Licking Valley courier. [volume] (West Liberty, Ky.) 19??-current, 1913-07-10
THE ROMANCE
OF MODERN ARMS
A Refusal and What Came Of It.

ySeStSssy buSily one day ut their forge /
in beautiful Ilon gorge when, so ira
dition says, the son asked his father
for money to buy rife and met with
a refusal The request was natural,
for the surrounding hills were full Of
game The father must have had his
own reasons for refusing, but-IT
MADE REMINGTON ARMS!
Eliphalet junior closed his firm jaws
tightly and began collecting scrap iron
on his own account. This he welded
skillfully into gun barrel, walked If
teen miles to Utica TO have it rihOd
and finally had weapon Of which
might well be proud,
In reality 1t was such very good
gun that soon the neighbors ordered
others like 1t, and before long the
Remington forge found itself hard at
work to meet the increasing demand
Several times each week the stawart
young manufacturer packed load Of
gun barrels upon his back and tramped
all the way 10 Utica, where gunsmith
rited and finished them At this time
there were no real gun factories in
America, although gunsmiths were 10.
Gated in most of the larger towns. All
gun barrels were imported from Eng.
land or Europe.
A Machine to Save His Shoulders.
The broad shoulders of Eliphalet
Junior must have ached under his load,
for his busy brain soon devised ma
chinery with which he could do the
riding for himself. Thus the forge be.
came a complete gun factory, recelv.
ing material us scrap iron and turning
ont finished rifles Shotguns also were
made. Up in the gorge was n ledge of
red sandstone This furnished the
first grndstones. which ground down
the barrels TO proper form by power
from the brook Thus father and son
worked away briskly, creating brand
new American industry.
Pursting the Shell.
In 1923. the same year that the elder
Remington met his death through nc
cident, the business Outgrew the little
shop by the brookside- burst its shell
like seventeen year locust'-and
bought large farm near the Erie Gu
nal. There today the great plant
stands.
In "a New Chapter In an Old Story"
several pages are given TO the thrill
ing story Of the part played by the
fast growing industry in map chang
ing wars and In the progress Of M
tons the world over.
Ammunition Now Receives Attention.
1t takes more than Il perfect gun to
make good shooting the ammunition
also must be right. SO ii was only
natural that, spurrcd on by the lessons
OF the civil war. the country should
look for metallic cartridges for the
new breechlOading arms Marcelus
Hartley. prominent In the firearms and
ammunition business Of the period and
in later years guiding spirit In the
Remington organization, interested bis
partners and others In the opportunity
and on Aug. 0, 1867, the Union Metal
lie Cartridge company was Incorporate
ed, In later years combining with the
Remington Arms Company. The oal
had taken root
At first the new firm made rim Gre
cartridges for the center fire had not
been invented, percussion caps and
shotguns, but soon dropped the guns
to concentrate on ammunition.
The Genius Comes.
Mr.. Hartley and his associates by
their business sngacity had created the
opportunity and were on the lookout
for mechanical genius. lie came
His name was Alfred c. Hobbs, super
intendent of tire Howe Sewing Ma.
chine company. After FIVE years Mr.
Hobbs brought his great ingenuity
solely TO the problems of cartridge
making.
For twenty years he remained In
charge, inventing nearly all the special
machinery that made the business so
successful. II is difficult to get n per.
NIT to visit the Bridgeport factory
the mechanical secrets are so valu
able.
Paper Shells Are Made.
In 1873 the company bought from
@. D. Wells Of Springfield his equip.
ment for making paper shells which
were practically all handmade Soon
machines were invented for this work
an important development. because
shotguns were rapidly increasing in
use, This was due TO the fact that rs
the country became settled and big
game grew harder TO find sportsmen
gave more attention TO wing shooting.
A supposedly ample stock was made
W. aud the company advertised that
such shell was on the market Or.
ders aggregating 100000 fairly food.
ed the plant, thus showing the power
OF advertising and the size Of the mar
ket.
The first u NJ G shot shells were
OF brass, but the paper shell followed.
At first furnished TO be loaded by
sportsmen, the factory began supply.
lug them ready loaded in the eighties.
Today several hundred millions are
turned out each year,
A Glimpse at Ammunition Making.
Doesn't 1t strike you as remarkable
that in an output Of something like
100000 per day every cartridge should
be perfect.
Such things are not accidental. The
secret Is IN INSPECTION, Let us see
what that means. II means laboratory
tests TO start with Here are brought
many samples Of the body paper wad
paper. metals, interpreting mixture,
illuminate Of mercury. SULPHUR chic
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