The Express.
London, England, 1851-06-14 00:00:00

[PRICE (DOUBLE SHEET) FOURPENCE.

the Berea Wahrendorff. The Swedish government
afterwards cast 24-pounders for this purpose. The
advantage possessed by this system is, that its
manner of loading and small recoil allow of case-
mates being of less depth, thereby saving expense of
earistruction; three men boing sufficient to lead fie-
stead of six; that they may be used in aims
of places till the last extremity, as, by ear►
rying off the coin at any time, the gun is rendered
unserviceable. In England, Baron Wahrendorrs
24-pounders wore tried at Woolwich on the 17th
August, 1842. The object intended was to show
how this system, being applied to guns on board
ship, tho accidents which sometimes occur from the
difficulties of running guns out and in would be ob-
viated. Although the experiment proved successful,
vet the still complicated manner of closing the
breech would not allow of its being brought into
general use. Mr. Gardner's model, although inge-
nious, by no means lessens this objection, the mated!
mechanical force employed for this purpose being ex- I
cessively cumbersome, and the length of lever which he
employs, if on the scale of a 24-pounder, would be
perplexing. The howitzers and mortars of wrought
iron from the Royal Ordnanoe-office, Onate, Spain,
are typical of a certain class of artillerists who desire
to introduce wrought iron into the service for field
guns. Thom are two qualities necessary for
"a madness of every zee. which ete,
' ts-
nactty and hardness of the metal; and the
superiority of one piece over another (all
other points being similar) is calculated by the
quantity which it bears to the other, relative to these
two properties. A certain weight is also requisite to
prevent too much recoil. Every species of wrought
iron presents a fibrous structure, the fibres being
more or less distinct, more or less apparent,aceording
to the process made use of in the work. In iron
beaten with the hammer the grain or the fibres are
not so easily discerned, and the bars have a more
uniform tenacity in the several directions. By com-
paring with one another the several processes by which
iron is wrought, one comes to this conclusion—that
the fibres always form in the direction in which the
iron lengthens, and that cohesion is least between
those particles which extend the one on the other.
All that has been here said with respect to iron
is equally. applicable to steel, except that the force
of cohesion of steel fur surpasses that of iron
Bronze and iron castings, on the contrary, present
a uniform force of cohesion in every direction; their
structure consisting in an admission of crystallised
grains of which the crystals arc often apparent to
the naked eye. Although these wrought-iron guns
present apparent advantages, amorn,sa others, of hav-
ing the direction of the fibre of the iron perpen-
dicular to the axis of the gun, where the greatest
strain from the powder is exercised, yet their objec-
tions in real service are so great, that their practica-
bility cannot be admitted. It is difficult to bore them
so accurately that no fissure should be made in the
metal, which on ramming down the powder might
cause ignition. They soon destroy the carriage by
the suddenness and ICngth of the recoil. The oxida-
tion of the bore will so enlarge them as to render
them unserviceable, and not the least of these objec-
tions is the moral effect on the men, front the fear of
their bursting. If wrought iron is objectionable in
field guns, it is more so in those of large calibre. An
almost insurmountable difficulty exists of welding

the parts together so perfectly, and an impossibility
of ascertaining whether the welds are perfect; for
when the bars are of small size, as in gun barrels,
the hammering compresses and re-unites the
particles, and corrects these defects ; but in
large masses, the effects of the hammer do not reach
the interior of the mass, which is consequently left
open and spongy, although the metal on the surface,
and to a slight depth, is compact and fibrous.
The shot and shells of cast steel from the Russian
imperial works are fine-looking specimens of their
projectiles; the hardness of their surface will be
valuable in the field, by causing more dependence to
be placed on the accuracy of windage. Mr. Krupp's
(No. 077, Prussian Saxony) 6-pounder gun from oast
steel is a piece of workmanship he may well be
proud of, and shows to what perfection of harden-
ing and density the metal can be brought.
Cast steel is made by fusing steel of ce-
mentation in crucibles, and then mating it, by which
means an equability in its texture is obtained.
But we confess we should like to see a trial made as
to its tenacity. We are not aware of Mr. Krupp's
proass, but the brittleness of steel is so great that
we doubt whether it would resist any successive
charges of powder, and on service the rugged trials
'which it would be put through would soon damage
it. Tho beauty of the polish was, however, the ad-
miration of numbers of our mechanics. In the small
arms department we would wish decidedly to give
the palm to the French gunmakers. If they have
not sent us gun-barrels which compete with Westley
Richards's very best—if they are too fond of theore-
tical improvements, such as their breech-loading
fowling-pieces, yet they seem to have used their
best endeavours, which is more than can be
said for the compartment of English gun-
makers, who seem so satisfied with being recog-
nised as the head of their profession in Europe, that
it struck us as if it had been too much trouble hr
them to show to the public that they are so. In the
French department, the guns are arranged with
much taste, and amongst others we noticed those of
A. Caron, Passage de l'Opera, Paris. Montier Le Page,
11, Rue Richelieu, Paris, and No. 1,166. The care
bestowed on the carving of the stocks, some of them
being of artistic finish, and the designs for the lock-
hammers, deserve great credit; but besides these " fusils
do luxe," may be seen some good working weapons,
which an English sportsman would cot despise. The
iron in its density and clearness appears almost on a
par with ours, and although perhaps too fond in many
cases of Damascus patterns, that by no means takes
away from the utility of the weapon. But here we
come to a point where the Birmingham manufac-
turer surpasses the continental one, and that is his
preference of practical utility to theoretical improve-
ments. Duclos, of 47, Rue Richelieu, Paris, sends
several specimens of fowling-pieces loading at the
breech. They are termed rocking guns, and loaded
with an ingenious cartridge which contains the cap,
so that by merely placing the cartridge in the piece is
loaded. Asa plaything, or to a sportsman in a phea-
sant cover, it is a pretty weapn, but to the man who
goes for his shooting to Canada, Albania, or Hiudoes-
tan, it would be worse than useless. Constant firing
would inevitably cause a certain degree of opening
in the moveable joint, which would allow of some of
the gas escaping, thereby decreasing the range, and
the system of cartridges prevents any alteration in
loading, so, whether firing at a snipe or blackeock,
you would make use of the same charge, without
taking into account that if, by accident, the fulmi-
nating powder of the cap becomes injured by mois-
ture, the cartridge is useless.
Opposite this handsome-looking cempar.tment of
French gunsmiths' shops, is a rack containing half a
dozen plain, not to say ugly, muskets. Amongst
these, the smallest and ugliest of the lot, would
scarcely attract the attention of the passer-by; yet
this small ugly weapon, the earabino de Vincennes,
a power so magical, that ono scarcely
rneoTsa rn what light to look on it. Yet this small
carbine, with a leaden ballet to match in stumpiness
of shape, is to change the whole science of warfare.
Gunpowder has already taught people to stand at a
respectful distance even when their blood was hot,
but now they must either remain out of sight or
expect certain death. For many years the rifle
in general use has been greatly esteemed
for its accuracy of aim and the length of its
range.; since the peace, however, a series of
experiments have been carried on with a view
ofimprovement, and it has been recognised that if
spiral grooves in the barrel increased the accuracy of
Bring, they diminished the range. It was, there-
fore, desirable to know what should be the number,
the curve, and the shape of the grooves, and which
was the most suitable kind of cartridge. With
dim objects in view experiments on a large scale
have been tried, which added to those of private
Individuals have thrown • light upon the Nab-