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  When the springs have reached a bright yellow heat they are removed from the pipe by a special sharp-pointed pair of tongs. Tongs of this class must be used so that the springs can be easily and quickly handled. The oil can should sit close beside the forge so that the springs can be instantly plunged into oil as soon as removed from the fire. This is necessary because if the steel cools below a yellow heat in the transfer the retempering will be a failure.
  The first quenching in oil gives the steel its maximum hardness. One of the cold springs can be removed from the oil and can easily be broken by simply crushing in the palm of the hand. It us therefore necessary to soften the steel and reduce its hardness. This is accomplished and to the desired softness by placing the heat springs back in the pipe again and heating to a temperature that will just ignite the oil on the springs. The oil is then allowed to burn off and the instant the flame is out of the spring is again plunged into the oil.
   Excellent results were obtained by one burning off of the oil. If the desired results are not obtained or if the spring is still too hard they may be burned off again. This will soften the steel a little more. Of one hundred and twenty-five springs retempered in one morning only about half a dozen were too hard, and of all the retempered springs only one was broken and three have been changed as being too weak. Those used seemed to stand up and give as good results as the original springs though perhaps not lasting quite as long.
   There has not been a complaint against springs reclaimed in this manner. Only those mentioned have been reported as failures the other are still giving good service on various engines on the field.


NEWS IN BRIEF

GENERAL MENOHER HEAD

Major General Charles T. Menhoer, lately commander of the Rainbow Division and the Sixth Army Cops, has been appointed Director of the Air Service. 

NAMED MORROW FIELD

The Air Service Acceptance Park at Detroit,  Michigan, will be officially know as Morrow Field, in honor of Lieutenant Karl Clifford Morrow, who lost his life in Detroit, Michigan, November, 11, 1918, while entertaining citizens of the city who were celebrating the signing of the armistice. 

FOUR ACES RETURN

Four American pilots have recently returned to this  country from overseas, all unofficially rated as "Aces." Lieutenant Colonel William Thaw, of Pittsburg, Major C. J. Biddle, of Philadelphia, and Captains Edgar Tobin, of San Antonio, and Ray Bridgeman of Lake Forest, Ills. arrived at American ports.

MAY KEEP SWEATERS

Enlisted men on discharge will be permitted to retain as their permanent property any sweater or other wearing apparel or supplies donated by the Red Cross or other charitable organization which they then have in their lawful possession.

MAP EASTERN SLOPE

Five two seated training planes have just returned to Langley Field, Virginia, after having mapped out a course along the Eastern slope of the Appalachian range to Columbia, South Carolina to link into the South transcontinental air route now being charted by squadrons of planes working both East and West from fields South of the Ohio river. The total flying time of these planes from Langley Field South to Columbia was five hours and two minutes and the flying time North over the same route was four hours and thirty minutes. The distance in an air line between the two points is roughly 330 miles.

GERMANS NERVY FLYERS

According to Lieutenant George C. Whiting, of Boston, Mass,. who has just returned from active flying service with the British, many German pilots and observers are both efficient and possess a good amount of nerve and finesse. "It is a mistake," said Lieutenant Whiting, "to believe that all German flyers are inefficient, untrained pilots and lacking in nerve."

RETAIN MANY UNITS

The weekly report of the Photographic Branch and the Training Section, states that this branch is formulating plans for future aerial mapping which will mean the retention of many photographic units throughout the country, Plans for a mobile photographic organization have also been submitted. Work now under way includes the making of lantern slides, and mosaics from the photographs recently taken from the air of Chemical Warfare service plant and Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland.

DECORATIVE FIVE AIRMEN

Twenty-five enemy airplanes were brought down by American aviators brigaded with the British between September 23rd and October 20th, inclusive, and five American aviators were decorated with the British Distinguished Flying Cross, according to Royal Flying Corps communiques last received by the Division of Military Aeronautics.

PARDONED BY WILSON

It was announced recently that the President had pardoned Lieutenant Colonel George W. Mixter and Lieutenant Colonel J. G. Vincent, whom the recent report on aircraft production showed to be technically guilty of a breach of statutes, because he believes that the two gentlemen concerned were entirely innocent of any improper of selfies intention, that their guilt was only technical, and that their services to the Government, which have been of the highest value and of a most disinterested sort, deserve the most cordial recognition.

NAME CHANGE FAVORED

Although officers in the flying services of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps have always been eligible as members of the A. S. C. A, recent developments indicate that a large number of Naval and Marine Corps flying officers will shortly join the association. In order that the association name shall be more indicative of the nature of the organization, it has been recommended that it be changed to the Army and Navy Air Service Association.

PROMOTIONS CONTINUE

Promotions of enlisted men in the air service will be made as usual. Enlisted men may be promoted or appointed to non-commissioned grades by any field officer of the air service under whose direct command they may be serving. Recommendations for the appointment of master electricians will continue to be made to the D.M.A; however, recommendations for promotion to that grade should only be made in the case of those men who are to continue in the service.

THEY DIDN'T JUMP

Out of about sixty men who went overseas to enter the Balloon Service with First Lieut J. A. Smith, Reserve Military Aeronaut, only two completed their observation service aloft without having to take a parachute jump. Lieutenant Smith, who is of Newark, N. J., and saw service on the Mexican border in the artillery before going overseas, says he was one of the two, and the other was Lieut. B. L. Breed of Vermont.

AIR SERVICE HISTORIES

Special efforts are being made to secure the histories of every aero squadron that has been in the American Expeditionary Forces, for use in the history of the Air Service. Lieut. H. W. Heintz, A. S., has been detailed to the Aeronautical Information branch of the Executive Section, D. M. A., to carry out this work in the United States.

ENCOURAGES AERIAL CONTESTS

One of the functions of the Air Service Clubs' Association is to encourage contests in the air, both for heavier and lighter-than-air craft, among the flyers of the Air Service, by the award of prizes for meritorious flights and achievements. It is probably that an homologation committee, which will witness and pass upon aeronautical tests, flights and achievements for official record, will also be authorized by the Association. This committee undoubtedly will consider aeronautical achievements outside the service, if its observation is desired.

PAINTS GENERAL KENLY

A portrait of Major General W. L. Kenly, Director of Military Aeronautics, is being painted by Sergeant Lawson Adams, Jr., stationed in the D. M. A., whose work both here and abroad as an artist is well known. Sergeant Adams has recently completed a canvas depicting greater New York as seen from an airplane. It is expected that the portrait will be exhibited to the public in the near future.