Between 1982 and 1984, however, Toshiba Machine had sold milling machines to the Soviet Union that allowed it to make quieter propellers for its submarines.

American officials contend that the tools were used to make special propellers that help Soviet nuclear submarines evade detection.

The sale involved sophisticated milling machines used to make submarine propellers.

The machines are used to make complex propellers.

She came at him, screaming and weeping, making propellers with her hands.

From the Soviet viewpoint, the machine's key attraction was its nine independently controllable axes, meaning that it could be twisted and turned in a number of positions critical to making sophisticated propellers.

More-recent developments have made propellers practical up to 0.8 Mach, engineers said.

The machines are used to make complex propellers for Soviet submarines, viewed by Pentagon officials as a major setback for American military forces.

The company dates back to 1880, when it made propellers for ships (it claims to have made those on the Titanic).

The additional shipment means that the Soviet Union has obtained at least eight Toshiba milling machines, used to make propellers that allow submarines to elude detection.