The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-24 00:00:00

2B4IVAVI
• •

The repairs to the pinion of the tubular travelling
crane in the armour plate workshop at Portsmouth
dockyard having been completed, the process of
bending the Royal Sovereign's side armour plates
has been again taken in band. The fourth plate for
that ship was given the required curve yesterday in
the presence of the superintendent of the yard, Rear
Admiral the Hon. George Grey ; Mr. Cradock,
master shipwright, with his two assistants ; Mr. A.
Murray, the chief of the engineering and steam
factory department of the yard, and other officials.
The plate required bending to a curve of t of an
inch from the centre line only, and being a mid-
ship broadside plate, required no twist in any other
direction. It was bent in the way we have before
described—on an iron bed plate, over which were
laid massive forged bars having the curve required
for the inner surface of the plate. On these bars
the plate, at a bright red heat, was laid, on being
removed from the furnace. Then other bars, forged
to a corresponding curve with the plate's outer sur-
face, were laid on the top, both rows of bars stand-
ing tranversely and edgewise. Along the upper
edges of the plate, and under the topmost bars, were
placed stout flat bars of iron to bring the strain
upon the plate's edge, and prevent injury from the
edges of the upright forged bars. The ends of the
forged or moulded bars were secured between stout
iron uprights which stood along each edge of the
iron bed, the top of these lines of uprights being
crossed from end to end with stout iron bands on
the inner and outer side, and secured by bolts, nuts,
and screws. The plates being in position in the bed
and the moulded bar ends being fixed between the
iron uprights, it only remained to introduce heavy
iron wedges between the end of each moulded bar
and the crossed iron band at the top of the uprights,
to get the required strain for bending the plate.
This was the process carried out yesterday, the time
occupied being 20 minutes from the opening of the
furnace door to the last wedge being driven. To
drive the iron wedges a line of rails has been set up
on each side of the plate bed with three small iron
wheels on each rail, each wheel having a metal sus-
pending link. Of course all worked separately from
each other. To these links were suspended by lines
driving " tups" of about 1 cwt. each. Twenty men
were labouring at these tups yesterday, under two
working and four " directing" foremen, besides an
occasional order from a superior officer. It was not
a great triumph. The thought would obtrude itself
upon the mind that these men would have been far
more profitably employed on board the Royal Sove-
reign; at the same time their places at the plate
bending press would be filled by a lesser number of
men, habitually accustomed to handle large masses
of iron. One part of the furnace for heating the
armour plates deserves notice. In the ordinary me-
thod of heating, the plate is passed in an out of the
furnace by a chain and hook over the roller, at a
considerable expenditure of force, and consequent
loss of time in the operation. The furnace used at
Portsmouth yesterday has been constructed accord-
ing to plans sent in by Mr. Thomas, foreman of the
boiler makers of the yard, and answers in a most
admirable manner. The bottom of the furnace is a
mass of fire brick, built on an iron carriage the
length of the furnace, mounted on wheels and run-
ning on a line of rails laid underneath the furnace,
and out on the flooring of the workshop. When the
has
latterbeenp enseuw:i
atc
hicehntathil
chain
isheatedg lowi:
ing m
the fur-
nacea r ul
armour t
and
the
doorsl plate t
theare
plate lying
at length
upon it is drawn attachedoa to the
carriage,
out and
under the tubular e
r
crane and clip-hooks in a few se-
conds, whereas by the ordinary method it takes
minutes. The hydraulic press, which can be either
worked by hand or by a band from the shafting,
has not yet been tested in bending the plates. It
has a ram of 25 inches in diameter,and is calculated
to exert a pressure of three tons upon the square
inch. This, with two powerful radial drilling ma-
chines, has been supplied from the manufactory
mofacMheinsserfso. rStmheithana Co., Leeds. A cross-cutting
edges
the establishment of Messrs. Harvey, of Glas-
gow. A 20 horse power engine cylinder
plates
Manning, Wardie, and Co., of Leeds, drives the
shafting of the workshop.
The Edmont, sailing line-of-battle ship,which has
been fitted out as a depot ship, for service at Rio de
Janeiro, has been removed from the steam basin at
Portsmouth, and placed alongside the Malabar Coal
depot to fill up coal prior to swinging for the adjust-
ment of her compass, and going out to Spithead.
The screw steam corvette Scylla, 21 guns, 400
horse .power, Capt. R. Lambert, which arrived at
Sheerness on Monday from the Mediterranean, was
yesterday inspected by Vice Admiral Sir W. J. Hope
Johnstone, K.C.8., Commander-in-Chief at Sheer-
ness, and staff. The gallant Admiral minutely in-
n yards and
gspaenctded rillt,huenbshenip and t
sail, crew, crew extaeprgeiaslelda t crew at
the
masts, commenced dismantling the vessel, and at the
close of the inspection expressed his gratification at
the state of the ship and efficiency of the crew. The
Scylla will be paid off about the 6th January, and
will be placed in the third division of the Sheerness
Steam Reserve.

The engines for the paddlewheel despatch steamer
Salamis, 4, 250 horse power, under construction at
Chatham dockyard, are to be supplied by Messrs.
Ravenhill, Salkeld, and Co., one of the firms em-
ployed by the Admiralty to manufacture the engines
for some of the other ships building at Chatham.
In order to expedite the fitting of the ships in
Woolwich dockyard preparing for commission for
China, 100 shipwrights are ordered to be removed
from the Caledonia, and entered upon the above.
named work. The works of the Caledonia are ad-
vancing rapidly, upwards of 60 iron slabs have been
affixed to her sides by the shipwrights of the yard
with the most complete success.

Admiral Robinson, Controller of the Navy, yes-
terday made an official inspection of Deptford dock
yard. His visit was directed to ascertain the pro-
gress of the various ships under construction in the
building
nesw dhedse,siagnn—
dsmtohre Enterprise and the Fa-
vourite—which especially those of Mr.
R
are progressing favourably.
The following appointments were made on Mon_
day at the Admiralty :--W. F. Nootb, surgeon, to
the Egmont; F. A. Pountnay and E. C. Knevitt,
assistant-paymasters, to the Egmont; Owen H. H.
Murray Gladstone, J. H. Innes, W. A. Kingscote,
G. C. Langley, E. R. F. Kitson, and A. Pigott,
naval cadets, to the Marlborough ; W. A. D. Ac-
land, L. 8. Dawson, and 0. Izat, midshipmen, to the