The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-03-12
By HORSLEY BROS. & FIGUERS.
The Cannon of the Future.

/
England is now building a ship to
carry twenty-four inches of armor, and
she is making gun which will be 81
tons in weight. It may be said here is
proof enough of England's superiority.
Unquestionably the ship is splendidIy
designed. So also is the gun, which
we are to have ready some time
turn ont to be g wonderful weapon
Artillerists speak of the coming monster
as an " awful gum" Gro Tds assemble
at the forge whenever one of the huge
coils is to be pummeled bv the new
steam hammer at Wool wich Arsenal.
Even in the making of the 38 ten guns
masses OF iron weighing % tons, at a
Welding heat, have to be laid under the
| hammer. For the larger gun an incan-
| descent mass of forty-tive tons has to
be fetched out of the frs and duly ham
mered. The furnace has the cspaci' Y
of cottage, and the tongs by which
| the glowing cylinder is lifted out of its
burning bed weighs no less than thirty
| tons. A steam crane bears the whole
| weight of tongs and coil, aud everything
proceeds without accident or hitch of
grand, and we'll repays those spectators
who take the trouble to be present.
Other nations are not likely to te blind
to the advantage which sccrues from
| the possession of guns exceptionally
powerful. Already it is known that
| steel tubes are being made, having a
| diameter six inches greater than that of
| the tube of the S1-tOn gun. These
| tubes may be intended for the lining OF
| the American smooth. bore guns, which
are to be converted into rifles. Posi-
! bly, they are for the use of the Fieuch
government, or for the italian. At all
events, such masses of steel are being
made, and are destined to play some
part 10 connection with foreign artillery.
Most certsinly the appearance of q 100
ton muzzle-loading gun among foreign
ornaments is by no means remote con-
tingency.
But what are we prepare to do? As
suredly the great steam-hammer at
Woolwich arsenal can accomplish ONE
thing more for us than the making of
an 81, ton gun, big as that undoubtedly
will be, with its bore of sixteen inches
in diameter, and twenty four feet in
length, firing a proiectile weighing
900 pounds, propelled by 300 pounds
of powder, the range of the weapon be-
ing seven miles. Ali this is very for
midable, but it is not by any means all
that can be done. We may double the
weight of the gun, making it 160 tons,
having O caliber of 90 inches, and
bore of at least 80 feet. This would be
a magnificent piece of ordnance; but
even then there would be something
beyond, and why should we stop short
of that which must be gained at some
period or other? Let us contemplate
the further step at once. Why not
have a gun with bore of "a inches
simply two feet? The weight would
be 275 tons, the charge would be 900
pounds, the weight of the projectile
nearly two tons and a half, and the
range eight or nine miles This is not
a mere dream, but perfectly practica-
BILE piece of work. The cost would
probably be q trife less than 9100
per ton, or about G25, 900 for the entire
piece. The weight of proiectile of such
a gun would be something more than a
5000. FOUNDER. Perhaps when we had
made such q weapon we might think
we had gone far enough. As for the
arnor, the projectile of the 275 ton gun
would possibly penetrate three teet
with corresponding packing. As We
showed some time ago, DIR. Coils
Brown has modelled a ship which shall
actually carry 3 feet of armor. This
armor would also be present at slope,
so that our 5,000-pounder would have
its work to do. AS for the cost, there
IS the consideration that one such gun
will give results such as no number of
smaller guns could accomplish. The
Il flexible, sheathed in part with 2 feet
of armor, will carry four Sl-ton guns,
costing $4,000 each. Her four guns,
therefore, will cost more than one 275-
ton gun. Yet how would such a vessel
as the Infexible be able to staBd the
attack of so tremendous q weapon? The
5000 pound proiectiles, unless striking
with considt rable obliquity, wouli
readily smash through the thickest part
of the armor, end two or three such
visitors, having bursting charge OF
300 pounds of powder, might decide the
fate of the ship. Surely the result
would be cheap at the price.-LOndOn
Standard.