Evening star., 1937-01-03

mounted in rapidly rotating frame
work so that it turns instead of the
incredibly fine drill the boring of the
minute hole was accomplished in what
seemed to the laynan an upside-down
system.
Astonishing though it may sound
six days of constant drilling at a
speed of 2,400 turns of the steel block
per minute was necessary before the
diminutive hole was completed. As
you may well surmise. enormous heat
was developed by the friction between
the two kinds of steel. In order to
preserve and protect the drill special
pump was provided for forcing lard
oil far down into the hole as cut. In
addition provision had to be made for
the removal of the steel filings as
bored from the block. That meant use
of a central channel in the drill
through which the back flow of oil
could carry the filings from the re-
markably small aperture.
Small wonder that Henry Ford
realized extreme but expensive pleas
ure from watching the work and study
ing the craftsmanship technique which
finally produced a result in precision
that never previously had been at
tanned by any expert. The small
diameter boring in the block of steel
was completed at an ultimate cost Of
$4,000. Mr. Ford had financed and
Mr.. Howe had engineered and per-
formed a mechanical feat which will
remain on the record books for long
time before it is surpassed or even
equaled.
If that triumph is surpassed Mr..
Howe will probably be the man to do
it. He has in mind some day trying
to make a rifle of similarly tiny bore
as we'll as cartridges for that contem-
plated Tom Thumb-like weapon.
1t is mis- contention that with such
a gun he could double the bullet speed
of the best firearm now available. H.
Gerlich, German experimenter, has
produced a muzzle velocity of 4,600
feet per second: Mr. Howe believes
that he can produced tiny bore test
rife that will propel special bullets at
a speed as great as 10000 feet per Sec
ond. That would be the peak effort,
the crowning achievement of truly
great gunsmith's contributions to the
science and practice Of modern bal
lstics Mr.. Howe has made a speci-
men cartridge three thirty seconds Of
an inch in diameter Of .09 caliber:
the experimental bullet Is made Of
pure silver instead of lead. It is un-
questionably the smallest bullet ever
made and would require charge of
about three grains of fast-burning
powder to explode its projectile.
If, like MI Howe, you were schooled
and skilled in gunology, you would
not only be qualified to make all kinds
of weapons, you would also be able to
disguise them. Like many another
gunsmith, this specialist in ballistics
has had many thrilling experiences
with criminal society. For gangland
we'll knows the importance of destroy.
ing or mutilating the murder gun as
soon as possible after use. That, how
ever, is q topic which Mr.. Howe does
not discuss. Some time he plans to
write the full story of his contacts
with the very seamy strata of society
Suffice to say that when he does Sc
he'll have tales to tell which will elec-
trify the readers-stories stranger
than fiction yet founded on actual
occurrences.
PERHAPS you have heard Wash.
ington hunters make statements
something like this: My hobby is
guns, and up until short time age
I was interested only il field shoot.
ing. Since then / have discovered
that I can double my pleasure from
guns by personal 'tinkering' and home.
shop explorations into the why's ant
'whens' Of the modern shooting irons
However. I ran smack bang into al
sorts Of riddles. Consulted the city
library and browsed through the avail.
able books. But my hunt was moi
very satisfactory. Then one day the
chief librarian, whom I knew, tele.
phoned me that she had q couple ol
new books on the gunnery art. Tha'
night / looked the twin volumes over
Just what I wanted-complete dats
on how to adjust sights, handle . gur
in all particulars, how to make gum
hang for maximum accuracy. thl
making and decorating Of gun stocks
bluing and browning barrels, fitting
new barrels, how to modernize mill.
tary small arms, how to adjust triggers
to finer pull, how to ensrave locks ant
barrels everything I wished to know
set down In simple language that
could understand. The books On
written BY man named Howe"
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