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But the gist is:
A kibbutz (a cooperative settlement) set up a bullet factory running 1945-48, before the 1948 War. It used belt-powered machines; it had the added problem of operating clandestinely, literally underground, next to a British Military camp.
To camouflage the high-pitched screeching sound of the bullet machines below, the laundry had to run practically around the clock. To produce enough whites and darks to justify such a demand, the kibbutz opened a branch of its laundry in downtown Rehovot and began handling the washing for most of the region. They even won a bid to handle the laundry for a nearby hospital, and – their reputation for low prices and excellent service having reached the nearby British camp – became the go-to starch and suds provider for many of the soldiers who were being so fantastically duped. A convenient pick-up and delivery service kept the British from ever having to step foot in the laundry.
Down in the bullet factory, in a production line based around World War I-era machines smuggled in via Beirut, some 45 pioneers crafted more than 2.5 million copper bullets by hand. The copper, the Haganah told British customs officials, was needed to create lipstick containers, a storyline they backed up with gifts of lipstick to British officers’ wives.
There were also smaller weapons and ammo shops in other settlements; but a handful of machines operating constantly can produce quite a decent output.
The pictures show belt-driven, mechanical machines. I live in New England, where water-powered factories were extremely numerous in the 19th Century; every town library has a few books of local history that describe these; a small dam and a waterwheel can provide almost any town with a water source some power. And, of course, that same waterwheel can also supply a small amount of electricity...
Uncle Ted