X-Nico

8 unusual facts about Frankford Arsenal


.35 Whelen

At the time Colonel Townsend Whelen was the commanding officer of the Frankford Arsenal, and James V. Howe was a toolmaker in the same establishment.

.45 ACP

The original round that passed the testing fired a 200 grain (13 g) bullet at 900 ft/s (275 m/s), but after a number of rounds of revisions between Winchester Repeating Arms, Frankford Arsenal, and Union Metallic Cartridge, it ended up using a 230 grain (15 g) bullet fired at about 850 ft/s (260 m/s).

Henry A. Miley, Jr.

In 1950, Miley was transferred to Frankford Arsenal in Philadelphia, where he served as comptroller and then as Works Manager.

Joe Celko

Celko has a very wide range of industries and applications starting in 1965 with a National Science Fair prize job at the Pittman-Dunn Research labs at the Frankford Arsenal.

John Honeycutt Hinrichs

Hinrichs served in numerous Ordnance assignments in the United States and overseas, including a posting to Frankford Arsenal and command of the Twin Cities Ordnance Plant.

Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm

The algorithm was first published by Kenneth Levenberg, while working at the Frankford Army Arsenal.

M249 light machine gun

A month later, Frankford Arsenal decided upon two cartridge designs for the new LMG: a 6 mm cartridge and a new 5.56 mm cartridge with a much larger case.

Shaft passer

One of the earliest printed references to these devices was made by Richard Feynman, who was told by a colleague at Frankford Arsenal in Philadelphia that the cable-passing version of the device had been used during both world wars on German naval mine mooring cables, to prevent the mines from being caught by British cables swept along the sea bottom.


Connecting Railway

In particular, the Kensington & Tacony Branch served the upper Philadelphia waterfront and the Frankford Arsenal, and the Oxford Road Branch served a Sears distribution center near its crossing of the Reading.

Daniel Webster Flagler

Recognized as an expert on developing and producing artillery and other weapons, Flagler continued his Ordnance service after the war, including assignments at the Watervliet, Augusta, Rock Island, Fort Monroe, Fort Union, San Antonio, Frankford, and Watertown arsenals.


see also