The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1877-08-03
THE WONDERS OF woOLwICH.
The UanuGacfure of BuIIetS-ShelIs and
Cartridge CasrS-The Forty Ton
StPam


by one hundred and fifty members ant
associates of the society of engineers t.
the royal arsenal at WOOlwich. On as
sembling at the arsenal the visitors wer
divided into two sections, each section
| proceeding in charge of a guide, one t
the royal laboratory department, and tbt
other to the royal carriage department
On leaving those departments the sec
tions interchanged, and afterward botl
sections united and were conducted owe
the royal gun factories. In the labora
tory the visitors were first shown tht
manufacture of bullets for the Martini
Henry as well as for the Snider rife, anC
also for Colts revolvers. The bullet
metal is first poured hot into a receiver
which il forced up by hydraulic pressure
causing the solidifed but still hot meta
to issue from the top Of a plunger as &
rod. This operation is performed il
what is designated tho lead-squirting
ROOM" The rod of metal is wonnd on
to drum as it issues forth until the
contents of the hydraulic press are eX-
hausted, when the drum, with its coil, is
removed to the bullet-moulding room.
Here the metal is first cut up into lengths
and rough-shaped in one machine and
finished in another. A large number of
machines were busily at work making
the three classes of bullets we have men
| toned. The manufacture of the plug
| for the rear end of the bullet was also
witnessed. The plug was formerly made
of wood, but is now made from special
kind of powder, which is sOlidifed under
pressure. The she'll foundry and shell,
| filling room were next visited, and shells
of various sizes, from those of the
SO-ton gun downward to 7-pOunder
shells. were seen in the various
stages of manu- factuTe. The cartridge
case factory was then visited, as were
subsequently the rocket and the torpedo
| departments, and finally the mOdel-rOom.
In the royal carriage department some
very interesting work was witnessed in
! the preparation of the details of car
riages for the 28-ton and other guns.
Much interest was evinced in some hand
saw machines at which small detail parts
were being cut out of wrought-iron, just
in the same way as fret-wOrk is executed
! in wood Another interesting engineer
! ing tool shown was a circular planning
machine by Greenwood & Bailey, OF
Leeds, and which has not been long at
the arsenal. BY its aid some racers for
! the 80 ton gun platform were being
planted. This tool will plane to maxi
mum radius of twenty-five feet. A num-
Der of other powerful and useful ma
chimes were examined. Upon arriving
at the royal gun factories, the visitors
were received by Capt. Porter, in the
| absence of Col. YOunghusband, suPerin-
tendent of the royal gun factories. Here
special heats had been arranged by Col.
YoHnghusband. They first saw the coil
| ing of the white-hot bars for breech-
piece in the coil-mill. Thence they pro-
| ceeded, under the guidance of Capt. Por-
| ter, to the rolling mill, where they saw
| tue bars produced, and where they found
some very coed reversing gear to the
rolls In the forge a jacket, weighing
about thirty tons, and intended for 3S-
! ton gun, was being manipulated under
| 40-tOn steam hammer with ms much ease
and dexterity as though 1t had only
weighed thirty pounds. The operation
of shrinking breech-piece on to steel
tube, still for q 3S-ton guR, was then
witnessed, after which the experimental
! SO-ton gun was shown to the visitors. a-
were also the various parts OF the three
service 8O-ton guns which are in process
| of manufacture. BY means of model,
which could be taken apart, Capt. Porter
|
| did weapons. The turnery, the rough
boring mill, the rihing mill, and the
pattern-rOom were successfully visited,
! in the latter of which the members took
leave of Capt. Porter, every one being
highly gratified with the pleasing and
! instructive visit, for nowhere else could
such a varied series of special engineer
ing operations be witnessed.
Death from Noises.
A literary gentleman once remarked,
! in iocose speech, that it would be an
| improvement upon the human body II
we might shut our ears as easily as we
can shut our eyes. If sight displeases
us, we have but to drop our eyelidE, and
we are relieved. But we have ne remedy
! against prosy speeches or the firing Of
guns, or tue shrek of a whistle, except to
remove ourselves from the vicinity OF the
sound.
The iocose remark received pathetic
| illustration in the case of John Ltech,
the artist, whose sketches made the Lon
do Punnch the delight of its readers. His
nerves were in such state OF tension
! that he became the tortured victim OF
| Organ-grinders and railway whistles. lie
worked up in attic of his house, but even
there the din of street-bands annoyed
| him. His sufferiDgs from noises became
so painful that one of the proprletors OF
the Pur ca took him into the country to
stav a week or more. Leech promised
himself much pleasure in being far away
from the noise of the organ-grinders,
railway whistles, and the firing of guns.
But the morning after his arrival, the
host was surprised to find the artist ready
to depart. al cannot stay any longer
here" he said. "The noise drives me
frantic"
"What noise?"
"The gardener whetting his scythe. 1t
goes through nv ears like a corkscrew.
Leech died not long after. He may be
said, according, to the statement Of a
friend, "to have died of the hideous
noises, the horrible brass bands, and bar
rel organs of London, which Jared upon
his shattered nerves."