Sears Military Catalogue 1917

[Timerover51]

The following is the location of a 1917 Sears Military Catalogue on Project Guterberg. Lots of lovely prices for equipment, including a .30-06 Colt Machine Gun. And, of course, illustrated.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/54213/54213-h/54213-h.htm

The inflation adjustment from 1917 to 1977 is $1.00 in 1917 was worth $4.73 cents in 1977.

For those using the various Makers in T5, this would be a good check on prices for some items, such as the machine gun. The Colt would be regarded as an Early Machine Gun. Its nickname was "The Potato Digger" from the operation of its action.

 

[MThompson016]

A very interesting find!

I am not surprised there was a Sears Catalogue like this, as private purchase of uniforms was common for quite along time. When the Marines sent a Provisional Brigade to Iceland in 1940, they ordered cold weather gear from Sears.

Also, a lot of the gear looks like it was taken straight from the existing stores in many cases, especially the sundry items for hygine and faith.

 

[Enoki]

Man machineguns were expensive back then...

 

[Jame]

Man machineguns were expensive back then...

My response was, $875, that all?

But that is at least $20,000 nowadays.

And the officer dress uniform is more expensive.

 

[Enoki]

My response was, $875, that all?

But that is at least $20,000 nowadays.

And the officer dress uniform is more expensive.

$21,463 according to an inflation calculator... That's pricey!

 

[atpollard]

$21,463 according to an inflation calculator... That's pricey!

In 1917 it was SOTA in squad support weapon. The 2017 version would probably be ...

The GAU-19/A (GECAL 50), is an electrically driven Gatling gun that fires the .50 BMG (12.7×99mm) cartridge.
GAU-19 cost = $78,500 in 2000.

The M-134 Minigun (7.62 NATO) costs about $20,000 today.

 

[aramis]

Keep in mind that the cost of weaving has gone WAY down due to automation. Decent cotton slacks are the same $20 to $30 as they were in the mid 70's, and the 1920's...

The actual weaving is far less costly now than it was 20, 50, or 100 years ago. 200 years ago, almost all cloth was hand made on manual looms. 100 years ago, it was on powered looms that more than trebled the output per worker, but also dropped the skill per worker considerably.
50 years ago, the looms were 10x the 100 year ago productivity per lifetime and more like 20x per worker, and were themselves made in automated factories.
20 years ago, the looms gained computer controls, and require even less human attention besides filling the bobbins.

And the making of thread saw similar automation increases in roughly the same times.

The estimates for a manual loom are day per yard of 45" wide. (about 1 sq meter).
And treadle-wheel spinning is about 40-60 linear yards a day... with a typical 1/16" warp/weft, a yard of 45" wide is about 1500 linear yards... a uniform takes 3-5 yards...
so about 75 days worth of spinning, plus the harvesting, then 3 days weaving, then 1/2 to 2 days cutting and 3-10 days hand stitching...

Later, machine sewing on a treadle makes the cutting and sewing a single day.
A powered spinning wheel can double output; mechanical spinning machines produce 20+ yards per hour... early mechanical looms did yards per hour as well...

It went from paying 40-50 man-days labor, plus markups, to under a fraction of an hour.