El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-06-22

. 200 parts. but they fit so smoothly
D and so accurately that il can be taker
to pieces and put together by the or.
| binary soldier without the aid OF any
/ other tool than one OF the cartridges
Z fired from the gun
spent some time in the assem-.
] bling room Of the shops where the
I parts are fitted into the completed
/ machine gun Mr. Sherman, the fore
. man, showed me how they went to-
/ gether. He told me he could take a
I gun apart in one minute
He thereupon picked up a cartridge
/ and used the bullet end somewhat like
I an aWl. This enabled him to loosen
Z one part OF the combination. and in
] less than so seconds by my watch he
I had all Of the pieces, including the
{ springs and other delicate bits of ma
I chinery, lying before him on the ia
2 BILE It took him only a little longer
( to put the parts back into place and
have the gun ready for firing.
Think Of taking a watch apart with
your fingers and putting it together
again so that every bit Of the mech
anism fits and the watch goes on
working That is what the ordinary
soldier can do with a Browning ma
chine gun after a short course Of in
StructiOn-
Half Nike OF FORCES.
It is possible also to unscreW the
barrel Of the gun and put in another.
me PAL Is OF EaEn = un are inter
changeable with those OF the other
BroWnings, and the soldier has a Ger
tain number Of extra parts which he
carries with him
The parts are standardized and the
gun is now manufactured in a number
OF different factories by machine
tools made for the purpose. There
fore It can be turned out in large
quantities
I despair Of making you see the
enormous work now going on in the
big munitions plants Of this country.
The army Of uachinists is numbered
by hundreds OF thousands, and doubt
nos that we have at least one man or
WOmal making guns and explosives
fer every ten men We have in the
environments and behind the trenches
on the battlefiel6s Of France
This factory will soon have as many
mechanical soldiers at work as there
are actual soldiers in an army diVi-
sion 1t has single shops which cover
acres. and each Of which. II IL were
set off by itself, would be considered
a large industrial establishment
There are some acres Of room de-
voted 10 the making OF bayonets,
other acres devoted to cartridges, and
there is a half mile Of great FORCES in
which the steel is pounded and
kneaded into the right consistency
and shape for barrels and other parts
Of the gun
BayOuetH Are Also Manufactured.
Above the forging rooms are others
devoted to rifles and automatic pis-
tolls, and the whole is a maze Of in
trlcate machinery, much Of which had
to be designed and constructed for
these weapons alone
In order to duplicate and standard
lie the machinery II was necessary to
have special machine tools. and the
company now has 800 expert mechan-
les who are engaged in making tools
for the Browning gun
such tools cannot be bought in the
shops, and II is absolutely necessary
to have a number OF each kind in or
der that there may be no delay in
speeding the work
An officer Of the ordnance depart
ment who went with me through the
works. tells me he has already ac-
clpted 400 tons Of steel to be turned
into parts for the Browning gun This
VIII give you some idea Of the mag
uitude Of the work now going on
II is difficult to appreciate the care
and precision with which eTeryth
has TO be done. The finer parts re-
quiro mechanical and scientific exc
perts-
livery part Of the gun, from the
steel, brass and other raw materials
that 30 into it to the finished pro-
duct, has 70 be tested again and again
TO see that IL is just right, and this
necessitates laboratories, both physi-
cal and chemical The new parts have
10 be designed and planned; in one
room I saw more than a hundred
craftsmen at work
Messenger Boys Use Roller skates.
Everything connected with this
Remington plant here has been care
fully planned to save time ana IaDor,
and the parts 90 in regular order as
far as possible from the raw materials
to the finished products in the assem-
bling room
The transportation Of goods from
enc place TO another through the -
factories. with their two and one-half
miles Of connecting halls, is done by
electric trucks, which have their reg
u1ar schedule runs back and forth
through the factory.
The messenger boys fly about on
roller skates through the halls. and
there are enough telephone girls to
supply a coed sized town The fac
tory has a restaurant which will seat