The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-28 00:00:00

THE ARMSTRONG GUN.

(From the Mechanics' Magazine.)
The Government are exercising unwonted care
in keeping the nature of Mr. Armstrong's gun a
secret. They have suppressed his application for a
patent, and are about to bring a bill into Parlia-
ment to justify that proceeding, the Patent Law
Amendment Act of 1852 making no provision for
it. If we believed it possible for them to prevent
foreign Governments from learning all about it we
would support them in their course, and would wil-
lingly refrain from divulging what we know re-
specting it. But that is not possible. There is
always plenty of French and Russian money to be
had in this country, for secrets of far less import-
ance than this • and if there were not, we know
perfectly well this;
our own Government often make
great pretences of secrecy to the British public,but
at the same time are as communicative to foreigners
as they.can desire. Knowing these things, we view
all official attempts to suppress information in this
country as a challenge to the press ; and we feel
some pride now, as on all other such occasions, in
showing the British press can do as much for the
British public, in the way of obtaining information,
as bribery can do for foreigners. It was publicly
stated last week, by a newspaper correspondent,
that the secret of this gun is out, and has been for
weeks ; but we have as yet met with no public de-
tailed description of the Armstrong gun ; and, if
the writer himself had been in possession of it, he
would not, we presume, have evaded it altogether.
Judging from the refusals we have ourselves met
with, we believe no unofficial person will have had
easy access to the information in question. There
are, however, means of penetrating all such barriers
as a Government like ours can raise ; and the fol-
lowing statement will show that the precautions
taken in this case have proved insufficient. Instead
of being cast like ordinary cannon—or formed of
several longitudinal pieces like the 1V hitworth can-
non—or of a hooped or wire-bound tube as proposed
by Capt. Blakely, Mr. Mallet, and others—the new
gun is formed of an internal steel tube, bound over
with strips of rollediron laid on spirally, somewhat
after the fashion of small arm barrels, the alternate
strips being laid in opposite directions, so that the
joints may cross each other, or, in other words, so
as to " break joint." This system of construction
is, of course, expensive, but it gives great strength
with a very small quantity of metal. The internal
steel tube is rifled in a very peculiar manner. In-
stead of having two, three, or four grooves, like or-
dinary rifled guns—or being formed with an oval
bore like that employed by Mr. Lancaster, or with
a polygonal bore, as in the Whitworth system—it
has a large number of small grooves close to each
other, no less than 40, we believe, in a gun of 21 in.
bore. The shot or shell Mr. Armstrong usually
makes of cast-iron, of about three diameters in
length, and covers it entirely over with thin lead,
so that it may readily conform itself to the rifled
interior of the bore when forced forward by the
explosion of the charge. Provision for loading the
gun at the breech is made by cutting a slot near
the breech end down from the upper side into the
bore, of a sufficient length to admit the elongated
projectile and the charge of powder, and of a
breadth slightly greater than the diameter of the
bore. The bore itself is slightly enlarged where it
opens into the space formed by cutting out the slot,
in order that the projectile and powder, after being
lowered into the slot, may be easily pressed forward
by hand or other means into the bore. In order to
close the space formed by the slot after the gun is
charged, a moveable breech-piece is formed to fit
into it, and is furnished with two handles, by means
of which it may be lifted out and dropped into its
place as required. This breech-piece has fitted to
its front face a facet of copper, a portion of which
projects slightly, so as to form a disc which,
when the breech-piece is forced a little forward,
will enter the bore behind the charge, and by
its expansion at the moment of explosion prevent
all escape of gas. The slight forcing forward of
the breech-piece is effected by means of a strong
screw passing in through the extreme breech of the
gun, and pressing against the rear end of the breech-
piece. This screwis turned by a hand lever. The fore
end of the breech-piece is bored out at the centre, the
bore extending through the copper disc, and into
this bore is placed at the time of loading a small
discharging cartridge. The "touch-hole," or hole
for the detonating plug, is formed in the breech-
piece, passing down from its upper side into its bore;
so that when the piece is to be discharged the
detonating cap or plug is struck, the small dis-
charging cartridge is thereby fired, and its fire is
instantaneously communicated to the main cart-
-1 ridge in the bore of the gun itself. With his shells
Mr. Armstrong uses a percussion fuse of his inven-
tion for causing the shell to burst on striking an
object, in case the striking takes place before the
time-fuse has operated. This percussion fuse has
been already described in our pages, but may fitly
be again referred to here. In a cylindrical case
within the shell Mr. Armstrong fixes a weight or
striker, by means of a pin passing through it and
the sides of the case. This pin is cut or broken by
the shock which the projectile receives in the gun
at the instant of firing, and the striker being thus
liberated recedes to the rear end of the case, and
there remains until the velocity of the shell is
checked by coming into contact with some object.
When this takes place, the striker, not participat-
ing in the retardation of the shell, advances in the
ease, and causes a patch of detonating composition
to be carried suddenly against a fixed point, which
fires the composition and ignites the bursting
charge in the shell.
Let us now glance at some of the effects which
the introduction of the Armstrong gun is likely to
produce ; and, as the advantages which a light long-
range gun must possess as a military weapon will
be pretty evident to every one, let us regard it more
particularly in its relations to naval warfare. Ex-
periments have already shown that a 32-pounder
gun, constructed upon Mr. Armstrong's system, has
a greater range and fires with greater accuracy
than any. gun at present in use in the navy; and
yet, while the former weighs but 26cwt., the pre-
sent 68-pounder weighs no less than 95cwt. We
may therefore at once reduce the weight of our
naval guns by nearly three-fourths, without im-
pairing their range or aim. This would enormously
increase the facility of handling them, and there-
fore leave us free to greatly reduce the number of
men employed to work them. Again, with
the breech-loading arm it would probably be
found possible to get rid of the running out and in
of the gun while in action, by counteracting the
recoil in some suitable way ; and for this rea-
son, also, the number of men required to work
them might be very much below the present staff.
Again, both the bore and the thickness of metal of
the gun being greatly reduced, the external dia-
meter of the gun will be so small that very small
ports only would be necessary, and this would add
materially to the safety of the gunners, especially
in close action. Another advantage might be gained
in the use of certain guns, particularly the bow-
chase guns, on board ship. It is always a matter
of great difficulty to give such a form to the ship
that the.muzzles of these may, when the guns are
run out, project sufficiently far to carry the fire of
the
explosion clear of the vessel. With the sr, lon
slight Armstrong gun this difficulty would not be
experienced. But, on the other hand, the Arm-
strong shell is not to be compared, for destructive
effect, with the round
The charge of powder
shells now used in the navy.
w
which it contains is far too
small for this. Nor
penetrate thick iron does the Armstrong projectile
plates as sonic suppose. It is
found to have but little effect upon them, and this
is
why both the French and
English are just now so anxious for
prob probably one
ernm reeanwr r 4 _'
the construction ofiron.plated ships of war, if such
can be successfully devised. That the Admiralty
have the 'neaps of penetrating iron plates we are
prepared confidently to state ; but the Armstrong
gun is not the gun they would use for the purpose.
And before we conclude we would explain that
there is no magic about the peculiar combination of
parts which we have explained in describing the
the efficient manner in which the projectile is
gun. The success of the gun depends solely upon
caused to fill and fit the bore of the piece. This
accuracy can never be obtained in muzzle-loading.
cannon. With breech-loaders, however, is not
difficult to secure. Any. well-constructed breech-
loading cannon would give good results; although
Mr. Armstrong's lead-coated projectile has un-
doubtedly great advantages. Whether the contact
of the two metals will deteriorate the projectiles, if
kept in store long, has yet to be seen.
As for the Napoleon field-piece, of which the
Emperor has 200 already completed for the Impe-
rial Guard, we do not believe it will at all ap-
proach the Armstrong piece in merit of any kind.
It is merely a two-grooved, 4-pounder-bore piece,
Witli mud Altell mg, to At Ow grooves.