was the place of manufacture (leaving SDA as the maker) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge,_Ontario
I don't know anything with certainty about who SDA were but one possibility is Shurly-Dietrich-Atkins (established 1873) who made saws and related tools in Galt with a branch plant in Vancouver.

[brengunman]

I've hear that when the armour, which was made from boiler plate (high carbon steel), was hardened by a quench and temper process, that it sometimes warped and was unusable. This was causing production delays so Ford (or maybe Montreal Locomotive Works who built the carrier hulls) looked for someone who could straighten warped steel panels. Apparently they found a manufacturer of lumber mill saw blades who had the expertise since saw blades must run true. Maybe these were the guys.
George

[Ron Pier]

I think that is why there is often chisel marks in armour plate. It's from the hammer blows that straighten the laminated steel. Ron

[rob love]

I just finished sandblasting a carrier about 2 weeks ago, and found that SDA Galt mark several times, sometimes two and three times on the same plate.

The hammer marks will be the straightening process. As well, there is a fixed number of little punch marks (usually 5 on each side armour) with a cleaned circular area around each. It is thought this is some kind of hardness testing. There are normally 4 of them in a rectangular formation on the larger portion of the side armour, and one more on the smaller portion of the side armour. I have found this to be the case with both mk1 and mk2 armour.

As well, sanding marks can be seen where factory holes were drilled for things like the smoke discharger mount or the antenna mounts. I am unsure whether these were punched before hardening or drilled before hardening.

There are about 3 pages in the design branch records re the manufacture of armour plate in Canada. If there is interest I could photograph them and post them here. I can't scan them as I don't wish to break the spine on these rather uncommon manuals.

[japes]

Grant's info is confirmed by Peter Ford's Infoex. Shurley-Dietrich Atkins of Galt is listed as making armour plate and universal carrier components.

J.P.

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by rob love

...

There are about 3 pages in the design branch records re the manufacture of armour plate in Canada. If there is interest I could photograph them and post them here. I can't scan them as I don't wish to break the spine on these rather uncommon manuals.

Make an angle book rest to hold the book open, like a church pulpit for the Bible. Then photograph the open pages. I suppose if your needed to get some separation on the crease, you could use a small round rod.

[Edwin Wand]

I would be very interested in seeing the specs.

We are trying to document where various items of war materiel for Canada's war transportation industry were manufactured and how.

Presumably the plate was received from perhaps Dofasco and/or Stelco in Hamilton (about 30 miles from Galt and shipped from Hamilton to Galt. M Foundry or Varity Plow in Brantford might also have been involved.

At Galt, again presumably, the plate was sheared or flame cut to a pattern and holes were punched, as needed.

The Niagara area is at the western end of Lake Ontario and close by the Welland Canal which was used to ship many automotive parts and assemblies.

In general, Ford CMPs were assembled in Windsor Ontario and GM CMPs in Oshawa Ontario. Many of the single parts were manufactured in Niagara and shiped to Oshawa and Windsor for final assembly.

CMP owners will see the names of many Niagara factories on various parts of their CMPs.
These could be Hayes Steel. Now Hayes Dana but during the war years Hayes Steel. They did forging and cutting. During the war they had some quite heavy (and Noisy) Drop Hammers and many smaller ones which ran 3 shifts and seven days. No one every complained about the noise and if they did it would be pointed out that it was their patriotic duty to live with it. and so we did. By any standard it was a large factory but with the recent deindustrialization of the Niagara area it is gone.

The GM Plant in Niagara was McKinnon Industries, after about 1935 a GM subsidiary. At the same time in Oshawa the factory that was originally McLaughlin Buick which became GM of Canada.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLaughlin_automobile

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_McLaughlin

Other well known war industries were
English Electric: electric propulsion engines
John Inglis: Naval Guns and Turbines
Massey Ferguson: Mosquito wings and farm machinery including the first self propelled combine.
Lightning Fastener: Zippers in various forms
Thompson Products: Many of their parts were common to all companies and were stamped Ford, GM or Cyrco.

Recall the Hay Fork used by the English farmer during the capture of Rudolph Hess was manufactured in Niagara.

Later I will pass on a description of the various items produced by McKinnons such as 19 set vibrators, axle parts for CMP's, fuses etc.