The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-02 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JAXUARY 2, 1867.

Converting Enfields into Breechloaders.

Our readers are no doubt aware that the Enfield
rifles are now being converted into breech-loaders,
in accordance with the determination of Govern-
ment to change the arm which our soldiers possess.
It may not be so well known that a portion of the
work is being done in this district, Birmingham
has been so justly celebrated for the manufacture of
guns and rifles that it would be something astonish;
ing if in any great work of the kind she had no
share. Some few months ago we mentioned that
an order had been received by the Birmingham Small
Arms Company (Limited) to convert a number of
Enfield rifles into Snider breechloaders. This was
done with a celerity which is most creditable to the
company. The order was received on the 24th of
July, and by the end of October 700 rifles, finished
in accordance with the pattern gun, were completed
and forwarded to Canada. The difficulty of accom-
plishing this work was very great. Patterns had to
be made of the new parts, dies fashioned, tools in-
vented, and, more difficult still, new machinery
constructed for the more rapid carrying on of the
work. Yet all this was done, and the first order
completed in the very short space of three months.
Those who are uninitiated may think that this job
must have monopolised all the skill and all the in-
dustry which the company possessed. This is not
so, however. The company had on hand at
the time the pattern gun was received an order
for 30,000 rifles for Turkey. It is impos-
sible to go through the factory and see the long
succession of machines in every department without
feeling that the process of manufacture is only
limited by the extent of the order, and that the
power of production is incomprehensible. In this
extensive and beautiful factory every appliance that
can save labour and multiply production, and every
variety of labour that the human mind can de-
vise, will be found. The men who are engaged about
the machines occupy the position that all menskould
in the world of labour. The steam hammer, trim-
ming machine, drilling machine, screwing machine,
barrel-cutting machine, and many others, do the
hard, the dirty, the sinew-wearing work, while the
men look on and direct the labour. As you go
through the extensive, lofty, well-lighted and well-
ventilated work-rooms, you feel the men's labour
is dignified, and that the discoveries of science have
happily ameliorated the toil that skilful workers in
the same trade once had to undergo. This company
does not exclusively depend upon the manufacture of
rifles, or their conversion, for existence. They culti-
vate with much success another, and, we think, a
higher laranch of the trade—they manufacture the
machinery and tools which produce the very work iu
which they are now engaged. An order for the con-
struction of rifle-making machinery is received as
thankfully as one for the production of a few thou-
sand rifles. This department will, perhaps, show
how complete the factory is. It does not depend on
any other manufactory for the supply of anything
which it uses in the gun trade. Machinery of the
most complex character is made there, and tools of
every kind are turned out by the hundred. The
variety of machines in daily use is interesting to
note. There are knives at work shaving iron as
easily as a man would pare cheese ; little, round,
finely-pointed tools that bore a straight hole through
a block of iron more swiftly than a waiter can drive
a cork-screw into a cork ; cutters that put the thread
inside the barrel of the rifle more readily than a
sportsman could untwist the loosest screw ; and
hammers that give blows mightier than the com-
bined power of any number of men or horses could
produce. With such servants as these, that are
obedient to the gentlest touch of the human hand,
it is not to be wondered at that an immense amount
seem
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Enfield of work can be got through in a short space of time.
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simple process, involving but few operations.
The old barrel has to be shortened, and the
breech action put in. This action is contained
in two parts ; the shoe, iu which the cartridge
is placed, and the breech block, in which the needle
or piston works. Yet, few as they are, these parts
require upwards of 100 different processes to com-
plete the transformation. We are not going to
weary our readers by attempting to describe even
one-fourth of these operations, but a general descrip-
tion of the chief processes may not be altogether un-
interesting. The rifles that are sent to the factory
have never been in the hands of our soldiers ; they
come direct from the stores. As soon as they are
received the first thing is to strip the rifle. Every
portion is taken away from the stock excepting the
trigger. First of all the pull of the trigger is light-
ened, and then the stocks are laid up in the racks
until the barrel is converted. The hammer is taken
away, and a piece cut off the end to flatten it. This
almost wholly obliterates the chequering, that rough
diamond-shaped cutting in the top of the hammer
by which it is laid hold of with the fingers. The
operation of rechequering is performed by boys,
who, after a little practice, show considerable apti-
tude at their work. Leaving the lads; tapping with
their little hammers as they chequer, we pass into
the long machine-room. Here the barrels are short-
ened, or what is called the barrel-cutting machine.
The barrel having been fixed in its place, a wheel
armed with sharp teeth cuts off the required length,
which measures about 2i inches. This operation is
done so well that no mark of any kind, not even a
scratch, is left upon the barrel, and consequently
the process of re-browning is avoided. After this
the barrel is fixed ou the " barrel-screwing" ma-
chine, which performs several very important ope-
rations. It would be tedious to describe them all
separately. They embrace facing, milling, cham-
bering, screwing, and gauging. No harm has yet
been inflicted on the barrel, which is now almost
ready for the breech action. The barrel is passed
to the hands of the breecher, who brings the barrel
and the breech action to their right positions.
Finally, the barrel is handed to a man who recesses
the action for the insertion of the cartridge. Then
it goes to be proved by the Government officials
in the proof-house, near the factory. But we have
only followed the barrel in its progress towards
complete conversion. The most important part of
the work remains to be seen ; this is the construction
of the breech action. To explain the component
parts of this, which is the soul of the gun, we shall
have to make use of some technical phrases. The
breech action is made up of two parts—the shoe and
the breech block. The shoe is that part into which
the cartridge is first placed, the barrel being
screwed on to the end of it. The breech-block is
that portion which contains the needle, or, more
properly speaking, the piston, and which falls into
and fills up the shoe. This breech action is made
out of Marshall's best iron. Two men, with a forge
and steam hammer, were at work in one of the
shops fashioning the iron. Bars of iron were red-
dening in an intensely bright flame, fed by anthra-
cite coal. The hammer was fitted with two dies.
These were the breaking down die, by which
the shape of the shoe was roughly outlined in
the red hot metal ; and the finishing die, which
completed the form. When the shoe is cool it is
passed to another steam hammer, where the surplus
" flash" left by the steam hammer is cut off. Now
the shoe is of the exact shape required, but many
things have to be done before it is completed, be-
cause it is still one solid lump. It has to be pierced
from end to end, screwed at both ends, sized, faced,
counter sunk. Upwards of 25 distinct and separate
operations are gone through before the shoe is ready
to be screwed on to the barrel. The manufacture
of the breech block is on a plan precisely similar to
that by which the shoe is produced. First of all the
block is struck by a steam hammer in a solid mass,
and it is then passed from one machine to another
until finished. From first to last upwards of 30 dis-
tinct;operations aregone through before it is finished.
When the parts are completed and put together each
gun is sent to the proof-house, where men sent
down by Government prove them. A double charge
is put in and :fired. The best testimony to the
character of the work is evidenced by the fact that
not one breech-action has been injured in any way
by the test out of many thousands that have been
proved.

In the outline we have given of this work we have
omitted mentioning many operations, and the con-
struction of the minor portions, such as the extracts,
the hinge pin, the piston, the nipple, and the spiral