Leather Work Gloves
Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2025 10:48 am
During WW1, they discovered that the Ordnance Department, having everything centralized in Washington DC, was very inefficient and that bottleneck was one of the reasons. The Ordnance Districts were created to solve that problem. Those were again used in WW2.
The Quartermaster, having stuff allocated to depots, had fewer issues with that. During WW2 though, they discovered that the depot system just pushed the bottleneck down a level.
The depots were organized by type of item. Clothing, most of it, was done by the Philadelphia depot. Field gear was allocated to Jeffersonville. Footwear to Boston. Chemicals to Jersey City.
It gets more complex. Philadelphia, with uniforms, was mainly dealing with lighter materials than either Boston or Jeffersonville. A light sewing machine is sufficient for the wool and cotton textiles used in the uniforms at Philadelphia. The cotton duck and leather used in field gear and foot wear required a heavier type of sewing machine.
If one were to think about it, it would be most efficient to have material sent from the mills to the contractors. Instead, all materials were sent to the depot and then, from there, to the contractors. Why?
1) Sponging. They insisted on sponging the wool textile used. The sponging plant was in Philadelphia.
2) The cotton duck was treated with chemicals. Think fireproof or chemical warfare treatment.
Leggings are a good example of this. Leggings are an uniform item. They're made of cotton duck, no different from a tent. The tents were done at Jeffersonville but the uniforms at Philadelphia. The result is the legging was developed at Philly, and the contracting was done from there, early on but that was transferred to Jeffersonville.
Gloves and mittens were an oddity. For reasons I do not know, these were done by Chicago.
Leather working gloves.
Started at Philly. Then Chicago took over. Ergo, a Philadelphia QMD Tentative Specification but contracted out of Chicago. Most gloves were done with Chicago Tentative Specifications.
The Quartermaster, having stuff allocated to depots, had fewer issues with that. During WW2 though, they discovered that the depot system just pushed the bottleneck down a level.
The depots were organized by type of item. Clothing, most of it, was done by the Philadelphia depot. Field gear was allocated to Jeffersonville. Footwear to Boston. Chemicals to Jersey City.
It gets more complex. Philadelphia, with uniforms, was mainly dealing with lighter materials than either Boston or Jeffersonville. A light sewing machine is sufficient for the wool and cotton textiles used in the uniforms at Philadelphia. The cotton duck and leather used in field gear and foot wear required a heavier type of sewing machine.
If one were to think about it, it would be most efficient to have material sent from the mills to the contractors. Instead, all materials were sent to the depot and then, from there, to the contractors. Why?
1) Sponging. They insisted on sponging the wool textile used. The sponging plant was in Philadelphia.
2) The cotton duck was treated with chemicals. Think fireproof or chemical warfare treatment.
Leggings are a good example of this. Leggings are an uniform item. They're made of cotton duck, no different from a tent. The tents were done at Jeffersonville but the uniforms at Philadelphia. The result is the legging was developed at Philly, and the contracting was done from there, early on but that was transferred to Jeffersonville.
Gloves and mittens were an oddity. For reasons I do not know, these were done by Chicago.
- gloves-1.jpg (46.05 KiB) Viewed 784 times
Leather working gloves.
- gloves-2.jpg (36.95 KiB) Viewed 784 times
Started at Philly. Then Chicago took over. Ergo, a Philadelphia QMD Tentative Specification but contracted out of Chicago. Most gloves were done with Chicago Tentative Specifications.