Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 71, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 April 1918 — MACHINES SPOUT SHELLS AND GUNS [ARTICLE]

MACHINES SPOUT SHELLS AND GUNS

Monster Creations of Steel and Concrete to Help Crush Kaiser. SOLVES THE SPEED PROBLEM Lathe Turns and Bores Bhells With Extreme Rapidity—Giant Planer First Metal Working Machine Built of Concrete and Iron. Chicago.—While the entire country has been clamoring for quicker action in furnishing munitions for war purposes, Chicagoans have been quietly solving the problem of how to produce the maximum number of big guns and shells in, the shortest possible time. As a result, Chicago has become an active center for the manufacture of machinery for smashing Von Hindenburg’s defenses.

The first of the newly Invented machines being made here is a lathewhich turns and bores shells with extreme speed. The second is a machine for boring big guns of any size or length, and the third is a planer of record-breaking size; The planer is built of concrete and iron and is tjie first metal-working machine that has ever been built of that combination. It Is the biggest machine of its kind In the world. These machines are so unusual In construction, and can be built with such speed that the methods of manufacture have attracted wide attention among experts. Saves Two Years' Delay. Machinery used for war purposes formerly was made so slowly that it wotiid be impossible to supply with It the present demand for quick construction. An attempt to build the big planar, of iron, according to. regulation methods, would have meant a delay of at least two years. The machine,for boring guns Is 80 feet long and weighs 60 tons. But it can be placed in the mammoth planer, which has a bed 184 feet long and weighs much more than 2,500,000 pounds. The Inventor of the machines is

4 Lucien I. Yeomans, a nephew of Grover Cleveland. He is the only machinist the family has produced since the days when one of his ancestors made * muskets for the Revolutionary army. Four of the big planes are being built and one is almost finished, although the drawings for it were not ready until Christmas day. Instead of requiring two years for the work, the first machine will be working within two months from the time its foundations were dug. Can Handle Big Cannon. Each of the planers costs $85,600. As all the material upon which they work will be extremely heavy two • traveling cranes are being put up nearby. * The/boring machines which are to be made on the planers can handle a cannon 38 feet long and having a caliber of 14 or 16 inches, close to the limit'of heavy ordinance. Several thousand of the shell making machines Jiave been produced. Each of*- these machines can turn and bore a shell in from 15 to 20 minutes and is usuully run 24 hours a day. One company has just placed an order for more than 100 of these machines, a second,, ordered 75, and a third 80. They make the American & and 8incli shells and the British 9.2-inch shells. The French are the same size as the American. . ’ These machines turn out shells that are meant only for high explosives. The shop In which these machine!! are being made was built in 18 days and great speed has marked every step in the work. The machines weigh tea tpns each and are sold at $3,000. Tbej! are to be turned out in immense uuio hers during the next few months.