Licking Valley courier., 1913-07-03

shoulder pieces.
And Now For Chemistry.
Human muscle seemed to have reach
ed its limit, mechanics seemed to have
reached its limit. but still the world
clamored, stronger, stronger! For
answer man unlocked one of the Sc
crets Of nature and took out terrible
force. 1t was a force of chemistry.
Gunpowder was probably first dis
covered by the Chinese, though our
civilization had to work out the prob
lem for itself.
1t is recorded that Roger Bacon. a
monk, discovered what was practical
ly gunpowder as far back as the thir-
teenth century.
BerthOld Schwartz, monk Of Frei-
burg, studied Bacon's works and car
ried Oh dangerous experiments of his
own, so that he is ranked with Bacon
for the honor.
And then began the first crude, clum
sy efforts at gunmaking. Firearms
were born.
1t took centuries for guns to become
perfect enough to take the place of
bows and crossbows.
The Coming of the Matchbox.
Hand bombards and culverns were
among the early types. Some of these
were so heavy that forked support
had 10 be driven into the ground, and
two men were needed. one to hold and
aim. the other to prime and fire. How
does that strike you for duck shoot
ing proposition?
Improvements kept coming, however
Guns were lightened and bettered In
shape. Somebody thought of putting
flash pan for the powder by the side
OF the touchhole, and now 1t was de
cided to fasten the slow match in q
movable cock upon the barrel and IL
mite 1t with trigger. These matches
were fuses of some slow burning fiber.
like tow, which would keep spark for
considerable time Formerly they
had to be carried separately, but the
new arrangement was a grent conven'
ience and made the matchbox. The
cock, being curved like a snake, was
called the "serpentine."
A Nuremberg inventor In 1915 hit on
the wheel lock. In this notched steel
wheel was wound up with key like
/ n clock.
Flint or pyrite was held against the
jagged edge Of the wheel by the pres
sure Of the serpentine. You pulled the
trigger, then-"whir"-th wheel re
volved, a stream of sparks few off into
the fash pan. and the gun was dis
charged.
And Then Came the Flntloek.
Everybody knows what the tlintlocl
was like. You simply fastened flake
ammunition business Of the period ant
N later years guiding spirit in tn,
Remington organization, interested hi
partners and Others in the opportunity
and on Aug. 0, 1867, the Union Metal
lie Cartridge company was incorporat
ed, in later years combining with th,
Remington Arms Company. The oal
had taken root.
At first the new firm made rim fir
cartridges (for the center fire had no
been invented, percussion caps am
shotguns, but soon dropped the gun
to concentrate on ammunition.
The Genius Comes.
Mr.. Hartley and his associates b.
their business sagacity had created tn
opportunity and were on the lookou
for a mechanical genius. He came
His name was Alfred c. Hobbs, super
intendent of the Howe Sewing Ma
chine company. After FIVE years MI
Hobbs brought his great ingenuit
solely to the problems Of cartridg
making.
For twenty years he remained 4
charge, inventing nearly all the speclO
machinery that made the business s
successful. 1t is difficult to get a pei
NIT to visit the Bridgeport factory
the mechanical secrets are SO yalu
able.
Paper Shells Are Mads.
In 1873 the company bought fror
Q. d. Wells Of Springfield his equiv
ment for making paper shells whicl
were practically oil handmade. 500
machines were invented for this wor
an important development, becaus
! shotguns were rapidly increasing i
; use This was due 10 the fact that a
the country became settled and bl
game grew harder to find sportsme
gave more attention to wing shooting
a supposedly ample stock was mad
up, and the company advertised tina
such shell was on the market. 0l
ders aggregatlng 100000 fairly food
ed the plant, thus showing the powe
of advertising and the size Of the maj
ket
The FIRST u NJ @ shot shells wer
Of brass, but the paper shell followed
At first furnished TO be loaded b
sportsmen, the factory began supply
Ing them ready loaded In the eighties
Today several hundred millions ar
turned out each year.
A Glimpse at Ammunition Making.
Doesn't It strike you as remarkabl
that IN an output Of something lili
! 100000 per day every cartridge shoul
be perfect.
such things are not accidental Th
secret is IN INSPECTION. Let US SC