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About The Coos Bay times. (Marshfield, Or.) 1906-1957 | View Entire Issue (May 30, 1913)
r 6 THE COOS BAY TIMES, MARSHFIELD, OREGON, FRIDAY, MAY 30, 1913 EVENING EDITION. What Today's Sportsman Owes to the Cave Man THE SIX STAGES IN MAN'S DEVELOPMENT OF HIS MEANS OF DEFENSE AND OFFENSE THE FIRST MISSILE. THE SLINQ. The Dramatic Story of the Onward March That Has Raised Man From the Skulking, Hiding Crea ture of the Dawn of History to the Mastery of His Earthly Domain. Extracts From "A New Chapter In an Old Story.' -1 ol the Publishers. r HOW IT BEGAN f NAKED sovoge found himself ljr. I" thu gri'iitest danger. A Vw-ri wild beast, hungry and fierce, IfMtffl'l woh nbout to attack hlin. Escape wns Impossible. Retreat was cut Off. He must fight for Ids life, but how? Should ho bite. Hcrntch or kick? Should he strike with his list? These wore the natural defenses of his body, but whnt were they ngnlust the teeth, the claws and the tremendous muscles of his enemy? Should he wrench n dead branch from a treo and use It for n club? That would bring hlin .within striking distance, to be torn to 'pieces before be could deal a second Wow. .' Tliero was but a moment In which to act. Swiftly he seized n Jngged frag ment of rock from the ground and still they were not satisfied. hurled It with all his force at the blaz ing eyes before him, then another and another until the beast, dazed and bleeding from the unexpected blows, fell back nnd gave him a chance to ex cape. Ho knew that he had saved his life, but there was something else jvblch his dull brain failed to realize I ilK HAD INVENTED AHMS AND 'AMMUNITION! In other words, ho had needed to etrike n harder blow than the blow of bis list at a greater distance than the length of his arm, and his brain show ed hlin how to do It. After all, what Is a modern rlflo but a device which man has inado with his brain, permit ting hlin to strlko an enormously hard blow at n wonderful distance? Fire arms uro really but n more perfect form of stone throwing, nnd this early cave man took the first step that has led down the ages to present day arms and nmuiuiilllon. This strange story of a development that has been taking place slowly through thousands nnd thousands of years, so that today you uro able to take n swift shot tit distant gamo In stead of merely throwing stones this atory we shall briefly tell. . Th Earliest Huntert. Tlio envo mun and his descendants learned the valuablo lesson of stone throwing, and It made hunters of them, not big gamo hunters that was far too risky. Itut once In n while n lucky tbrow might bring down n bird or a rabbit fur food. And so It went on for centuries perhaps. Early mankind was rather slow of thought. At last, however, there appeared a great Inventor tho Edison of his day. ile added tho second link tho sling. The Use of Slings. ' The new weapon worked with great success, uud a little practice made ex pert marksmen. Wo know that most of tho early races used It for hunting and In war. We tlnd it shown In pic tures made many thousands of yean ago In tine lent Egypt nnd Assyria. We dud It In the Itonmn army, where the jllngmnn was called u "fundltor." Wo Uud It In the lllble. where it Is written of the tribe of Benjamin; "Among nil thee people there were fievcii bundled chosen men left handed; EVIiltY ONE COUI.D Sl.l.N'tJ A BTONE AT AN ll.MIt IJUEADTII AND NOT MISS." Surely, too. you ro member the story of David and Goliath when tho young shepherd "prevailed over the Philistine WITH A SLINQ AND WITH A STONE." I Something Better, Vet they had their drawbacks. A stone Blung might kill n bird or even a man. but It was not very effecttvo against big game. What was wanted was n missile to pierce a thick hide. So through long years of groping for "something bet ter" tho bow uud arrow was evolved and played a most Importun part in tho development of arms and umtuunl tiou in many lands. A Shooting Machine, Hut the nge of machinery was corn Jug on. Ouco iu awhile there were Reprinted by Courtesy glimpses of more powerful and com plicated devices to be seen among tho uinuy forms In which tho bow and ar row were constructed. A now weapon now came to the cen ter of the stage. It wiib tho crossbow, the llrst real baud shooting machine. This was uuother big step toward the day of the rifle. The Idea was simple enough. Woodeu bows hud already bceu made as strong as the strongest ninn could pull, and they wished for still stronger ones steel ones. IIow could tlkuy pull them? At tlrst they mounted them upon a wooden frame and rested one end on the shoulder for a brace. Then they took to pressing the other end ngnlust the ground and , using both hands. Next It was a bright Idea to put a stirrup on this end In order to hold It with tho foot. "Strong "Let us er. stronger!" they clamored, try mechanics!" ! So they attached levers, pulleys, ratchets and windlasses until at last they reached the size of the great siege crossbows, weighing eighteen pounds. These sometimes needed n force of 1.200 pounds to draw back tho string to its catch, but bow they could shoot! Notice tho pictures of the crossbows nnd you will see thnt now the weapons began to look n llttlo like guns as we know them, They bad shoulder pieces. And Now For Chemistry. Human muscle seemed to have reach ed Its limit, mechanics seemed to have readied Its limit, but still tho world clamored, "Stronger, stronger!" For answer man unlocked one of tho se crets of untiire and took out a terrible force. It was n force of chemistry. Gunpowder was probably tlrst dls 'covered by tho Chinese, though our civilization had to work out tho prob lem for Itself. i it Is recorded that Roger IJacon, n monk, discovered what was practical ly gunpowder as fur back as the thir teenth century. j Iterthold Schwartz, a monk of Frei burg, studied Hacon's works nnd car lied ou dangerous experiments of his own, so that he is ranked with Hacou for the honor. And then began the first crudo, clum sy efforts at gunmaklng. Firearms were born. , It took centuries for guns to become perfect enough to tako the place of bows nnd crossbows, i The Coming of the Matchlock, , Ilnud bombards and culverns were among tho early types. Some of these were so heavy that a forked support had to be driven into the ground, and two men were needed, oue to hold and iilm, the other to prime and (Ire. new docs that strlko you for a duck shoot ing proposition? Improvements kept coming, however Guns wero lightened and bettered In shapo. Somebody thought of putting n Hash pan for the powder by tho side of the touchbolo, and now it was de cided to fasten the slow match in a movable cock upon the barrel and Ig nite It with a trigger. These matches were fuses of some slow burning fiber, like tow, which would keep a spark for a considerable time. Formerly they had to be carried separately, but the new arrangement was n great conven ience nitd made the matchlock. The cock, being curved like a snako, was called the "serpentine." A Nuremberg Inventor In 1515 hit on tho wheel lock. In this a notched steel wheel was wound up with n key llko a clock. Flint or pyrlte was held against the Jagged edge of the wheel by the pres sure of tho serpentine. You pulled the trigger, then "whir" the wheel re volved, n stream of sparks flew off into the Hush pan, and the guu was dis charged. And Then Came the Flintlock. Everybody knows what tho flintlock was like. You simply fastened a flake THE BOW AND ARROW. of flint in the cock nnd snapped li against n steel plate. This struck off sparks which fell Into the flash pun and fired the charge. A Minister Takes a Hand. Jumping over to the year ISO", we hnve the Ituv. Alexander John For sythc, LL. D., getting his patent pa pers for something far better than even the steady old Hint. l! had In vented the percussion system. In some form this bus been used ever since. Caps and Breechloaders, Primers were tried In dllTerent forma called "detonators," but the familiar little copper cap was the most popular. But now we come to another great de velopment, tho breechloader. Although found In a crude form ns far back as 15.17, It wasn't until fixed ammunition came Into use that t breechloader really emtio to stay, and thnt was only the other day. You re member that the civil war began with muzzle londers and ended with breech loaders. France Contribute Cartridge Idea. Iloulller, the French gunsmith, hit on the great Idea of the cartridge. If you were going to use powder, ball aud percussion primer to get your game, why not put them all Into a neat, handy, gas tight case? Simple enough when you come to think of It, like most great Ideas. But It required good bruin stuff to do that thinking. THE ROMANCE OF MODERN ARMS A Refuial and What Came of It. WO men, n smith nnd bis son, both named Ellptmlct Item- J .. In 1D11 .., ill,ir UrSm busily ono day at their forgo T In beautiful Illon gorge when, so trn dltlon says, the sou asked his father for money to buy a rifle and met with a refusal The request was natural, for the surrounding hills wero full of game. The father must have had his own reasons for refusing, but IT MADE ItEMINGTON AltMS! Ellphalet Junior closed his Arm Jaws tightly and began collecting scrap iron on his own account. This he welded skillfully Into a guu barrel, walked fif teen miles to Utlcn to have It rifled and finally hud a weapon of which ho might well be proud. In reality It was such n very good gun that soon the neighbors ordered others like It, nnd beforo long the Ilcmlngton forgo found itself bard at work to meet tho increasing demand. Several times each week the stalwart young manufacturer packed n load of gun barrels upon his back and tramped all tho way to Utlca, whero n gunsmith rilled nnd finished them. At this tlmo there were no real gun factories In America, nlthough gunsmiths wero lo cated In most of tho larger towns. All gun barrels wero Imported from Eng laud or Europo. A Machine to Save His 8houldert. Tho broad shoulders of Ellphalet Junior must havo ached under bis load, for his busy bralu soon devised ma chinery with which ho could do tho rilling for himself. Thus tho forgo be came a completo guu fuctory, receiv ing material as scrap Iron and turning out finished rifles. Shotguns also wero made. Up Iu the gorge was a ledge of red sandstone. This furnished the first grindstones, which ground down the barrels to proper form by power from the brook. Thus father and sou worked away briskly, creating n brand new American Industry, Bursting the Shell, In 1S28. the same year that tho elder Remington met his death through uc cldcnt, tho business outgrew the little shop by the brookslde burst Its shell like a "seventeeu year locust" and bought n largo farm near the Erie ca nal. There today the great plant stands. In "A New Chapter In an Old Story" several pages are given to tho thrill ing story of the part played by tho fast growing Industry In map chang ing wars and in the progress of na tions tho world over. Ammunition Now Receives Attention. It takes mora than n perfect gun o make good shooting the ammunition also must be right. So it was only natural that, spurred on by the lessons of the civil war, the country should look for metallic cartridges for tho new breechloadlng arms. Marcellus xiuruey, prominent in me nrearms ana THE OROSSBOW. ammunition business of the period nnO lu later years a guiding spirit In tho Remington organization, Interested Ills partners nnd others In the opportunity, nnd on Aug. 0. ISO", the Union Metal lic Cartridge company was Incorporat ed, lu later years combining with the Remington Arms Company. Tho oak bad taken root. At first the new firm made rim flro cartridges (for the center flro had not been Invented), percussion caps and shotguns, hut soon dropped the guns to concentrate ou ammunition. The Genlu Comet. Mr. Hartley and his associates by their business sagacity bad created the opportunity nnd wero on the lookout for a mechanical genius. Ho came. His namo was Alfred C. Hobbs, super intendent of the Howe Sowing Ma chine company. After five years Mr. Hobbs brought his great Ingenuity, solely to tho problems of cartridge making. For twenty years ho remained In charge. Inventing nearly nil the special machinery that made tho business no successful. It Is difficult to get n per mit to visit tho Bridgeport factory tho mechanical secrets are so valu able. Paper Shell Are Made. In 1873 tho company bought from 0. D. Wells of Springfield his equip ment for making paper shells which were practically nil handmade. Soon machines wero Invented for'thls work an Important development, because shotguns were rapidly Increasing lu use. This was due to the fact that as tho country beenmo settled nnd big game grew harder to find sportsmen gave more attention to wing shooting A supposedly ample stock was made up, nnd the company advertised that such n shell was on the market. Or ders aggregating 10.000,000 fairly flood ed tho plant, thus showing tho power of advertising and tho slzo of tho mar ket. The first U M 0 shot shells were of brass, but the paper shell followed At tlrst 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 It strike you us reuiiiikiihle thnt in an output of something like 4,000.000 per day every cui fridge should bo perfect. Such things lire lint iieehleutal The secret Is IN INSPECTION Let us see what that means It menus laboratory tests to start with Here arc brought many samples of the ImmI.v paper, wad paper, metals, waterproofing mlMuro fulminate uf mercury, sulphur, chin rate of potash, iiutlniony sulphide, pow dcr, wax mid other Ingredients ami even the operating materials, such as coal, grease, oil and soaps in thl room we tee expert chemists and met ullurglsts with their test tubes, scales Bunsen burners, retorts tensile inn chines, microscopes and other clentliie looking apparatus busily hunting fur defects For example, one murker Is exiimln Ing n supply of cupro nickel such us Is used lu Jacketing certain bullets A comer of each strip Is first bent over at right angles, then back In the other direction until It Is doubled, then straightened It does not show the slightest sign of breaking or cracking In spite of the severe treatment; there fore It is perfect. Let but the least flaw appear and tho shipment Is re jected. Just read this llttlo summary of ono stngo only In the Inspection of empty shells; "SHOT SHELLS are received by In spectlon department after tho heads, tubes, bodies, primers and battery cups have been carefully exnmlned, gauged, sized uud tested. They are then "Flrst.-Gauged for body diameter In chamber gauges. "Second-Gauged for head thickness and head diameter, and If any quantity of these defects bo found all shells In Inspection department of that partlcu lar brand nre returned to manufactur ing department to be either corrected or scrapped. "Third. Primers carefully examined. "Fourth. Entire shell examined for any blemish which might mar tho gen eral appearance. Slight scratches on head or spots on bodies aro sufllclent causes for their rejection. Tho aver ago consumer would bo unablo to do termlno in many cases, Ifsnown oui scrap pile, why tho shells in question had been rejected." Similarly metallic cartridges must THE FLINTLOCK. THE MODERN AUTOLOADING RIFlE. nnvo siiciis gauged ror size or pocket. 'Jim iiiiicuiium for d'SiTi heads gauged for dlnmetcr, bIicIIs care- are tho best thnt m m fully Inspected Inside and out for flaws. ' the operatives the ZlZnl dents and buckled nocks, primer pock cts examined for shapu nnd condition, ullnlta filtlf'Pfl for Ifiltf'tll. uhnlla fvniii.twl . .......... ....... ..., .,......, ....,. ' In f.liil lillinr i-nlltvf, fur limlv flln Minfn,- necked shells gauged for prolllo and dls taiico from head, shells examined for depth of primer seating, condition of nuvll and exploded primer and shells finally gone over for general defects that may havo vsenped other Inspec tions. Weighing Bullet. lu the same spit It workers with deli cate scales, like those you scu In n druggist's prescription department, nro weighing the bullet carefully, ono by one, hour after hour, day after day, giving all their thought and attention to this ono thing, while other employ ees cxplodo nbout 2,000,000 primers a year In testing their sensitiveness. The loaded shells nnd cartridges go through n scries of gauges nnd tests seemingly unnecessary after nil that have preceded tho loading. For exam ple. It does look n llttlo wasteful to seo men tako shells nt random from the various loading mnchlncs mid packing tables lu order to cut them up nnd exnmlue the contents. When 'wo learn that a half million perfectly good shells lire thus destroyed each year It Impresses us as painstaking run mad, hut It helps to explain why there lire no misfires In your U M C box. Testing For All the World. Aud then ut last come the shouting tests. Five hundred thousand rlui the cartridges, '.TiO.tMK) center lire ear t ridges nnd 500,000 loaded shells must still be sacrificed on the various shoot lug ranges each year lu order to stud) velocity, Intensity of sound, penctra tiou, pressure and shot pattern; nlso the mushrooming qualities of soft point bullets nnd the rigidity of those with metal cases. Each of these points In what Is known ns the "ballistic" work has special experts uud ap paratus There Is no guesswork tiny where. How Shot I Made. How many of our readers have ever seen n shot tower?. The great building nt Bridgeport, of solid masonry, metal' and concrete. Is a night worth mile" of travel. Two large Iron cylinders de sceud lu the center, coming down through the celling from above. We are. Invited to look through an open port lu one of .1 lie-so Raining Shot, Wo seo nothing but the whitened opposlto well, against which a light burns. It nppenrs nbsolutely empty, though within it Is mining such a swift show er of luvlslhlo metnl that If we were to stretch our hands Into the apparent ly vacant space they would be torn from our arms. A large water tank below Is churned Into foam with tho Impact of the fall ing shot, nnd as wo look downward we make out finally tho liuzo of motion. It Is so Interesting that wo tako tho clovator and rlso ten stories to tho source of tho shower. Hero high In tho nlr nro tho largo caldrons whero many pigs of lead, with tho proper alloy, aro molted into a sort of metallic soup. This is fed into small compartments containing stoves or screens, through tho meshes of which tho shining drops appear aud then plunge swiftly downward. Cascades of Shot. But this only begins tho process. Tnkon from tho water tank's and hoist ed up again, tho shot pellets in a sec ond Journey down through complicated dovlces aro sorted, tumbled, polished, graded, coated with graphlto and final ly stored. Tho building is almost baro of work men; everything is mechanical. Ono pretty sight Is that of cascades of shot pouring out of spouts and roll ing smoothly down glass Inclines, tier ab"ovo tier. Hero perfect shot, moving moro swiftly than tho occasional lm porfect ones, shoot over low partitions, which chock the latter and drop them Into separate bins. Some Secrets of Arms Manufacture. From tho ammunition plant lot us travel to tho great factory nt lllon that was ouco a forgo shop. As in tho car tridge factory, wo find hero similar vis tas of Bwlftly whirring shafts, bolts and pulleys, long rows of resounding machinery and armies of operators. Making Barrel. Ono of tho most Important features Is, of course, the making of barrels. ... . rcuuivcs tne most iklllfat (,T found oiiywlicre. Cure li ? U reduces the necessity for m!? ""tor. Ever, point 1,1? est attention. In drilling for example, tho length of ti.lj mustboframlOOtoiaUaS ametcr of tho drill. ,ft Taking Off 2-1000 el an tnett. The boring Is an cinedall, delta, ask. In chokcborlng your ,bo for example, the final reamer tockef only 2-1000 of nn Inch. Thlnkefni a gossamer thread of meUll But 1th. sures accuracy. Looking at Rtfltctid Lima. But here Is the ImmcUod dt menu Hanging In the wlodon w translucent frames with i blk fc, acrosB tho center of each. Toa tfl see ono of tho Inspectors ttkt i Urn! from tho waiting rack, hold en k toward the light, squint critlal; through the tube and Is; ItuMnj. provlngly. You pick It up nnd follow bis tu pie. First you point It straight it ill black cross line on the frame. Tba you tip up tho farther end trer Hit tlo and bee how two reflected iliii lines form on tho shining Inner tarfict nnd run down the barrel towirdjra eye. These lines are straight ui ft; thcrcforo the barrel ls perfect tin'i either ono wnrcr tho slightest fnrtlej the Inspector's quick ejeiteotiit tects It. There nro 'J 10 Inspection poMml 517 gauges mint be med-forttln on tho guard, forty-six on the melftf, thirty on the breech block, ltd woo. ( On the receiver for the No, 10 repell ing shotgun. however, seventy ptfo nre used, nnd thirty-cm for the tfl ger alone. Beyond the Powir of Sight Some of these gauges sre mirreliof delicacy, but tliero Is one rnichlMtiei which perhaps hat nerer been ii Not only will It make meuoKKta to ono twenty-thousandth of in In hut It Is actually sensitive to filef; enees of o ONE HUNDRED TOW SANDTII OF AN INCH. Soehicl nuto dimension we cannot va Imagine, It Is beyond thersnteofw most powerful microscope, ltd J hero Is a plcco of mcebsnum iwi can really delect If- T.itlno With Loids. Flrat.thca, Is tho barrel ssrrfrt wo believe It? Wo know hit perfect la gauge and wortwj Ut Is there tho sllg test f f g invisible flaw In ma terlslJ The JJ a tests of material tuft i UJ J very unlikely, but w JW chances. If there be .1 WJ must burst at more thsn W servlco charge. ,. t.u la test Accordingly tho gun Is UJJJ with Its muzzle 'fSrf opening In tho vrl'ny strength has been int . , Then follow tU fjr 7 speed, and if tegv ng ..JT ? Tweli PW tf '""""-,m. . the or. movo as bujwv - itt,nr or surprising. . - -ii. itira watch. And n" get tests, luccesilo" in rest and flred at a? - divided target upon "ht The results aro jMrtaii SCOUO. Ulun.uJ - Firing t Trgtfc y, nlfl0 after riflo in .- .. nnd fired at a ,,. Kets in tho shooting S"W'0J fhougb tho hallway that '0 io the point wftrWlJJJ the targets, e'ut tho wall and rfV Z a well peppered' lftci h unfastens and W"L,J,&?j ee. Pinning a frfteI, Theso targets u.VBC0Untei d every shot gR-Jg J any case there bo ;,li nnr CCUt of tDO SDOl . IM thirty incbc from- la at onco rejv.v ( p mlssllooftboato " th played in - ; r tw - given way ";nd ow""" peaceful hunters and