The first half of the 1940's were a difficult time for our world. A world in chaos presented challenges for Simonds. From the February 22, 1945 Fitchburg Sentinel, we read:
Simonds Rushes Big Saw Order For Pacific War Millions Of Inserted Teeth Needed For Mills . . ."Several million inserted teeth for circular wood saws invented a half-century ago by Simonds Saw & Steel Co. have been ordered from the local plant for shipment at the earliest possible date . . . The large order and substantial orders for some 5000 other tools made here are creating a critical manpower shortage at the plant."
During the Second World War, the U.S. government created the Army-Navy E Award production award system to acknowledge the efforts of the men and women of those manufacturing plants which provided the much-needed materiel. The awards were based on excellence in quality and quantity, overcoming production obstacles, low absenteeism, maintenance of fair labor standards, and conservation of critical and strategic materials, among other considerations.
E Awards were awarded on a plant basis rather than a company basis, as different plants within a company responded to the wartime needs differently. The award consisted of a flag to be flown over the plant and a lapel pin for every employee within the plant. If a plant won he award more than once, stars were added to the flag for each additional win.
On February 1st, 1943, Simonds' Intervale Road plant in Fitchburg was awarded its first Army-Navy E Award for excellence in service to the country. During the war, the Intervale Road plant won the award four more times, one of only 206 plants in the country to win five times.
Although Simonds had moved from the old North Street facility in 1939 to the Intervale Road site, parts of the old North Street facility were re-opened during the war for the manufacture of armor plate. In fact, the North Street plant won two E Awards for its efforts. The Heller Brothers file factory in Newcomerstown (not officially part of Simonds until 1955) won its E Award flag on September 21st, 1943 and followed that up by winning the award three more times.
So, as you can see, in times of war as in times of peace, saw blades and files play an important role in man's endeavors.