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Early Days

courtesy Oscar V. Payne and William J. Helmer
The Auto-Ordnance staff picnic, near Painesville, Ohio, in the summer of 1918. From far left: Theodore Eickhoff, Elmer Koenig; George E. Goll (third from left, behind man with rifle). From far right: Oscar V. Payne, Fred Deerty.
courtesy T.H. Eickhoff and William J. Helmer
A portion of the Auto-Ordnance machine shop and testing room in the Sabin Machine Company building in Cleveland, 1918. On the left is the test firing platform and steel pipe leading to the bullet trap (figs. 10 and 12); on the right, behind the protective screen, is a spark chronograph invented by Oscar Payne to measure the motion of the bullet. This device allowed the first accurate measurements of the “coefficient of friction” of various cartridges, thus highlighting the serious incompatability of the powerful .30-’06 with the Blish system, compared with the strong suitability of the .45 A.C.P.