Connecticut western news., 1871-09-01
wROUGHTIRONA AND DSTEELLINED
 CANNON


 but very few of them know Aoao they were made. Regarding the above assertions as facts, take the liberty of laying before them brief description of the process, knowing that to many of them it cannot be otherwise than of interest. MT. Ames' idea of making wrought iron guns, and the plan which he adopted, was to make them of rings, welded together, in order that the grain of the iron would run around the gun instead of lengthwise, Gas it is a we'll known fact that there is nearly as much grain to iron, as there is to wooO and thus would he obtained the greatest strength of the iron for the purpose de- signed.
 The rings were made of bars of iron five or six inches square, bent to circle and welded. They were of such sizes, that three rings were put together, one inside of another; the smallest, or inside rings having an orifice of about three inches. A quantity of these rings within rings be- ing made, they were heated and welded together by large steam battering ram till they were of the proper length for a gun. It was then bored out, and tue outside turned Tn mammoth lathes constructed especially for the purpose.
 The welding of these rings to each other was the most difficult task to perform. in the making of the gun, and a vast amount of experimenting was necessary before per feet joint or weld, on so large surface and on the end, could be reliably and regularly effected. Three years he worked, expend- ing an immense amount of money before he accomplished that which governments cess was complete, and his guns have stood the test of being loaded to the muzzle with powder and ball and fired. No guns in the world ever stood the half of the test which has been given to these.
 He made three sizes of these cannon, the calibers of which were respectively five, six and four tenths and seven inches; to carry balls weighing 5O; 100; and l5O pounds. After making about $4Oo, ,O0O worth of these guns, not content with making what was already the best gun in the world, he concluded to line wrought iron gun made of rings, with steel. He accordingly took three of the six and four tenth inch caliber guns, and bored them out to twelve inches. and procured three cast steel shafts from England, that were tempered in oil to toughen them, and turned them to twelve and two one hun dredths inches in size. f ... ...
 His plan to get the steel cores in the gun, was 10 build furnace around it, in front of the steam battering ram, and expand it by heat sufficiently to admit the steel core, which (as stated above) was made two one hundredths of an inch larger than the bore of the gun. This was to be accomplished with the aid of the ram.
 Unfortunately at this stage of the work, his health failed him, and he said to bis men '<wait till can oversee it." This was not to be; hls work was done; his mission OF earth accomplished. In his sickness, which proved to be his last, he was almost constantly talking about those steel cores, and was anxious to see them put in, which mechanics and scientific men told him could not be done, that the pieces were too large, and too heavy to handle in the manner in which it would be necessary to handle them, but MT. Ames kneao, with equal positiveness that the task could be successfully accomplished. Neither him self nor Mir. H. B. Thomas who worked out his plans for him, saw it done.
 After the death of Mr. Anes, in May and June of the present year, the precise plans of Mir Ames were carried out to 8 successful completion. The furnace was built where he commenced it, and the stee cores weighing three tons, were placed on timbers in front of the battering ram, with one end at the door of the furnace con .taining the gun. Steam was raised in the boilers, and people flocked to see the grea, experiment. Everything was in readiness the gun slightly red with heat; the furnace door was opened and the core was pushed to the mouth of the gun. Men stood, as il were, breathless the ram moves, starts the core into the muzzle of the gun il does not bind; it now goes faster! faster and quickly with d loud cracl: it strikes the back end of the gun. No longer do tic men remain in silence; hats go off and the old forge is made to ring with their shouts The huge steam whistle was blown long and loud, and thus was announced to the world success in gunnery, second to none
 
 ever attained. The opinions of the ex perienced mechanics, and the theory of the scientists, were dashed to the ground as worthless, quicker than the twinkling oi an eye.
 Nor was this success of a private char acter. It was National success, and one that carries with it an importance that the government will not be slow to profit by and without doubt the system of making all the ordnance of the nation steel lined will eventually be adopted. The three guns, are bored out and rifled ready for the government test. The steel cut very smoothly, and after the guns are com pleted, there remains of the steel in the gun a thickness of two and six tenths inches.
 It is expected that these three steel lined guns will in few weeks be tested in Falls Village, and one of them will be fired one thousand times to test it's durability, as al new kinds of guns are subjected to thi: test. The longest range attained by thu Ames wrought iron guns is seven and three fourth miles, but it is confidently though these steel ones will throw one hundred pound ball, with twenty pounds of pow der, at least mile farther. w. P.
 T5n6 VSdi Vsci.-I came, saw, but hat no disposition to conouer This is what