Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-08-31
AMERICAN INVENTOR
SCORES TRIUMPH
Mr.. labram's Invention Saves
the Day for the British
Army.
NECESSITY MOTHER AGAIN
Without the Aid Of His Long Fire Gun
English Would Have Been Com
PEELED to Abandon Kim
berly to Beers.

FROM the Century,
Although Mr., Labrarn's services were
known and appreciated by the authori-
lies, it was not until the second month
of the siege that the people OF the town
rs a whole and the rank and file OF
!he troops came to realize the versa
.ility OF his genius. From the some
what prosaic problems of water, food
and lighting the chief engineer of De
9eers suddenly turned to a work which
set all Kimberley talking.
When the siege began the artillery
strength of the town consisted of the
rwenty-third battery, Royal Garrison
artillery, with six seven-pound noun
ain guns and "a local volunteer bat
cry of six seven-pound guns. These
,welve pieces had each an effective
'ange OF about 1000 yards; two unre-
liable old Cape police seyen-pounders
completed the list. The in~adeQuacy Of
Iuch equipment was In itself serious
enough. 1t paralyzed the whole scheme
u defense. The full gravity OF the sit
ration did not appear, however, until
he beginning of November, when Col
mel CHAMBER, who commanded the
artillery forces, reported that n am
nunition for his guns vas giving out.
A moments reflection will show that,
With her cannon silenced, Kimberley's
loom was accomplished. Small as her
guns were, they prevented the enemy
rom bringing up their heavy ordnance
% within 1000 yards of the town, and
hey made possible a number Of minor
operations outside the barrier. such az
'econnaisances, patrols, and the graz
ng OF horses and mules. In fact. their
presence insured a marginal area
found the town essential to defense. II
hey went out Of action, the enemy
would inevitably move up their artil-
cry and batter the place from point
a ange.
Attempt to Conserve Supplies.
The authorities at once reduced the
expenditure OF ammunition; but still
he supply dwindled. Apparently there
vas only one possible upshot. At a
Meeting Of the staff Mr.. Labram asked
( he might see one of the seven
,ound shells. After examining 1T care
'ully he said, II guess / can make
Kings like that all right" His conf
lence was not Immediately communi-
lated to the officers about him. They
NEW that the manufacture OF shells
$ highly specialized work, n is con-
ined to the great arsenals of the world.
on inquiry, 1t appeared that the only
powder ~procurable In Kimberley was
Intended for blasting, n was. with
Tut special preparation, wholly insult
,ble for artillery use. Mr.. Labram,
however, refused to be deferred by
ilcI COIlSliCld llollS. lid dllCiIlOoR
ie obtained a requisition from the mill
tary stores OF such material as was
likely TO be OF use in the experiment,
Ind began work in the De Beers shops.
His foundry may be said to have been
he child Of his own brain, for he was
without even reliable handbooks to
guide him. The most important part
If shell manufacture is the fixing Of
{ satisfactory fuse. Mr.. Lapram over
.ame this difficulty by invention. He
designed a percussion fuse to be in
serted In a hole drilled for it's recep-
ion in the point of the shell. The fuse
consisted Of a brass body with a screw
bread outside II a steel block. or
,lunger, working freely in an axial di-
.ection inside. The %plunger, through
which a hole was bored, was pointed
1t the front end. In a recess In front,
L percussion cap was held in position
,y a screwed plug.
How Invention Worked.
While the shell travelled forward, the
olunger, being loose, remained at the
pack of the fuse. On a sudden stop
page, however, 1t shot forward and
struck the percussion cap. A spark
hen Travelled along the hole and ex-
oloded the bursting charge of gun
powder contained In the body of the
she'll. To prevent the plunger from
moving when the shell was handled,
L light spiral spring was so placed as
20 require compression before the nip
pie could touch the cap. AS an extra
orecaution, safety wires were provid-
I'd, which had to be broken before the
plunger could move. The united
strength of these safety attachments
was not more than sufficient to pre-
vent premature explosion In case of
accidental fall.
In practice Mr.. Labram's astonishing
invention proved entirely satisfactory.
IN an amazingly short time this man.
who had scarcely seen a shell until a
Few days before, was supplying the
artillery headquarters with between
sixty and seventy projectiles every
.~wenty-four hours-shells, moreover, OF
4 quality which the military authori-
lies, after the exhaustive test of over
.hree months continual use, pro-
bounced extraordinarily good"