В 1924 году журнал «Forest and Stream» разместил некролог William Morgan Thomas – человеку, занимавшемуся в США созданием различных патронов, капсюлей, пуль.
Но похоже, американцы привирают, особенно удивила фраза: «Mr. Thomas developed the modern primer in which the anvil is a part of the primer itself.» (Мистер Томас разработал современный капсюль, в котором наковальня является частью самого капсюля.) Видимо он скопировал капсюль «Жевело» и впарил америкосам как свое изобретение.
William Morgan — (“U. M. C.”) — Thomas
MR. WILLIAM MORGAN THOMAS, familiarly and affectionately known to sportsmen the country over as “U. M. C. Thomas,” passed away at his home in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on November 5th. He had been ill but a very few days with pneumonia.
Mr. Thomas was born in Wales in 1848. At the age of 14 he came to the United States, sailing from Liverpool in a sailing vessel which required sixtyfive days to make the voyage. He came to Bridgeport in 1869 and found employment in the Cartridge Works then just being developed on the ground which is now a part of the U. M. C. Bridgeport Works of the Remington Arms Company, Inc. He was not a “rolling stone” and remained continuously in the U. M. C. Works until his retirement from active service, which occurred several years ago, when he completed his fiftieth consecutive year of service with the Remington Arms Company and its predecessors.
He was first employed in the loading department of the Union Metallic Cartridge Company. During the early part of the Russian-Turkish War Mr. Thomas acted as Chief Inspector of manufacture of the Peabody-Martini rifles for the Turkish Government. In his work he was associated with Mr. A. C. Hobbs, Superintendent of the U. M. C. Cartridge Plant. During this same period he was engaged in the development of primers for metallic carridges.
Some time later he was placed in harge of the Inspection and Ballistic Departments at the U. M. C. Plant, and for many years was active as a pioneer n the development of paper shotgun shells, metallic cartridges for rifles and pistols, primers, smokeless powders and almost everything connected with he arms and ammunition industry.
His reputation as an authority on verything pertaining to ammunition nanufacture spread beyond his adopted cuntry, and he was several times alled to England to lend aid and assistance to English engineers in conection with ballistic matters.
In 1899 Mr. Thomas went to Mexico n connection with a contract for ammuntion for that country, and while there was entertained by the then President, Porfirio Diaz.
In 1919, after having served the Remington Arms Company, Inc., and its predecesors for fifty years, Mr. Thomas was retired from active duty. On the occasion of a dinner given in his honor and to celebrate the completion of his fiftieth year of honorable and able service, the many beautiful and valuable gifts presented by his old associates and friends testified to the high esteem in which he was held by his associate, many of whom had served the same company almost as long as he. On that occasion at one table were grouped ten of his associates whose combined term of service in the U. M. C. Works totaled 478 years, an average of 47.8 years each.
Mr. Thomas had been for many years Ballistic Engineer of the U. M. C. Works. Since retiring from active service he was Consulting Ballistic Engineer and hardly a day passed that did not see him around the works just as keenly interested as ever in everything that was going on, giving freely of his advice on all new experiments, and wherever he went there was a friendly smile to greet him, as he was genuinely popular throughout the entire works. He was at his old desk only a few days prior to the end.
Mr. Thomas was responsible for a great many of the improvements and developments in paper shotgun shells, cartridges, primers, smokeless powder, etc. Working in conjunction with Mr. J. Stevens, of the J. Stevens Arms and Tool Company, Chicopee Falls, Mass., he developed the .22 long rifle cartridge and the .25 caliber rim fire cartridge. The .22 long rifle cartridge which has been popular for many years for its splendid accuracy at all ranges up to 200 yards owes much of its present perfection to the genius and patience of Mr. Thomas. During the past few years of the greater development and refinement of this cartridge the entire ballistic staff and process engineers of the Remington Arms Company have contributed to its present high degree of accuracy and development.
The .32, .32 long, .38, .38 special and .44 Rusian revolver cartridges adapted to the Smith & Wesson revolvers were developed by Mr. Thomas working in close cooperation with the Smith & Wesson Company.
Similarly the .32 short, .32 long, .38 short, .38 long, .41 long and .45 Colt cartridges were developed by him in conjunction with the engineers of the Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Mfg. Company to whose revolvers these cartridges are adapted.
The automatic pistol cartridges of different calibers were also developed by Mr. Thomas, working in conjunction with Mr. John M. Browning, the inventor of the automatic pistol and with the Colt Company manufacturing those pistols at their plant in Hartford.
Smokeless powder was first loaded in revolver cartridges by Mr. Thomas at the U. M. C. Works, and he developed the first successful primer for use in revolver cartridges loaded with smokeless powder. He developed the grooved shell for smokeless powder revolver cartridges, the bullet having an inside lubricant.
When Mr. Thomas began his development of modern primers the system then in vogue was to have the “anvil” of the primer a part of the shell, this being known as the old Berdan primer. Mr. Thomas developed the modern primer in which the anvil is a part of the primer itself. This type of primer is now used exclusively.
The Thomas pointed bullet is another of his developments. It was this type of bullet with which the American rifle team won the Palma Match at Ottowa in 1907 and with which Americans have since that time held the front rank in rifle competition, and at the international match at Bisley, England, during the present year, it was the 220 grain Thomas pointed bullet with which the United States rifle teams won against seven competing international teams.
For many years Mr. Thomas attended the most important shooting events throughout the entire country. He was always interested in seeing for himself the performances of the various types and kinds of ammunition. Through his attendance at such events he became widely known and well loved among the shooting fraternity who dubbed him “U. M. C. Thomas,” a name which always followed him and which was used by those who knew him best as a term of friendship and affection.
Mr. Thomas was a 32nd degree Mason, and for many years had been identified with Corinthian Lodge No. 104, Hamilton Commandery, Pyramid Temple and Mystic Shrine. At the time of his death Mr. Thomas was more than seventy-five years old. He is survived by his wife, two sons, Edgar R. Thomas of Stratford, Conn., and Stanley G. Thomas of Elmhurst, L. I., and two daughters, Mrs. Norman D. Hovey of Stratford, and Mrs. Ervin W. Sanford of Columbus, Ohio. His friends everywhere mourn the passing of a widely loved gentleman and real pioneer of the ammunition industry.
(Forest and Stream 1924-01: Vol 94 Iss 1)
