Evening star., 1918-06-09

FRANCE.
special machines to make it, and
more than 900 Of the most expert
tooImakers of the country are kept
busy turning out duplicate and extra
parts for the pistol-making ma
chimes These machines have to be
designed. and each part of the pistol
is begun in the drawings Of the de-
signing room. looked at the
sketches for one little part, piece of
steel about half the size of a postage
stamp and as thick as the nail of my
thumb. The drawings for that part
covered as many sheets as the
architectural plans for a ten-story
apartment building, and they were
far more intricate. The part itself
figures less than the fraction OF a.
cent in the cost of the gun, but thou
sands Of dollars have been spent to
get ready to make it in the special
machines and tools which will turn
it out by the thousands.
made is all subject to physical and
chemical analyses. The steel. which
comes in the shape of rough forgings
for most of the parts, has been care
fully made and pounded out in the
rough at the biggest steel plants in
the country. After it reaches the
pistol works 1t goes again into the
forges, and enormous steam hammers
work the fbers over and over into
Homogeneous and unbreakable mass;
The steel is heated and hammered
again and again. a forging weighing
over two pounds being often reduced
by this kneading and cutting and
polishing into seven ounces by the
time it is ready to go into the wea-
pom. All the finishing, boring and
rifiing of the forgings is done by
machines and special tools made for
the purpose.
There are forgings for the various
parts scattered here and there
described. Each pile is where it is
needed for a part of the work. and
where It can be most conveniently
handled. In one place you may see
the forgings for the receivers that
form the handles of the pistols, in
another the little cylinders that are
to be bored into barrels, and in others
forgings for the tiny parts that must
be cut and polished and ground down
to the thousandths of an inch In
order to make them just right.
Some of the grinding machines are
most interesting. saw one which
ground and polished fifty Of the largest
parts at one time. These parts, having
been forged into shape, were laid on a
revolving disc of steel about yard IN
diameter and then slid under the grind
stone, large cylinder, which whirfed
about above the disc. The parts were
locked to the steel disc by the touch OF
q button. This button electrified the
disc, turning 1t into magnet, which
held the steel forgings firmly in place
Before the electricity was turned on l
could move the parts about with perfect
ease, but after the man pressed the
button they were as tight to the disc
as though welded. Another press Of the
button started the grindstone to whirf-
Ing. and sparks like those of skyrocket
Jew out on all sides. In an incredibly
short time the rough forging shone like
silver and was ground into shape
Many Of the machines have to be
bathed in lubricating oil. while engaged
in their delicate lathe work and boring.
At every few steps as you go through
the factory great barrels of this oil are
to be seen. and the scrap or borings
made by the drills are covered with it.
This scrap is put through certain pro-
cesses so that the oil may be saved to
be used again. The steel shavings are
sold to the steel makers. The same
economy and saving go on through all
the operations.
The planning Of factory like this is
after the latest methods of modern ef-
6ciency. All of the work is standardized.
and it goes on in sequence OF operation
from the rough forgings, which are the
raw materials. to the completed pistols
packed up in boxes ready for shipment
to France. The parts start in at one end
Of the great room I have described and
pass through machine after machine and
hand after hand as though on an endless
belt. each machine and each man doing
their special work until at the end the
parts come out polished and ready to
go into the pistol They are in this con-
dition when they reach the lower end Of
the room, where Is the assembling de-
partment. in which they are fitted to-
gether into completed pistols. After this
each gun is tested or targeted. and 1t is
then soaked In oil and packed up in pine