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

711 E NAVY.

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 Ro,yal ereign's side armour plates
has been agaititalitin i an . lieiCaurth 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 / 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 " tugs" of about 1 cwt. Bach. 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 thege mon 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 is the operation. The furnace used at
Portsmouth yesterday has been constructed accord.
ing to plans sent in by Mr. Thomas, foreman of the
boiler !rakers 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 floorirg of the workshop. When the
armour plate has been Sufficiently heated in the fur-
naceearri
atghee, daonodrst
haere
olapined,iatteibtahine is attached to the
method
glowing g a
it
f e w armours
plate lying at length upon it is drawn out and
se-
conds,
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
of Messrs. Smith ano Co., Leeds. A cross-cutting
machine for the edges of the armour-plates is from
the establishment of Messrs. Harvey, of Glas-
gow. A 20 horse power engine cylinder engine, by
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. It. Lambert, which arrived at
Sheerness on Monday from the Mediterranean, was
yesterday inspected by Vice-Admiral Sir W.I. Hope
Johnstone, K.C.8., Commander-in-Chief at Sheer-
ness, and staff. The gallant Admiral minutely
yards and
in-
spected the ship and crew, exercised the crew at
gun drill, unbent sail, down topgallant
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 Gth 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 budding 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
of to her sides by the shipwrights of the yard
with the most complete success.

Admiral Robinson, Controller of the Navy, yes-
ylearreida.Y made an official inspection of Deptford dock
His visit wan directed to ascertain the pro-
gress of the various ships under construction in the
building sheds, and more especially those of Mr.
Deed's new
designs—the Enterprise and the Fa-
vourite—Which are progressing favourably.
The folio wing appointments were made on IVlon-
day at the Admiralty :---W. P. Nooth, surgeon, to
the Egmont; F. A. Pountnay and E. C. L.,
--PV.ltt
assistant-paymasters, to the Egmont; O•-.von H. H.
H.
Murray Gladstone, J. H. Inne..:
W.. . A. Ringscote,
leeds
G. C. Langley, E. R. 1(, .
Kitson, and A. Pigott,
naval cadets, 11:, ttie Marlborough ; W. A. D. Ac-
-14/14' I :ci. . Dawson, and G. Izat, midshipmen, to the