The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-09 00:00:00

NEW GUN FACTORY AT WOOLWICH.

Match attention has recentlybeen directed to this
nev and most important branch of the works at
Woolwich Arsenal—an attention not altogether
Unmixed with anxiety on the part of the chief
manufacturing ironworks of the kingdom. The
general impression seems tobe that the Government
are about to take the manufacture of iron ordnance,
as they have done that of brass, entirely into their
own hands, and as Government has never yet been
able to compete with private fir ms in cheapness of
production, the new factory has been regarded with
s degree of mistrust among the trade and that small
section of the economical public who have hitherto
watched its proceedings. Under these circum-
stances a brief account of what the factory is doing
and what it is proposed to do may not be uninte-
resting to our readers, and, while it serves to dispel
the fears of the trade, will show also that the new
establishment was not founded without strong
reasons, and that its working is likely to be pro-
ductive of much good in the manufacture of our
iron guns. In consequence of the great demand
for iron ordnance which arose out of the Crimean
war, and the inability of the two great establish-
ments in the trade, the Low Moor and Gospel Oak
Ironworks—which usually made iron guns for the
Government—to insure a sufficient supply, great
efforts were used to obtain from other firms engaged
in the general manufacture of iron such ordnance
as the naval and military services then urgently
demanded. The class of guns, however, thus
obtained was not by any means of a satisfactory
character. Indeed, it is alleged on the part of the
Government that the ordnance supplied from the
low Moor and Gospel Oak works, though sufficient
t 6 pass all proof, were nevertheless not well
adapted for actual warfare, as was shown by the
bursting of the mortars at Sweaborg. Upon a full
consideration of the subject, therefore, and in con-
sequence of investigations made into the state of
the manufacture of iron ordnancein Prussia, France,
Belgium, and Austria, where royal establishments
exist, it was decided by our Government early in
1856 that an iron cannon foundry should be estab-
lished to work in connection with the other war
departments of Woolwich Arsenal. For this pur-
pose some £llO,OOO was granted by Parliament,
and the new foundries, a noble range of buildings,
near the Gun-wharf, were erected, fitted with all
the necessary machinery, and placed under the able
superintendence of Col. Wilmot, R:A. The chief
ground alleged by the Government for this step was
that it was not safe to trust the manufacture of iron
guns entirely to the trade, inasmuch as the iron
required for the purpose was of a special kind, and
the ordinary demands in a period of peace were in-
sufficient to encourage in the private trade of the
country such large special establishments as would
supply the wants of theservice either in quantity or
quality during a period of war. Secondly, it was
contended that the iron ordnance produced in this
country' was of an inferior character to that manu-
factured in others; and thirdly, that the Govern-
meat ought to possess, as regards iron guns, the
nucleus of a manufacturing department capable of
expansion in war, and which should always act as
a check upon the trade and secure the production
of good and serviceable ordnance. However, before
the new foundries could get to work great delays
occurred in ascertaining' by extensive inquiries at
home and abroad, the best construction of furnaces,
the fuel to use, and also the size of the factory pits
for casting, with:the mode of constructing them, in
order to exclude all damp.
The latter objection on the nature of the ground
at Woolwich, was a work of considerable difficulty,
though at last overcome by making pits like coffer-
dams of wrought iron, bolted together and chalked
at the seams. But the great obstacle which the
foundry has now to contend with is the absence of
any certain and accurate data as to the precise
quality and mixture of iron which as a whole pro-
duces the best metal for a gun. The Low Moor and
Gospel Oak Ironworks have arrived by long expe_
rience at certain safe rules. These firms are not
opposed to the Government factory; on the con-
trary, both, and especially the first, have behaved
in the most liberal manner towards it, and given
the new establishment all reasonable assistance.
But at the same time these firms naturally, and we
think wisely, decline to part with the information
as to mixing and casting the metal—an experience
which they themselves have only gained by years
of toil and at great cost. In order, however, to
enable the Government to get at a result, specimens
of ores were called for by advertisement in 1850,
and a system of experiments has, we believe, since
been carried on in the arsenal with a view to deter-
mine the metal best adapted for the purpose. It
is said that these experiments have nearly, if not
entirely, been brought to a conclusion as regards
the tenacity and requisite hardness of the metal
to be used, and that the report of results only
awaits the completion of an analysis by the
chymist. But the results of all these experi-
ments must be well considered and tested by ex-
perience, and many castings will have to- be made
and subjected to many proofs before a thoroughly
satisfactory result can be looked for. Many guns
have yet to be cast, and perhaps burst in proving,
but these little failures, it is contended, must be
expected in a new establishment. Such arguments
are advanced in a general way in defence of what
has hitherto been considered m the trade a perfect
mistake—viz., the Government undertaking to
compete with private contractors, and to beat them
in the cheapness of production. The best argument
the, Government can use in defence of the foundry
is, that it most undoubtedly will act both as a check
on the trade in their prices and on the qualities of
guns, and that the Arsenal, being able to produce a
high standard of excellence in their own manufac-
ture, will naturally expect the same in the war
material which they contract for.
The new foundry is, however, still quite in its
infancy as regards development; though, even
when in full operation, it will never be able to do
lunch more than supply about one-half of the guns
annually required for the naval and military ser-
vices of this country. Most people are apt to be-
lieve that a gun once made is a good gun for
evermore ; but this is quite a mistake. A well-
built frigate or line-of-battle ship will outlast two
complete sets of iron ordnance. Good guns are not
only most difficult to make, but hard to keep good
when made. To keep our navy, forts, and eolonies
always well armed requires the manufacture of
some 1,000 iron guns each year. When the new
foundry was opened in April last it was ordered to
make, for the financial year 1858 and 1859, 150
guns--viz., 100 68-pounders and 50 long 32's.
There has, however,been sonic unavoidable delay in
making the box moulds and other requisites for the
32-pounders, so that as yet they have scarcely been
begun, though they are now, we may say, in process
of manufacture. Tii the meantime, however, 120
68-pounders have been cast—the last two on Mon-
day. Of these 58 have been proved and passed
into store, 42 are in course of or awaiting proof,
while 8 have burst in proving. It is evident, there-
fore, that the fears expressed on the part of the pri-
vate trade as to the intention of the Government
to monopolize the manufacture are groundless. The
foundry at Woolwich could not do so if it was re-
quired. Of the iron ordnance ordered for next
year, 1,335, weighing in the aggregate 4,763 tons,
have been ordered from private contractors, nearly
all from the Low Moor and Gospel Oak works.
Of this number 312 are 68-pounders, 460 8-inch
guns, 300 32-pounders, 44 8-inch howitzers, 200
10-inch guns for hollow shot, and 19 10-inch howit-
zers. The contract price for these varies from £l9
to £2l per ton weight, most of them, however, being
made for £2O per ton. Thus it will be seen that
the rate of production at the Arsenal at present
bears no manner of proportion to the. demand.
There are as yet, however, but four furnaces erected
at Woolwich, which turn out four 68-pounders per
week ; but with double the number of furnaces
more than double the number of guns could be
manufactured, and Colonel Wilmot hopes eventually
to be able, when in full work, to cast from 18 to 20
pieces of iron ordnance per week if necessary. It
may be of interest to our readers, as more clearly
e.lucidatin,r the nature of the work, to state here
briefly the various processes which a large gun
undergoes in its manufacture.
•a Monday two large
Woolwich, and in the various departments of the
factory were guns in all stages of development,
from the rough uncouth mass when it first leaves
the mould for the trimming shop up to the com-
plete and beautifully finished long 68,
, ready to form
one of s. line-or-battle ship's broadside, or become
the grim occupant of a casernated battery.
The loam in which a gun is cast is made of coarse
sand-earth and coke-dust, kneaded together to the
consistency
of stiff clay. The model used is a com-
plete fac-simile of a 68-pounder, only one-eighth
larger in size, to allow for contraction of the metal
in cooling. This model is sawn into seven pieces,
each
piece of which is placed in the centre °fa large
iron cylinder or casting box, joined at the sides
with screw bolts. i
I he loam s then rammed
with small iron rammers tightly between the model
and the casting-box—so tightly, indeed, as to
form a material as hard as well-packed brick,
from which the model is easily drawn out, leaving
a perfect impression of the part of the gun to be
cast. Each of the seven portions on the model is
treated in the same manner, seven men making a
mould for a 68-pounder in one day. The casting-
boxes, with the moulds tight in them, are next
joined together in the order of the gun's shape, the
edge of each casting-box being planed off so as to
fit the other with the most perfect accuracy. The
complete mass is then wheeled to an oven, where
it is kept at a heat of 600 degrees for 48 hours, in
order to evaporate all moisture from the mould.

The other day it was tried at Woolwich, by
doubling the heat, to lessen the time of baking, but
the experiment was far from successful—the metal
bubbled and plunged so in the mould that it was
almost dangerous to approach, and the gun thus
made was, of course, worthless, and burst in the
proof. After 48 hours' baking the mould is re-
moved and placed in the casting pit s, where a
metal top for the " dead-head," as it is termed, is
placed above all, making the total height of the
whole mould in its case upwards of 17 feet. The
dead-head is four feet six high, and the object of
this addition is to give by the weight of the metal
it contains an amount of pressure which insures
the requisite density in the rest of the gun.
especially in the lowest
.part—the breech, where
all the force of explosion in firing is exerted. The
furnaces are of the ordinary reverberatory kind.
The fuel hitherto employed has been Yorkshire
coal ; on Monday, however, it was Lord Ward's
Staffordshire coal, which was used for the first
time. The composition of metal employed was 53
cwt. of old carronades, 30 cwt. of Swedish gray,
20 cwt. of Netherton, and 31 cwt. of Blaenavon
iron. The dead-head was 18 cwt., taken from the
dead-head of the last casting. No Nova Scotia
iron is now used at all, as it has been found not
only useless, but prejudicial to the strength of the
guns.
Half a-ton of coals is required for melting
each ton of iron. One great improvement could
be introduced at once into the working of the fur-
naces, and that -is by having a gas blast passing
through a heated charcoal chamber into the
furnace about an hour before casting. This
would free the iron of impurities and rid
it of the silica, which makes such brittle ele-
ment in all our castings. Wherever the gas blast
has been tried its advantages have been manifest at
once in the quality of the iron so produced, and it
is exactly such questions of improvement as this
which come specially within the province of the
new foundry to prove and decide upon. On Mon-
day the furnaces were opened at 11 o'clock, and the
great stream of liquid iron came pouring out, hiss-
ing and throwing off such showers of sparks as
made it painful to look upon and dangerous to ap-
proach. The gun was cast in about three minutes.
Each gun is allowed four days to cool. The mould
is then broken up, and the solid cast removed to
the trimming and boring shops. Cutting off the
dead-head is the first operation, and this occupies
two hours and a-half ; centreing it requires five
more ; turning the outside as smooth and polished
as steel takes 18 hours ; turning the trunnions, 15
hours ; planing between the trunnions, 5 hours ;
turning the collars of the trunnions, 3 hours ; vent-
ing, or making the touch-hole, three hours; and I
boring, from 30 to 40 hours, according to the stiff-
ness of the metal. The gun is then complete. The
contract price of a 68-pounder is £lOO. The cost
to the Government in making them, including all
items, such as wear and tear of machinery and in-
terest of money in plant, is, we are informed, only
£57 ' • so that, at that estimate, the Government
save 43 per cent. in manufacturing for themselves.
Each gun made at the factory is numbered, and a
registry of its composition, and all, even to the
most minute particulars of its casting, is kept at
the Arsenal. In addition to this, when the gun is
cast, two bars are cast from the same metal. Both
these are subject to strain, applied in every way,
such as tensile tortion and transverse strain. Each
piece is broken, a registry of the different strains
they endured kept, and the pieces themselves, num-
bered with the number of the gun from which they
are taken, carefully preserved. Two rings are also
cut from the muzzle of the gun itself before it is
entirely. completed, and' these are subjected to a
percussive strain with steel wedges, somewhat
similar in effect to that exerted by a bursting
charge, for so the proof charge may be called.
It is hoped that eventually the manufacture of
iron ordnance in this country may be so much im-
proved as to render to a great extent unnecessary
the terrible ordeal of proof charges which each gun
is now required to undergo. Each 68-pounder is
proved with a load of 281bs. of powder and one shot,
and this charge is fired twice. A certain amount of
confidence is felt in a gun that has stood this test,
but there can be no doubt that such a proof does
injure the gun considerably, often to an extent
which occasions its bursting when tried on service
with two or three ordinary rounds of sharp firing.
A great improvement has been introduced and is
being carried out with every gun at Woolwich,
whether made at the Arsenal or Low Moor—viz.,
that of fitting each with a touch-hole in the centre
of a powerful copper screw screwed deep into the
gun. By this simple improiement each touch-hole
as it wears—and it always is the first part of the
gun to wear—is taken out and a fresh one put in
its place. Thus the guns are made serviceable for
double the length of time they have hitherto lasted,
while, of course, spiking them is out of the ques-
tion. Altogether, the new gun foundry will un-
doubtedly answer its purpose of maintaining a com-
petition for excellence in the trade. It must, how-
ever, like all other departments of the Government,
beware of standing still, or of adopting one type as
the standard of excellence. If it avoids this great
fault—a fault into which the Admiralty have fallen
in the manufacture of their anchors—the new gun
foundry will do well enough. If, on the contrary,
conscious of the support of the Government, and
with no motives to excite it to emulation, it allows
itself to doze in fancied security, it will be beaten
and distanced by private firms. This in itself
would be a small evil if it did not also entail the
certainty of the Government supporting their fac-
tory,, when we might see our navy supplied with
inferior guns to protect them from an enemy, as
they now get inferior anchors to save them from
storms. If it hopes to prosper, the new foundry at
Woolwich must always be as zealous and as much
on the alert as it is now.—Times.