The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-23 00:00:00

TIIE 1 :ANCASTER SHELL FACTORY AT

WOOLWICH.

T.) 8 ny person who would wish to form some approxi-
mate idea of the nature and extent of the preparations
aced w arlike shores required for carrying on the present
war, cc would recommend a visit to the yards, work-
she ps , and arsenals of Woolwich. This is the special
dep au trnent of the Ordnance, and here "bolts," far more
for Ili dab!e than those of Jove himself, are forged by the
the to 47snds of grimy Vulcans, who sweat at the furnaces
or ;0 d. at the myriad lathes which are in operation. Each
sul gli:eeision of the enormous works here carried on, and
eac Is • pile of warlike stores may be measured by acres.
He re are acres of ground covered by more than thirty
the u sand cannon of all bores and sizes ; acres of ammu-
niti of t waggons, gun carriages, light carts, waggons, and
anal )u lances; acres traversed in every direction by power-
fal anes, where timber is deposited ; acres of shot and
shell in symmetrical piles, and acres of machinery of
• .escriptions. There are lathes for boring and
ng the lightest brass field-pieces and the heaviest
arose went for a ship's broadside ; there are machines, by
sco re s, which grasp long coils of lead, pinch off an ex-
act 7 measured piece, squeeze it into shape, and deliver,
• t minute, from 60 to 100 finished Minie bullets.
H :e are machines which, at a single blow, divide a
Si Aet of copper into the forms required for making the
p ercussion-caps, others which fold them into shape, and
o ;here wbch prepare them for finally receiving the de-
t( mating powder. In the carpenters' shops there are
se 'wing, planing, mortising, drilling, and boring ma-
c! fin es, which threaten soon to render the trade of the
c; ,rp enter a matter of history, and to make manual la-
b' nn •as much a thing of the past as the old " fan-
co ,ni !et" of the middle ages, or the battering-ram of
th e ancients. Bet the glowing furnaces, the forges,
the ) steam hammers, and those huge, passionless, resist-
lee 1 lathes, which cut you off a shaving of metal, and
the drills which force their steel finger through an inch
ph .t e of cold iron with as much ease and unconcern as
th, 3, igh they were dealing with a lump of butter or
cu ti ing a sheet of paper, are the things most cal-
ls Is sted to impress the mind of the visitor, and they pro-
du lc e in him a feeling of something like awe and profound
ad .n tiration for human genius, which thus shows itself
al di )to conquer and subdue nature to its own purposes ;
th ,o ugh that feeling is certainly saddened by the refiec•
ti o 1 1 that all this power and all this genius is expended
order to provide the nation with the means of cievas-
;lng, destroying, and laying waste the lives and pro-
ty of our fellow-men.

Che latest addition to the many extraordinary opera-
ti of es carried on at Woolwich is that for the manufacture
o E shells for the Lancaster guns, and it is perhaps the
n to st marvellous instance which the age can furnish of
t as. successful application of well-directed energy to the
a ccomplishment of a great purpose. At the latter end
c f the month of November, at a time of unusual incle-
n to ncy, the Government decided that a large quantity
o i shells for the Lancaster guns should be sent with the
P 'a ltic fleet ; but there was then no machinery in exist-
el u eto make them; and no building in which to put
ui ) the machinery when constructed. In this dilemma
th .4, Board of Ordnance sent for Sir Charles Fox, of
th A firm of Fox, Henderson, and Co., the great contrac-
tc trs, and told him what they required, and how urgent
at id pressing were the wants. There were no plans of
tt it building ready, and the only thing decided upon was,
th a t the building and machinery should cover about
3, 000 square yards. The next door the indefatigable
er cineer, to the astonishment of the board, who did not
er :pect to see him again for a week at least, presented
hi cnself with the whole of the working drawings, the Be-
ta ils of the estimates worked out, and a tender for the
• noplation of the building within three months. The
fl set was Fail for the Baltic in March, and three months
w ould not, it was thought, afford sufficient time to have
tt e shells ready. It was necessary to have the building
c. impleted in less time, and the contractor, with an in-
telligent disregard of time, undertook to have everything
re ady within one month. Amid rain and storm, frost and
sn ow, the work rapidly progressed, and, within one month
fie tin the time of commencing operations, the building was
co mpleted and handed over to the authorities. The build-
in, 5 covers 3,000 square yards, the walls are 25 feet in
he ight, and 16 inches in thickness. It is covered by a
se: rinental roof of corrugated iron, supported in the centre
by .a row of iron columns and girders. But in addition
to the main building, a lathe-house adjoining, and a
chi n mey some 100 feet in height, were erected, and foun-
dal ons laid for the furnaces, steam hammers, and heavy
ma c hinery. In the course of some remarks which were
ma d e with respect to this building in the House of Com-
inc .n s, a short time since, it was stated that modifications
of h is plans were prepared by the Royal Engineers, but
the it Sir C. Fox refused to permit any interference with
his 4 )wn designs, stating that if he was to construct the
bu' .1 ding in the required time he must remain perfectly
un fettered by any Government control. So startling and I
re' rc .lutionary an announcement threw the Board of Ord-
na 3,3 e and the Royal Engineers into a state of no small
ala ,r m. The Board of Ordnance ultimately claimed as a
sh le qua Non for dispensing with the usual official inspec-
tor, that the contractor should himself guarantee that
th a structure would stand for 12 months at least after its
er ec tion. The wounded pride of the corps of Royal Engi-
ne el .3 was satisfied, they felt confident that the building
wo v ild fall in less than six months, and wondered at the
ra. sl iness of a man who would guarantee, under heavy
pe n alties, that it should last twice as long as the period
pi •ei licted for its fall. A few days since the period of
tr is l had elapsed, the six months had passed away, but
th a shell factory still remains, a monument to the genius
an ,& enterprise of the contractors. But as a striking
ill u stration of the mode in which public business is
tr wesacted at the Ordnance, it may be stated that the
w ri tten order to erect the building was only delivered to
th e contractors on the day before the whole of the work
w finished, and the factory banded over to the posses-
si on of the authorities. The whole of the correspon-
d en ea between the Board of Ordnance and Sir C. Fox
o a the subject was yesterday laid before Parliament, and
t he series forms not the least interesting or instructive
o f the many documents which appeared, and which tend
to, throw light on the management of public depart
me nts and the conduct of operations connected with the
vra r. The correspondence closes with a report presented
to the Board of Ordnance by Mr. Anderson, the inspec-
fool • of machinery at Woolwich, which states, "Several
of the leading engineers of the country have expressed to
Iraqi) their :admiration of the structure, and look upon it as
a, marvel in having been constructed in such a short
'sp ace of time." Mr. Anderson also states that ordinarily
it would have taken eight or nine months to complete
the building.
For a long time past the application of engineering
science to the implements of warfare has been greatly
neglected, and until the commencement of the present
war appeared to be exceedingly unpopular. We remem-
be r that, prior to the opening of the Exhibition, Mr.
Cobden, supported by one or two members of the
Commission, proposed and nearly carried a resolu-
tion for excluding all implements of war from that
great national undertaking. Notwithstanding, how-
ever, the pacific ideas of the commissioners, some
implements of warfare were !admitted to that great
" Peace Congress," and one of the least noticed and

most pretentious articles there shown was, perhaps, that
model sent by a working man of an infernal machine
which would discharge 1,000 bullets per minute. The
progress of the present war, however, has shown how
culpable was such an oversight, and with what serious
results this neglect to apply the best principles of engi-
neering science to war has been attended. There is no
use in concealing the fact that it is to the Russians we
owe the knowledge that guns of a larger calibre than
those in ordinary use in our army could be adapted for
field purposes. At the Alma and at Inkerman our nine
and 12-pounder guns were opposed by 32-pounders, and
at present we have but a very small proportion of 32-
pounders in our service. Steps are, however, being taken
to increase in this respect the power of our artillery. In
our naval armaments the same deficiency in the weight
of metal does not exist, and a broadside from one of our
largest. ships would throw nearly two tons weight of shot.
The difference in this respect between the marine and field
artillery is most surprising, and highly creditable to the
naval authorities. It is little more than 20 years since
General Paixhan's heavy guns were first introduced into
the navy, and now many of our larger vessels are fitted
with complete batteries of 68-pounders. For siege
batteries, however, no corresponding increase of size has
taken place till within a very recent period. The adop-
tion of Mr. Lancaster's guns was the first attempt made
to introduce heavier metal into the land service, and, al-
though the result does not appear completely to satisfy
the sanguine expectations conceived of them, there is no
doubt that ultimately much greater power and precision
will be attained in siege batteries from their use than
the practice before Sebastopol up to the present time
would seem to justify us in expecting.
It is curious that while, in the present day, our heavi-
est guns aro only rated as 68-pounders, from the very
earliest rate of the introduction of artillery, shot of a
much greater weight was ordinarily employed. We read
that in the time of Edward 1., at the capture of Stir-
ling Castle, his guns projected stones of 300ibs. weight.
In the 17th century a brass gun was cast in India,
which threw iron shot weighing 1,6001 b. This monster
gun, which still exists at Bejapoor, was cast in comme-
moration of the capture of that place by the Emperor
Alun-geer. It would appear, however, that in this
country, we shall soon throw into the shade this monster
gun, for Mr. Nasmyth promises to give us a wrought-
iron gun which shall throw a ball of a ton weight some
four or five miles with unerring accuracy. While we wait
the realisation of this sanguine hope, we must be content
with the results of the Lancaster gun, or the "express
trains," as its shells are pleasantly called by the army in
the Crimea, in consequence of the peculiar sound,whie h
it makes in passing through the air.
. purpose
The Lancaster gun was constructed for the
of carrying a heavy shell to the greatest possibilendoirsdtaenrctee,
and with the greatest amount of precision.
e„
obtain this result, the form selected for the sti "
Het with
lax
the greater
einlor s 1 1
ii pn
to
that
exception of thetha
that
regulation
ofM thein its.
shell musketjs
tical, the major axis measuring iyiLnydslbthe inigu
The increased range is obtainbeed
projected with only the
the atmosphere as that
most persons are aware
samew ei weight h
at
mo
of
umetalnamount
of
resistance which cbasnt
oa s
twiningrerselii'of much
ro leesun d weight,the interior of
foirmdmpaorft troifiteheibi bullet
presented treifldilo)gy
oafsaphgeurnic.b:al
gr°,3tYwhich is to
theco r consists
barrel,o zntect
on its own axis, an thereby to insure
A favourite
a rotatory motion
accuracy of tug rifle, •
ea
the un
Pc'
rNvi
nhoiicphl
owbays betterwhich fitted
than any
rota-
tion
imparted to the Lancaster shell. In this rifle,
°e;gtrrivlleustra
as its name implies, there are two grooves directly oppo-
site to each other. The conical bullets used with the
two-groove rifle have projecting ribs on either side,
which fit into the grooves of the rifle. When the dis-
charge takes place, the bullet, having to follow the
grooves in their half spiral, acquires the necessary rota-
tory motion. If lead shots were employed in great guns
there is no doubt this mode of rifling would answer a$