The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-05-10
WITHOUT A REWARD,
BUT PATRIOT STILL.
Other HIen Have Received Credit
for His Work.
The Man That Taught the Art of
Making Bullets Now Bows in Vis-
itOrs to the Agricultural Depart
Anent-showed the Method of Cast
ing Guns-His Schemes for Help
ing in Ocean Travel.

Perhaps the most remarkable cnar-
acter in Washington is q, man who SITS
at the front entrance of the depart
ment of agriculture and pulls the door
open with string to admit visitors
His name is William H. Ward, and in
a way he is an historical parsonage.
Nearly all of the bullets fired by Union
soldiers during the civil war were
turned out from machines of his inven-
ton. The same is true of most of the
bombshells used in that memorable
conflict, his method of holding them
from molten lead being adopted by the
government. Uncle Sam disregarded
his patents, utilized his ideas at a saw
ing of many millions of dollars, and
never paid him a cent. SO now, IN MS
old age, after vainly seeking redress
from Congress, he is doorkeeper in the
department which, as a matter OF TACT,
he actually founded fifty-one years ago.
says the Washington Star.
The story is a simple one. In 1886
Mr.. Ward brought to Washington a
contrivance of his own invention. IL
was the first machine for making bull
lets from cold lead. Up to that time
bullets had been nodded from melted
lead by hand. This old fashioned pro-
cess was very slow and expensive, rifle
projectiles thus made costing rather
more than cent apiece. The machine
turned them out at the rate of 100 a
minute, transforming one ton of lead
into bullets for $1.95 1t was absolute
Iy automatic, requiring no attention
after being started. There was no
waste of material whatever, whereas
by melting from IL to Is per cent. of
the metal was lost. Bullets could be
turned out of any weight up to two
ounces.
USED DURING THE WAR.
Mr.. Ward offered his machine to the
war department but the government
refused to buy it. Five years later the
war broke out. Uncle Sam then availed
himself of all Improvements in arms
and materials of warfare without re-
gard to patents. The exigency of the
occasion was a sufficient warrant, and
nobody could resist the nations para
mount authority. The chief of ord
nance built number of bullet-making
machines after the model patented by
Ward. The inventor was referred to
Congress for redress. For twenty years
his claim has been before the national
legislature, but he has never got a cent.
Bills for his relief have been passed
repeatedly by House and Senate
though never by both houses during the
same Congress.
Nobody has ever attempted to deny
the justice of the claim. With his
machines the government made more
than billion and a half of bullets
during the war. The saving thus ac-
! complished was enormous. It was an
immense. advantage also to be able to
manufacture projectiles rapidly. But
for Mr.. Wards invention, many thou
sands of hands would have been en-
ployed to do the work of molding bull
lets; Each machine, on the other hand,
could turn out a continuous shower of
leaden missiles at the rate of nearly
10000 an hour, or million and half
week, running night and day The
bullets were formed from reels of lead
wire. Each movement of the machine
cut off enough metal for one bullet,
which was shaped by a punch entering
a die. On the retrograde movement of
! the punch the die opened and the bullet
/ dropped out.
BALANCED BULLETS
For purposes of observation Mr. Ward
was present at two or three of the bat
! ties Of the Crimean war. He noticed
that the bullets flew vida fact large
/ ly owing to Irregularities in the weight
and density of the projectiles. Ma
chine made, bullets, on the contrary,
are all exactly alike, and what ordance
experts would call their balance" is
perfect. From a fixed rifle barrel and
equal charges of powder, several of
them can actually be fired into a hole
of their own diameter at distance of
800 yards AS Mr. Ward expresses it,
such accurate craftsmanship will shoot
humble bees off of thistle heads. 1t
goes without saying that in these days
of rapid-f1re weapons, which expend
immense quantities of ammunition, the
bullet making machine is far more val
liable and even necessary than it was
thirty years ago.
The only money that Mr.. Ward ever
got out of his invention was obtained
from foreign governments to whom he
sold his machines. They paid him for
them honestly and are using them to-
day. During the rebellion some of the
machines thus purchased were util-
lied for manufacturing great quantities
of bullets for the Confederate armies.
This. however, was an event that could
not have been contemplated by the in
ventor. The latter owned another pat
ent at the same time for making bomb
shells of molten iron. This proceSE' was
also used by Uncle Sam to his great adj
vantage. Nevertheless, not a penny has
ever been paid to the owner as a recon-
pense for the infringement of his rights
STRANGE INVENTIONS.
Mr.. Ward has not given up inventing
yet. He has some very astonishing
schemes which he has refrained from
>patenting, his intention being to carry
them out when he gets enough money
for his bullets from the government 1t
will be time enough then to secure his
proprietary rights. One of these ideas
is a process for telegraphing without
O. wire. The inventor says that he can
send a message around the world with
out any wire or any other connection.
BY the aid of his method the secretary
of the navy could sit in his office at
Washington and communicate directly
with any United States ship in mid
ocean in any part of the world. The adj
vantage of such system in the con-
duct Of naval operations would be enor-
nous, certainly.
Mr.. Ward has a new type of marine
engine which will, SO he says, carry a
steamship across the Atlantic in less
than four days, consuming only as
much fuel as is ordinarily required for
one days voyagins. It furnishes three
and a half times the power of the best
engine now known, at a quarter of the
cost, occupying one-fifth Of the space
and using one-half of the steam. A YES
sci thus equipped could take on board
a cargo of early products of the south
ern states on one day and deliver the
fruit or what not at northern ports the
next day in much freSher condition than
is practicable with the present com
paratively slow transportation. 1t would
be very much quicker than rail. A Ward
engine of /, 600 horsepower can be built
for S., 600, whereas an ordinary recipro-
eating engine Of that calibre costs
$4,000.
Another idea Of this inventors is for
stock cars of a. new and ingenious pat
tern, in which cattle may be nearly as
comfortable in transport as if brows-
ing on the ranch Each beast is pro-