The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-09-27
| LOST ART REBOUND.
upper Can Now Be Gotten just as
Hard as the Hardest
Steel.
of Tests That Have Been
Made OF the Tempered
Metal.
sefnl Both as Armor and Isottoming for
Ships That Like Neither I3~arnacles
Nor Cannon Balls.

Some time ago it was briefly mentioned
h a Quebec dispatch that n poor French
canadian blacksmith named Ferdinand
Hard, of Lewis, opposite Quebec, claimed
| o nave discovered the secret of the lost art
Il hardening copper 40 that edged tools of
has metal would equal the best stool, and
topper plates would turn any ball. The
announcement OF the discovery. though in
Folving results Of tho greatest economic
Importance. says n Quebec CORES, ondent
pf the New York Sun, attracted little or no
local notice, but outside OF his own country
hllard's invention promises to be eagerly
isized upon. 1t was brought to the at
IGNITION of Major General Herbert. the
commander Of the Canadian militia,
and the cutting tools made by Allard were
submitted to his inspection and to that OF
engineers named by him. All of the ex-
aminers exT ressed their surprise Mt the
wonderful edge and hardness that had
been attained. II was at the generals
suggestion. made with an eye to The posi-
bility of tho discovery's being utilized for
the armoring OF British war vessels, that
the inventor prepared u sheet of his hard
sned copper, one and three-quarte 8 OF a
line in thickness, to be tested under the
direction of tho lords of the admiralty.
Private reports fl ON England state that the
experiments in the dockyards have proved
eminently successful, though nothing Off
cial upon the subject has yet been comma
aicated to Allard.
At a preliminary trial of similar shoots
at the Canadian rife ranges the bullet fired
from a distance of forty yards was shat
tered into a thousand fragments by its FIRST
impact with the hardened cooper. On the
second trial, the missile striking the plate
more fairly, was completely hattened, but
remained embedded in the plate, which II
merely denied slightly without cracking il
in any way. Allard's friends declare thai
all the tests so far have proved most salts
factory, and that the inventor. among other
things, has made by his process a copper
razor. equal in temper and edge to the best
article of the famous Rodgers manufac-
ture.
The story Of how Allard came TO redis
cover the art, which was known to the an
clients and especially to the old pyramid
builders of Egypt. reads like a romance
Thirty-three years ago, when working a
his trade in the United States, he heard {
comrade in the same shop say that the maj
who could rSdiscover the lost secret OF tenn
pering copper would mako q fortune. Eve
afterward this saying haunted his mind
and for over thirty years he sought the Sc
cret in vain. He made thousands OF OK.
periments which ended only in failure snt
disappointment. A hundred times he VOWED
that il she next trial failed he would aban,
don, the search, which was wasting hi
limited means and proving seemingly
veritable will-o'- the wisp for him. A
last he fully decided to make one NOR
trial. and il that failed to give the who'll
thing I'D forever. A new combination hae
occurred to his mind, and success Drowned
his efforts.
Everything In tho line OF job printing n
the Independent job Rooms.