The Sad Story of Singer and the Sten

[Vincent]

One day I'll relate the whole sad story of Singer, when told that they were going to tool up to make Sten guns. Talk about throwing their toys out of the pram..........

OK, Peter. You have piqued our interest. Inquiring minds want to hear the story….. please.

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[Peter Laidler]

Ah, yes..... Singer Sewing Machines... In Feb '41 it was decided to put production of the Sten with Singer in Glasgow, out of bombing range. They were also a facility that had the precision machinery and facilities to make the whole thing, in-house. But when Singer heard about this they stamped their feet, threw Teddy in the corner and replied that they were a US company, not in the war and were staying out of it. In short they were having none of this unpleasantness knocking at their door. While Singer management weren't having it, the UK Government WERE having it - their way! It also transpired that even then, Singer were STILL selling their industrial machines to Germany via Portugal(?). The cheek of it!

This fact reached the Cabinet Office. I expect that there was a degree of anger and table thumping for a few milliseconds. It was then decided that the Singer Sewing Machine Co might be wholly owned US Company - but not for long! Because at 1200hrs the following day they were to be nationalised and would be dictated war-work and would do as they were ordered or go to prison, like anyone else.

The rest is history. They virtually ceased production of sewing machines (except for war requirement work) and set about Mk1 Sten Gun manufacture totally in house, including the wood parts. Thereafter they contributed a vast amount to wartime weapon production. In a way, by nationalising the place and removing the top layer or managers meant everyone was happy

When Turpin was developing the very same gun, he went to the Phillips Radio Co along the A40 in West London to use their facilities. A Dutch Company - another wholly owned foreign Company - who'd just been overrun by the same nation that Singer had initially refused to help defeat. War makes strange chums!

[fjruple]

Peter--

Same thing happen to Smith & Wesson in WWI. Smith & Wesson refused to give the S&W Model of 1917 .45ACP Revolver priority over there other products which they were selling around the world. Simply the US Government took over the company. The company was defacto a subdivision of the Springfield Armory. While under US government control the US Army Ordnance produced so much spare parts which last them through WWII. It is said S&W actual purchase US Army spare parts in order to complete the second Brazilian contract for their Model 1937 .45ACP revolver. If you have one of these second series Brazilian revolvers you can look closely to some of the parts and see WWI US government inspector marks (small eagle).

Cheers

--fjruple

[Vincent]

Singer also had factories in Wittenberge, Prussia and Podolsk, south of Moscow. Both were also nationalized and used for war production.

After WW2 the Wittenberge factory was in East Germany, under Russian control. They took all the machinery from the Wittenberge factory as “war reparations” and used it to reequip their Podolsk factory.

The Singer factory at Kilbowie, Clydebank, also made munitions in WW1. But I don’t know if it had been nationalized then. It was a large factory, employing 15,000 workers at one time and had its own foundry. Converting it to produce large quantities of war material wouldn’t have been difficult. They had the equipment and trained workers.

I’ve never handled a Mk1 or Mk1* Sten. From looking at pictures it looks to me like the magazine housing is riveted to the casing. Is that correct? Is it also brazed or silver soldered on?

[Peter Laidler]

I would imagine that the mag housing was soft soldered and rivetted on. It wasn't a wise move to make small arms in Jockland. It might have been (initially) out of bombing range - but it wasn't for long! After the war and well into the 80's, Sten guns and Albion made .38 revolvers were common tools of Glasgow gangland ner-do-wells. Maybe production couldn't keep up with those weapons being er..........., diverted elsewhere or siphoned off as they used to describe the aid going into Bosnia!

[Flying10uk]

Someone once told me that the reason Packard made the Rolls Royce Merlin engine in the U.S. is because Henry Ford refused permission for it to be made in his U.S. factories. I don't know if there is any truth in this and perhaps others could confirm or correct this, please. Ford U.K. certainly did produce the Merlin engine in it's British factories, in large numbers, and to a very high standard.

[Vincent]

It’s a true story. Before the US entered the war Edsel Ford agreed to make the engines. However, he was overruled by his farther Henry Ford, who was opposed to the US entering WW2. At the time Ford’s German subsidiary, Ford-Werke, in Cologne was doing business with the Nazis. Henry Ford later reversed his position and Ford produced a large amount or war material. At its peak production the Ypsilanti Michigan, Willow Run plant turned out a B-24 bomber every 63 minutes.

[villiers]

Here in Deutschland, it is generally believed that US made precision bomb sights were still being delivered to the Reich, even AFTER the US declared war on Germany. And aerial photography depicts US owned production facilities in the Ruhr having been carefully excluded from carpet bombing.

[fjruple]

Villiers
Actually the German intelligence services stole the Norden bombsight in the mid to late 1930s. The Germans could not get their copy to work so they sent the German-American worker who stole the plans to Germany to get the German copy to work. I believe the German produce the Norden as the Model 1937 bombsight. The US Army Intelligence services were surprise to say the least when they found an exact copy of the Norden bombsight after the war. It was just one of several pieces of US government classified hardware found.

fjruple

[Peter Laidler]

My long time friend and wartime Lancaster pilot Fl Lt Leslie Barham told me that his crew (of Canadians, Australians and a lone NZ'er) idea of precision bombing was to hit anywhere in the city that was or close to their target. Rhinemettal meant hitting Dusseldorf. Krupp meant hitting Essen - anywhere! Share and share alike was their aircraft motto