Mcallen Daily Press

EXAN BECOMES "MECHANICAL WIZARD" OF MIDDLE EAST,
CONVERTS JUNK INTO PRECISION MACHINE SHOP FOR ARMY

CAIRO, May 30 --(UP)-- H. M. Granger, from El Paso, Texas, called the "Mechanical Wizard of Cairo," has accorded semi-official status with the British army because he runs the only precision machine works in the Middle East. It is the only source of accurately made machinery for the imperial forces of the desert and his shop is guarded by a picked corps headed by a giant Negro sergeant who was retired from the Sudan Defense Force. New instruments or machinery are made from unskilled native labor in the never-ending race to keep the army supplied. Granger, an American from Texas, produces searchlight adjusters, pistols, piston rings, spring bolts, machine gun parts, radio parts, wrist pins, salvage from hauling motors and planes, gear-cutting and dumpers. Bodies for trucks and tank auxiliary trailers are built in his carpentry and smithy sections.

Granger started this as a part-time job while he worked as one of the Near East managers of Standard Oil. He had one machine and four or five workmen. Now, after six months, he has 250 workmen laboring day and night, seven days a week. It is the only shop in Egypt going full blast 24 hours a day, night through the year. He trains unskilled laborers to work the machines in his shops. The army never allows his machines to stop humming. As soon as one order is finished, Granger finds more work waiting for him.

He is the only man in the Middle East who can do such work—work that otherwise would have to wait until the spare parts were sent from England or the United States. The army always wants more work from Granger. Sometimes he has trouble finding certain materials—especially iron and wood—and then the army steps in and combs the entire Middle East to provide him with what he needs.

When ships arrive at Egypt a port, any material destined for Granger is unloaded and sent to him within the hour. Others have to wait, sometimes weeks before receiving their goods.

In the race of supplies that is ever going on in the Middle East, Granger is an important factor. His machines roll out essential parts to damaged war material. His pistons get armored cars into the front-line again and his machine-gun parts reawaken the chatter of silenced weapons.

Captured enemy vehicles and weapons, usually damaged, receive a new lease on life when they are repaired at Granger's. Italian trucks and guns, on many occasions, leave the works as good as new, to be set against their former owners.

People call Granger the "Mechanical Wizard" because his instruments are second-hand, bought dirt-cheap with parts either missing or damaged. Granger spent months traveling over the Middle East, buying up what people thought scrap iron and junk. Within infinite patience, he worked on the broken-down machines until he had them running again. Some of repaired instruments produced the necessary parts for other machines he bought.

Granger built his own precision gauges, which he keeps locked in his room. They are his pride and joy. There is nothing conventional about them. His measurements are not in pounds or hundredweights—they are in Granger Units—units the native workmen have come to understand.

Although a terrific hustler, Granger is as gentle as a mother with his workmen. He is past forty, but his unruly hair and evident satisfaction when he talks about his work make him look much younger. Sometimes, however, his eyes become tired and strained after some all-night work to finish a job schedule. He works from morning till night, but when there is something important to finish he spends the night with his workmen.

His wife, a cultured young Lebanese, is his main help at the works. Her handling of the workmen takes a great deal off Granger's hands. Her job does not end at the works, for in their home, the Grangers entertain the army chiefs here again she does invaluable work.