The Wonder Book Of Knowledge Part 16

A file whose teeth are in parallel ridges only is called single-cut or float-cut. Such are mostly used for bra.s.s and copper. When there are two series of ridges crossing each other the file is double-cut, which is the file best suited for iron and steel.

Rasps are files which have isolated sharp teeth separated by comparatively wide s.p.a.ces, and are chiefly used for soft materials such as wood and horn.

Each of these three cla.s.ses of files is made in six different degrees of fineness, the coa.r.s.est being called rough, the next middle, followed by b.a.s.t.a.r.d, second-cut, smooth and superfine or dead-smooth, each a degree finer than that which precedes it.

Files are usually made with the hand, file-cutting machines not having been as yet perfectly successful on account of the delicacy of touch required in the work.

The blanks, as the steel before it has teeth is called, are laid on the anvil and struck with the chisel, which rests obliquely on the blank, each blow raising a ridge or tooth. The strength of the blow depends on the hardness of the metal, and when one part is harder than another the workman alters his blows accordingly. When one side is covered with single cuts if the file is to be double cut he adds in the same manner a second series, crossing the others at a certain angle.

In making fine files a good file-cutter will cut upwards of two hundred teeth within the s.p.a.ce of an inch. The files, except those that are used for soft substances, are hardened by heating them to a cherry-red color and then dipping them in water. They are then finished by scouring and rubbing over with olive oil and turpentine.

The Story of Self-Loading Pistols[8]

Colt Pistols.

The machine gun of the present day, the murderous weapon which has numbered its victims by the hundreds of thousands during the European war, had its origin in the mind of a man whose birth dates back to almost exactly one hundred years before this war began, that of Samuel Colt, born at Hartford, Conn., on July 19, 1814.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CUSTER'S LAST STAND

The revolver played a large part in Indian warfare.]

The small arm of the previous period, the old "Brown Bess," used in the British army for 150 years, was a muzzle-loading, flint-lock musket of the crudest make. The only important improvement made in it during that long term of service was the subst.i.tution of the percussion cap for the flint lock. This took place in the last period of its use. A breech-loading rifle was also invented about this time. This was the "Needle Gun," of which 60,000 were issued to the Prussian army in 1841, and which was first used in 1848, in the German war with Denmark.

The Colt pistol had appeared before this date. The idea of it grew in the mind of young Colt when he left his father's silk mill and s.h.i.+pped as a boy sailor in the s.h.i.+p "Carlo," bound from Boston to Calcutta.

While on this voyage the conception of a revolving pistol came to him, and he whittled out a rude model of one with a penknife from a piece of wood.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SINGLE ACTION ARMY AND FRONTIER REVOLVER--THE "COWBOY'S FRIEND"]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ORIGINAL PATTERSON MODEL, 1836]

[Ill.u.s.tration: OLD MODEL "POWDER AND BALL" REVOLVER USED IN MEXICAN AND CIVIL WARS]

[Ill.u.s.tration: GUN MOUNTED ON LANDING CARRIAGE WITH SHAFT ATTACHMENT]

When he returned he sought in vain to interest his father and others in his idea of a pistol with a revolving cylinder containing six chambers to be discharged through a single barrel. This boyish notion won no converts, and at the age of eighteen he went on a lecture tour on chemistry, under the dignified t.i.tle of Dr. Coult. These lectures met with success, and he used the money made by them in developing his pistol, which was in a shape to patent by 1835. Patents were taken out by him in this and the following year in the United States, Britain and France, and in 1836 he established the "Patent Arms Company" at Paterson, N. J., with a paid-in capital stock of about $150,000. This was a bold move by the young inventor, then just escaped from boyhood.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PACK SADDLE FOR CARRYING AUTOMATIC MACHINE GUN AND COMPLETE EQUIPMENT]

[Ill.u.s.tration: AUTOMATIC MACHINE GUN MOUNTED ON LIGHT LANDING CARRIAGE, AMMUNITION CHESTS OPEN, SHOWING HOW FEED BOXES, ETC., ARE CARRIED]

Young Colt tried in vain to interest government officials in his new weapon, their princ.i.p.al objection being that he used in it the new percussion caps instead of the time-honored flint-lock. But success came during the Seminole War of 1837, when some of the officers, who had seen the new revolving pistol, decided to give it a trial and sent to the factory for a supply.

Its value was soon proved. The Indians looked on this weapon that could be fired six times after one loading, as something magical. It was too much for their philosophy and the war soon came to an end. At a later date it was used by the Texans in their war against Mexico, and from that time on every Texas ranger wanted a revolver. It has ever since been the favorite weapon of the cowboy and frontiersman.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AUTOMATIC PISTOL--GOVERNMENT MODEL, CALIBER .45

In this model the slide remains open after firing the last cartridge.

When reloading the arm in this position, insert the magazine, then press downward the slide stop (to the rear of the trigger as ill.u.s.trated). The slide goes forward, inserting a cartridge without any movement of the slide by hand. The slide stop is operated by the thumb of the hand holding the pistol.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: POLICE-POSITIVE REVOLVER

Adopted by the Police Departments of the princ.i.p.al cities of the United States and Canada.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: AUTOMATIC PISTOL--POCKET MODEL, HAMMERLESS

The action of this pistol is automatic except that the trigger must be pulled to fire each shot; continued discharge will not result from one pull of the trigger.]

But wars ran out, the market closed, and the "Patent Arms Company"

failed. What put Colt on his feet again was the Mexican war a few years later. General Taylor offered Colt a contract for one thousand revolvers at $24 each, and though the young inventor was looked upon as a ruined man he took the contract, got together the necessary capital, and built a factory on the Connecticut at Hartford. From that time on there was no want of a market. The "Forty-Niners" took revolvers to California, foreign governments sent orders for them, and armories were built in England and in Russia for their manufacture. Colt died in 1862, but the Civil War had previously opened a great market for his pistols, and before the conflict ended the Colt factory at Hartford was in a highly flouris.h.i.+ng state. In the following years the revolver became a prime necessity in dealing with the Indians of the West, and a school-book statement of that date was to the effect that: "The greatest civilizer of modern times is the Colt revolver." Another writer, speaking of the "Peacemaker," an effective weapon produced after 1870, said: "It has the simplicity, durability, and beauty of a monkey-wrench."

[Ill.u.s.tration: AUTOMATIC MACHINE GUN MOUNTED ON TRIPOD, SHOWING BELT Pa.s.sING OUT (RIGHT SIDE)]

Machine Guns.

The revolving idea was applied to guns about 1861 by Richard J. Gatling, the first Gatling guns fitted for use with metalling ammunition being produced by the Colt Company in 1870. These guns had ten barrels revolving around a central shaft and in their developed form were capable of being fired at the rate of one thousand shots a minute. The first of these to be used prominently in warfare was the French mitrailleuse, used by France in the war of 1870-71. The Gatling soon made its way widely, and its rapidity of fire became a proverb. If anything moved quickly it was said to "go like a Gatling" or "sound like a Gatling."

[Ill.u.s.tration: AUTOMATIC GUN MOUNTED ON AUTOMOBILE]

Other guns of this type are the Hotchkiss, the Nordenfeldt and the Gardner, and a more recent one is the Maxim, which, after the first shot is fired by hand power, continues to fire shot after shot by means of the power derived from the explosion of each successive cartridge. In the early form of the revolver the empty cartridge cases had to be ejected from the cylinder singly by an ejector rod or handy nail. In 1898 a new type was introduced with a lateral swinging cylinder which permitted the simultaneous ejection of all the empty sh.e.l.ls.

Near the time of the Spanish-American War appeared what is known as the Colt automatic gun, operated by the action of the powder gases on a piston and lever near the muzzle of the barrel. This could be fired at the rate of 400 to 500 shots a minute, and by reason of its light weight could be very easily carried. The British used it effectively in the Boer War.

Today the Colt Company manufacture revolvers in which the simultaneous ejection of the cartridge-cases and recharging of the chambers is combined with a strong, jointless frame; automatic magazine pistols in which the pressure of the powder gases, as above said, is utilized after giving the proper velocity to the projectile, it requiring only a slight continued pressure on the trigger for each shot; automatic machine guns firing at will single shots or volleys while requiring only a slight pull upon the trigger; and the improved manually-operated Gatling gun firing the improved modern ammunition. The cartridges are carried on a tape which feeds them with the necessary rapidity into the barrel.

What would be the history of the European War without the machine gun is not easy to state, but as a highly efficient weapon of war its quality has been abundantly proved.

How does the Poisonous Tarantula Live?

When the National Guardsmen from all over the Union were concentrated along the Mexican border, many reports were sent home of thrilling experiences with tarantulas, to whose bite the natives of Mexico, Italy and many other warmer countries have ascribed a disease called "tarantism." The Italian peasants believe that this disease can only be cured by a certain kind of music.

The tarantula, like many other members of the spider family, is an expert in the making of burrows. Its burrows are artfully planned. At first there is a sheer descent four or five inches in depth, but at that distance below the surface the tunnel turns aside before dipping straight down again to its termination. It is at the angle or elbow of the tunnel that the tarantula watches for the approach of enemies or prey, like a vigilant sentinel, never for a moment off its guard, lying hidden during the day, if nothing disturbs it, and coming out at nightfall to seek its prey.

Unlike most other spiders, it hunts its game without the aid of webs or snares. It does, however, possess the ability to spin the silk which we have all seen other spiders make, for, in digging its hole, it makes neat little packages of the dirt it has sc.r.a.ped up, bound together with silk and slime from its mouth, and flips them to one side out of the way. When it comes to hunting, it makes sure that it can pounce on its prey, by building the entrance of its hole about two inches in diameter and up from the surface an inch or so, so that it can spread its legs for the leap.

How do the Indians Live Now?

The Indians of the United States are now largely gathered into reservations and their former dress, arms and habits are being gradually changed for those of the whites. Civilization is invading their homes and driving out their older characteristics. This is especially the case with the large numbers now dwelling in the former Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, although those confined in the reservations of Arizona, New Mexico and Montana are clinging more to their old modes, as is shown in the accompanying ill.u.s.trations.

In ancient times the body was covered with furs and skins according to the seasons, but now the white man's clothes and blanket have generally superseded the native dress; though the moccasin of deer or moose hide, and, in the wilder tribes, the ornamental leggings and head-dresses are still retained. Their dwellings are made of bark, skins and mattings of their own making, stretched on poles fixed in the ground. The arms of the wilder tribes consist of the bow and arrow, the spear, tomahawk and club, to which have been added the gun and knife of the whites. Canoes are made of logs hollowed out, or of birch bark stretched over a light frame, skilfully fastened with deers' sinews and rendered water-tight by pitch.