he sides of
the stock, for the purpose of affording the subsequent machines certain
fixed and accurate points for holding it in the frames. This operation
is called spotting. The next machine performs six separate operations,
namely, grooving for the barrel, breechpin, and tang, heading-down,
milling, and finish-grooving. These various operations complete the
stock for the exact fitting-in of the barrel. The next machine planes
the top, bottom, and sides of the stock, and the succeeding two are
occupied in shaping and bedding for the butt-plates. The next machine is
designed for fitting in the lock, and is the most wonderful of all. It
contains two bits and three cutters pendent from a movable steel frame
situated above the stock. These cutters, or borers, are made to revolve
with immense velocity, and are susceptible of various other motions at
the pleasure of the workman. The inevitable iron pattern--the exact
counterpart of the cavity which is designed to be made for the reception
of the lock--is situated in close proximity to the stock, and a guide in
the form of the borer is inserted within the pattern, and controls the
movements of the borer. This is ejected by causing the tool to revolve
by means of small machinery within the frame, while the frame and all
within it move together, in the vertical and lateral motions. All that
the workman has to do is to bring the guide down into the pattern and
move it about the circumference and through the centre of it, the
cutting tool imitating precisely the motions of the guide, entering the
wood and cutting its way In the most perfect manner and with incredible
rapidity, forming an exact duplicate of the cavity in the pattern. It is
on this principle, substantially, that all the machines of the
stocking-shop are constructed,--every process, of course, requiring its
own peculiar mechanism. The next machine cuts for the guards and bores
for the side-screws of the lock, and the two succeeding cut places for
bands and tips. The next operation is called the second turning,
finishing the stock in a very smooth and elegant manner. The next
machine grooves for the ramrod, and the following and last in this
department is designed for boring for the ramrod from the point where
the groove terminates. This latter work has always been done by hand
until the past winter, and there is as yet but one machine for the
purpose in operation at the armory, which, running night and day, is
able t