Johnson sheet metal?

[Joseph Scott 0]

Who did the sheet metal parts such as magazines? The LMG pieces are marked NEI who I heard was New England Industries, a group of smaller companies. Can't find reference to them on net. The magazines are a work of art and precision which interchange readily between guns. I think they were probably as hard to make as any other part. The design and functionally of the rotary mag continues to impress me.

[emmagee1917 0]

You are not having luck because your information is incorrect. The united group was called New England Small Arms ( NESA ) . NEI is really NE1 to denote which sub-company made that particular part. You'll find NE1 through to about NE9 or so. They are well known in thier BAR production as well as Reising mag production. International Silver , a part of NESA , is best known for thier M1 carbine oilers ( marked IS as well as II , IW , etc for thier earlier sub-contract work ) . I was not aware of a Johnson - NESA connection.

Chris

[diggerj 0]

The Universal Winding company seen as part of the "Production" view on this site was later called Leesona (after it's founder, Leeson) and the Leesona winders as depicted here on the Johnson site showing the Leesona 60 were prewar products. My work some years ago in the textile specialties industry introduced me to the Leesona 50 model which I swear had a sheet metal cover over the helical gear the moved the winding point back and forth that was EXACTLY the same as that which my JSAR mag is made with.

Because those machines are so reliable they continue to repair and refurb them and you can probably still find them around. A local Rhode Island company does this but couldn't be coerced to give up any parts - I casually asked a few years ago.

See: http://www.standardmill.com/Services.html and select Model #50 - there are 6 positions with the covers over the helical gears that I refer to above. If I could only raid their junkpile!

John D.

[Joseph Scott 0]

Thanks, I will search for NESA.

[webmaster 0]

Universal windings were part of the NESA conglomeration. They made parts for both BAR's and M1 carbines as mentioned above. I have a booklet about their operation, some of whuch I put onto the main site. I have some emterial somewhere that I got from National Archives that details a lot of what each plant ?part of NESA made. I believe Larry Ruth mentions something about them in his 'War Baby' books.

[Joseph Scott 0]

Jim, did UW do the castings and forgings also? Do you have any pictures inside that portion of plant? Who provided the special alloy steels beside the barrels? Some years ago, you mentioned labor problems at the plant, was that only in the Cranston Arms/Johnson section or in UW generally? There is still a lot of history I would like to hear/read about. Joe