The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-03-24

cQSI ing used on the western fronts Is many times as large ase that used by the French during their retreat. The fifst shrapnel sent from America to France during this war cost something like SIS apiece. The cost is much greater today. The story of the evolution of shrap- mel dates back to the beginning Of history Cain used a club when he fought the first battle, but missiles and 1 protectiles were used soon thereafter. We all remember how David with sling and with ssone" defeated the phillistines by killing the great eo- Hath ot Gath and how later on mighty catapults and other machinery were used to throw stones at the enemy. Then came the inventions of powder and of lead and iron shot of one kiod or another. The first projectiles fired from cannon were darts, and stone shot The darts had iron heads or were wrapped with leather to fit the bore of small guns; they continued In use even. after the discovery of Amer lea Stone shot were employed on ac- count of cheapness and later still shot of cast iron.
 It was along about the time that Co., lumbus crossed the Atlantic that case shot, or bullets of lead or iron, were packed in wooden casts or canvas bags and thus shot forth from the cannon. and about the same time grapeshot were used. The latter con sisted of iron balls laid up in tiers and separated by iron plates. They were held together by iron bolts ! through the center of the plate.
 In the siege of Gibraltar in 17S2, the English used redhot shot to destroy the Spanish fleet and the French bat 1 teries, and 1t was only few years l after that Henry Shrapnel, an English army officer, stationed at Gibraltar, in- 1 yerted the shot case or shell that was named after him. That was in 1803, 1 and shrapnel has been part of war l fare from that time to this. Tho original invention had been then i greatly improved and today 1t prob ably destroys more human life than any other munition of modern war fare.
 Hut come with me for walk through 1 this great munitions plant and see 1 som ething of how these deadly pro- l Jcctiles are made. The great buildings | arc of two stories. They cover acres | and they are largely made of steel and glass. The walls are almost all glass and the shops are as light as day. They I are of enormous size and each is a
 
 women working at and among 1t. Ev cry machine and every person is speed- led to the fullest capacity. The most of the operations are done by the piece and the greater the output the greater the pay.
 The first thing made is the shell it.. self This comes to the plant in the shape of forgings consisting of the finest and toughest of steel, which have been run through high power ing machines, and reduced to the shape of rough iron pipe of about the same shape as the shell. This work Is done under enormous pressure. Some of the machines for making the for3- iEg exert a pressure of 240.o00 pounds to the square inch the metal having been previously heated in a furnac. mere than 1900 degrees Fahrenheit The forgings are punched out of bill lets of steel, the pressure on the end of the punch being about 10 tons tc the square inch. By means of these enormous pressures the metal Is |. kneaded like dough into just the right ] shape. M ~ 4 This Is only the beginning, however l The hollow, pipe-like forgings have tc be made tougher and harder They , must be rounded off into nose al the front end and cut by machinery to the exact shape and size of tn, gun. After this they are loaded witt their wells of death and fuses put in As they come to the factory the forg- ings have tensile strength of some. ] thing like 10000 pounds per square inch; that is. bay an inch thiel ) would hold up without breaking a. great weight as 40 horses could hau upon wagons. This strength is doubled by certain heat treatments, but this i. only after the forgings have been TUT through the lathes and ground ant cut into just the right size. The heat ing Is done in an electric furnac, which contains bath of chemical. raised to more than 1400 degrees Fah. renheit The shells remain in this batf Tor half and hour and they are thei dipped in another bath of cotton seet oil and this into another oil bath O different nature which is 1000 de grees Fahrenheit.
 The heating doubles the strength o the shell and makes 1t so strong that VIII not burst when the charge in it i exploded. The shell has to also be fit ted with rifling band ribbon o copper which runs around near tn bottom, and fits into the groove of tn gun to give it the whirling motto, which Is necessity to make 1t fl straight to it's mark. All of this wor] must be exact, and the shell is meas urea again and again during the proc sss. The girls pasH them througl gauges which show their accuracy | the ten thousandthsi of an inch The have gauges for the inside of the shel as well as the outside and 2 score O more different instruments of this kin are made for testing the work on tn shrapne During the making the shell nave to be washed and cleaned fror time to time
 The bullets which are put into tn shrapnel steel shell are not of ordinar
 load. They are mixture of lead an antimony, which is harder than leac They are not cast. but are pressed ou or lead wire by machinery that wi
 turn out S4o bullets minute Each bu
 let IS half inch in diameter and the
 weigh about fl to the pound There ar
 between 20 and 300 of these bullets
 the shell chamber. They are sent fort
 by charge of black powder in the bas
 or the shell. They are packed around
 tube which runs from the fuse at tl
 front end of the shell to this powder,
 wad of guncotton plugging the pir
 just over the powder. This guncotto
 IS terribly explosive. It looks just li
 cotton, but if match touches it. it wi
 go off in flash or if struck with
 hammer it will blow you to pieces. 4
 looked at them putting the stuff ini
 the shells the manager of the works tol
 me how rat ate up some not long as
 and how his remains spattered all u
 surroundings.
 Some of the most interesting won
 on the shells is in connection with u