The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1913-06-06
THE FIRST MISSILE
The Dramatic Story of the Onward
March That + las Raised Man
From the Skulking, Hiding Crea-
ture Of the Dawn Of History to the
Mastery Of I lis Earthly Domain.
Extracts From "A New Chapter In od Story Reprinted By Courtesy
oi the Publisher.

plicated devices to bp seen among thu
many forms in which the how aud ar
row were constructed
A new weapon now came to the cen
ter of the stage. 1t was the ..rossbow
the first real hand shooting machine
Th1s was another big step toward tn.
day Of the rifle. The idea was Simpl.
enough. Wooden bows had already
been made as strong as the strongest
man could pull. and they wished for
still stronger ones steel ones. How
could they pull them: At first they
mounted them upon wooden frame
and rested one end on the shoulder for
brace. Then they took to pressing
the other end against the ground and
using both hands Next 1t was "a
bright idea to put a stirrup Oh this
end in order to hold it with the foot.
Still they were not satisfied. Strong.
er. stronger!'' they clamored. Let us
try mechanicsv"
So they attached levers. pnlleys.
ratchets and windlasses until at last
they reached the size of the great
siege crossbows. weighing eighteen
pounds These sometimes needed a
force Of 1000 pounds to draw back the
string to its catch, but how they could
shoot! Notice the pictures of the
crossbows and you will see that now
the weapons began to look a little like
guns as we know them They had
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 ST.
crets Of nature and took out terrible
force It was force of chemistry.
Gunpowder was proba bly, first dis
covered by the Chinese. though our
civilization had to work out the prob
lem for itself.
1t is recorded that Roger Bacon.
monk. discovered what was practical.
" gunpowder a. far back as the thir
teenth century.
Berthold Schwart1, q monk Of Fret
burg. studied Bacon's works and car
rted on dangerous experiments OF his
own. 30 that he II ranked with Bacon
for the honor.
And then began the first crude. clum
~ efforts at gunmaking. Firearms
were born.
II 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 30 heavy that forked supper,
had to be driven into the ground. and
two men were needed. one to hold and
aim. the other to prime and Ore. Hsw
does that strike you for a duck shoot
Ing propositionf
Improvements kept coming. however,
Guns were lightened and bettersd In
shape. Somebody thought Of putting
hash pan for the powder by the side
Of the touchhole and now It was de-
cided to fasten the slow match In q
movable cock upon the barrel and e.
Mite It with a trigger. These matches
were fuses Of some slow burning fiber,
IKE tow, which would keep a spark for
considerable time. Formerly they
mad to be carried separately. but the
new arrangement was q great conven.
lencs and made the matchbox. The
rock. being curved IKE 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 q key IKE
/ clock.
Flint or pyrite was held against the
Jagged edge Of the wheel BY the pres.
'ure Of the serpentine. You pulled the
trigger, then-'whir"-the wheel 70.
Volved. stream Of sparks dew Oh into
The dash pan, and the gun was dis.
charged
And Thsn Came the Fllntleels.
Everybody knows what the nintlock
was like You simply fastened Q aaks