The weekly Butte record. [volume] (Oroville [Calif.]) 1858-1864, 1862-09-06
NO. A
How PARROT Guns are Made.

who has been visiting the Parrot cannon fac
tory near West Point, gives the following de-
seriphon Of their manufacture:
The works employ FIVE hundred men. all en-
gagged in making the Parrot riaed cannon.
and the solid shot and shell suited to this kind
Of ordnance Capt. ParFott who snperiatenis
the works, is q graduate Of the military acaie-
my. He served in the army twelve years but
has resigned, and now devoies his entire atten-
tons 10 scientific Investigations connected with
cannon and various prqieetiles.
The practical resalts sought by inventors arc
to increase the effective range Of cannon to
throw shot or shell of great weight-two or
three hundred pounds-without making the
guns so large as TO be unmanageable and in
capable Of transportation in the presence Of
an enemy. These advantages are attained by
the PARROT gun, and hence make il superior to
the Coumbiad, the Dahlgren, and the Arm
strong. BY means of band Of wrought iron
which surrounds the brecch great strength Is
I secured, and by the use of elongated or conf
cal shot smaller bore is required, and hence
less weight Of metal in the gun. The range Of
the two hundred Founders is between four and
five miles. At the distance Of three miles
200 pound shot can be thrown so as to fall
within the space Of twenty feet square The
initial velocity of the ball is twelve hundred
/ feet per second, and the whole distance is &C
complished in about seventeen seconds.
The power Of the 100 FOUNDER Parrot has
been tested upon wrought-iron plates, thicker
than the armor Of the Monitor. At the Gis-
lance Of fifty feet plate eight ard a half
inches thick, inclined al an angle of twenty
degrees, was broken through the middle verti-
cay by the first shot. SO convinced is the
government Of the power and accuracy of
these guns, that Capt Parrot has an order to
furnish as many as he can make by employing
all the force that can work in the foundry
Six hundred have been sent TO various fortif-
cations and divisions of the army-10, a, 100,
and 20O-pouuders, with Others of intermediate
calibre. 1t was a 200 pound Parrot which
caused the evacuation Of Yorktown and the
retreat Of Beauregard from Corinth.
These guns are cast in the usual manner and
then transferred to the turning platform, where
they are cut down 10 the proper diameter,
after which they present the appearance of
highly polished steel. They are next bored
out and passed into the hands of the rifer-
The process of riaing is by simple gouge,
working so as TO give the proper twist. One
groove is made at q time. The gun now passes
into the shop to receive its wrought-iron band.
This surrounds the breech, and is about one
fifth the length of the cannon. 1t is made of
wrought-iron bar, varying from two to six
inches square, according to the calibre. The
bar is heated TO a white heat and then twisted
into a spiral and welded into cylindrical
mass by powerful trip hammer. The diane
ter of the band is little less than that of the
breech Of the gun. 1t is made red-hot, and
while expanded fixed upon the breech, where
it shrinks firmly into its place and forms al
most solid portion of the cannon. This pro-
cess is upon the same principle by which tires
are fitted TO carriage wheels. The strength
thus attained is greater than that of any single
casting, however thick. For l00-pounder a
bar of wroughtiron four inches square and GO
feet long is required 200 FOUNDER, 50 feet of
five inches square; 300-pounder, 100 feet six
inches square.
The cost of the smallest gun-6-pounder-i
two hundred dollars; for 200-pounders two
thousand dollars each, which is said to be one
tenth the cost of the Armstrong gun. The
charge of powder is one pound to every ten
of the ball. and the cost of powder and shell
for every discharge is nearly ten dollars. The
weight of the 200-pound Parrot is little more
than one-half that of the Coumbiad which,
carries the so pound shot, or the 10nch she'll
The practice with these guns is excellent
Experiments are made daily and with an ac-
curacy most astonishing. The shrek Of the
ball as it flies through the air at velocity of
over six hundred miles per hour, is like that of
q railroad train at full speed. The conclusion
upon the rock on the opposite side of the river,
one and half miles distant, is so great that
the sound is distinctly heard just as the reyer-
beration of the discharge dies away.
How THE MODEST Man WAS MISTAKEN
The Lowell Courier is responsible for the fol-
lowing 80 In neighboring city, at lecture
few evenings since, a gentleman, the modest
man of his sex, and 10 less polite than modest
was sitting in pew rather remote from the
light A pretty lady sat next to him. Look
ing on the floor during the lecture, be espied
what he thought was the lady's handkerchief,
the lacetrimming edge just visible from under
her dress. Turning to his pew-mate, he gal
lantly whispered, you've dropped your hand
kerchief madam" and before she could reply
he proceeded to pick it up Horror be had
seized the edge Of her pet-skirt, and did not
discover his mistake until the top of a gaiter