Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1861-06-26
Balls, Shells and Bombs How they
are Made.


are Made.
Correspondence of the Springfield Republican,
The WNteryleit Arsenal, situated at
West Troy, n. Y, is, as you doubtless
know, the largest arsenal for the con-
struction Of military implements, other
than small arms and caenon, in the coun-
try and visit to its workshops at the
present time, powerfully imprt sses one
with the strength and resources OF our
Goyernment. Everything is ut present
on war footing, and from three to four
hundred hands directly, and rs many
more indirectly, in the neighborng found.
rles, are kept busy night and dsy. Thro'
the thieving of Floyd and the recent re-
quisitions of Government, the arsenal has
been nearly stripped of muskets, pistols
ana cannon, but of other munitions there
is yet an ample store. A large number
of hands are eGgaged in iLs preparation
Of ammunition sixty thousand ball cats
ridges are made daily most of these are
intended for the MIME rifles, but large
numbers Of the old>fashioEed round ball
cartridges are also manufactured. The
rapidity With which cartridge is made
is wonderful. A boy sits at a coun-
ter with cylindrical stick--a pile Of
creased balls and one OF prepared paper
before him simple roll OF the paper and
stick jerk and twist at one end-a
twist of Il string, and the cartridge is read
y TO. filling III less time than it takes to
read this description. They are then ta.'
ken into another room, placed open end
up II shallow boxes, and man by means
OF a simple instrument. fills them with an
eqIal and specific amount OF powder, NJ
the rate of thirty a minute. \ twist at
the open end, and the cartridge is COM
plete. The manufacture goes on so fast
! that i; requires nearly a dozen meN and
boys to pack, box and remove the finish
ed cartridges. ia another apartment II
number Of men and girls are employed in
the manufacture of cannon catlidges Of all
sizes from the mightiest columhiad down
to six FOUNDER. The material of which
they are made is kind of woolen goods
| (moreenl imported from England tspe-
cially for the purpose. Thousands OF
yards of this materili were in the process
of being cut up and manufactured. Cano
non cartridges are not filed here, but at
the place where they are intended to be
used. In still another department, grape,
canister, and strapped SInHiuuition are in
course OF preparation, while huge cart
loads OF bomb- shells and spherical shot
are hourly arriving from tke Reishboring
foundries. The grape slot are larger
than supposed, and might moro p-aper-
" be called peach shot than grape shot.
Some six or more of these are packed in
sort of wire corkscrew arrangement, and
fitted ig.to tir case, and when thus fin
lshed have much the appearance OF jars
of preserved meats or fruit.
The manufacture Of bombshells is also
| matter of much interest. The prepaia-
ton OF those | witnessed is briefly a fol
lows The shell IS first filled full with
old fashioned round eaden bullets; mel
! ted sulpher is then poured in to fill up
the inter stices and bind the bullets in one
solid mass the she'll is then put into a
kind OF lathe, aud cy yliudrical hole OF tue
exact size of the oriice of the shell Is bo-
red through .he bullets and sulVher this
cavity is filled with powder, even with
the interior edge of the oritice 4 SIN inch
shell of the kind here described holding
{ bout half pourd the fuse fitted INTO
the oritice is a recent Belgian INVENTION
made of pewter, and resembles the screw
used for the patent fruit cans. An exam
ineliOn of this pewter cap shows, however,
that il is made of two hollow discs ot
metal screwed together, and filled With
meal powder number OF fine holes are
drilled in the lower disc, while the Outer
disc is en- ire and marked with figures in
u circle, /, ., >, t.. la this state the shell
is water and weather proof. When taken
for use, the gunner by means Of small
steel instrument scoops out Il portion oI
the outer soft metal surface, and lays bare
the charge Of composition powder below
it. II tie shell Is desjYSd to explode III
one second after leaving the gun, the
scooping is made on the figure one; Il N
two sooOnds on the figure two, and so on
the idea being that the shells OF this des'
cription shall first strike the object aimee
at and do execution a. Il bill and ther
explode sending the bullets forward as /
from another cannon located at the pcin
where the flight of the shell is arrested
Large shells OF eight or ten inches are tll
ed with powder only, and bursting do eX
I ecution by means OF their fragments -
! These large shells are generally fred b
= means Of fuse OF meal powder extend
l ing through brass Pi"S screwed INTO IN
I mouth of the shell i'll both cases the tus
is fired by the ignition Of the charge il
the gun.
y ruE PENNsvLvAYIARAl.RoAD. AN inter
h esting digest of the sources of revenue G
e the Pennsylvania Railroad company 10
l. the year eighteen hundred and sixty
: showing a most satisfactory increase q
Il the local freight business as compares
= with the same sources of revenue in 1855
: appears in the last number of the "Mnin
Register" From it we gait her the fac
! that the total earnings Of the read fu
: 1850 was IS .032, ,7Ol, against $500, $50 i
1 1859, an increase Of S570,346, or sur
equal to S47, ,52S per month Eoe the sea
round, The Register" says: 9Th
freight earnings exceed the passense
earnings largely, more tdaa two TO on'
: The Pennsylvania Railroad, thersfo.e,