Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-09-13
The Art of Wnr.

Cannon were made in this country of the
best steel, such as is used for cutlery, so
early as l949. 1t is claimed for Mr.. Krupp,
OF England, that he is the inventor of the
steel cannon, but that honor belongs to Mr..
Francis Saltus, who has been knighted by the
King of Sweden for the invention. The
difficulties in the way of making cannon
of pure steel are great, and are such as to
raise them to higher price than that OF
brass guns. Cast steel can only be melted
in black-lead pots, aud the pots can not be
made to contain more than forty or fifty
pounds each. All the metal required for
auu must be cooked at the same time, for if
one part lie of higher or lower temper than
the other, it will spoil the casting. Then
the thirty oR forty pots of molten steel must
all be poured so as to keep up an unbroken
stream from the beginning of the casting to
the end. This in the terrific heat of the
melted metal is very difficult. The work.
men have to be covered with Woolen and
have water played upon them. After cast
ing comes the forging, which reduces the
weight of the metal very greatly it is then
bored and finished like other guns The
first steel gun made by Krupp for the En-
glish Government was a twelve FOUNDER,
and weighed four tuns; it burst on its first
trial. Of two made for the French Govern
ment, one burst on the first trial, and the
other withstood two thousand shots OF the
steel guns which MIR. Saltus has made,
samples have gone to France, Sweden and
Spain, and a gun which we have seen is in
tended for the Emperor of Russia. One Of
these steel guns is now in the Musee d Ar
tilleIie at Paris. 1t weighs three hundred
and three pounds, carries six-pound ball,
is three and half inch bore. and the barrel
is thirty inches long. The advantage which
Mr.. Saltus claims for his steel guns are that
they weigh less than a bronze gun of equal
strength, and that this lightness makes them
very greatly superior to any other gun, since
they can be carried to places where other
guns of equal caliber can not be carried, and
may be brought off the field When all the
horses are shot. He claims, also, that they
resist the fire of the enemy better than any
other guns. Louis Napoleon in experiment.
ing with steel guns, fred upon a twenty
four. FOUNDER. The first shot struck it in the
muzze, and portion of the lip was knocked
of, but this did not injure the bore of the
gun. The second shot hit the trunnions,
| which were of iron, and knocked them off.
| Mr.. Saltus makes his guns with solid steel
trunnions. The third shot was fired upon
the side of the qua. 1t made marks ON the
outside of the piece but did not at all injure
| the bore. These shots were so satisfactory
| that the experiment was discontinued. The
| cost of these steel guns is somewhat greater
than that of bronze guns, but not very
much. The difficulties in the way of melt
| ing large masses of steel are so great that at
present it is hardly possible to make a larger
| steel gun than twelve FOUNDER. The 80
called steel guns talked of at present in En-
| gland are made of semi-steel, and are very
greatly inferior in strength to these.