The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1882-07-27
The Manufacture OF Naval Guns,

AHe mdHuiactuFe Oh Naval GuhSs
But the manufacture OF the great guns
for naval warfare forms the really i'm
pressive feature of Woolwich Arsenal.
lnsular England, dependent on her
Navy, has for the last twenty years al
most concentrated the mechanical talent
Of her Woolwich factories on this branch
OF her armament. How to make guns
which shall perforate the iron-clads of
other nations. how to make iron walls
which the guns of other nations cannot
perforate. is the two-fold problem which
constantly spurs her forward A single
sight inside the Woolwich Arsenal
grounds shows how steadily the fight
| goes on between the iron-cfad and the
projectile. One sees hundreds of great
guns in line side by side, made q few
years ago, which have never been fired
since they were tested, and are as new
and fresh as when first turned out from
the factory Yet all these guns are to
be broken up and recast into improved
ordnance Within few years-almost
months-they have become obsolete, and
all the vast labor and expense they rep
resent goes for nothing save the expert
ence gained To the cost as well as the
progress of wars these long lines of can
non, condemned without trial, bear mute
but impressive testimony. For the most
part they are recast into the heavier
guns, weighing from forty to one hun
dred tons, which equip the modern De-
vastations and Inhexibles of England,s
Navy.
Two-thirds of all the structures of the
Woodwich Arsenal appear to be. given
up to the manufacture of these colossal
cannon. AT the first stage of their con-
struction there is made a long. core of
cast steel. Then strips of wrought. steel
as long and large as the beams Of a
house are wrapped around the bceech
end. The strips are laid on hot, one
after another, in coils, and, contracting
as they cool, form breech of prodigioas
strength. Next the gun is placed on
lathe, turned smooth, the centre bored
outand the inside polished until one can
see the face reflected from its curves.
The ritiing IS an operation needing pe-+
culiar delicacy and skill. 1t is done
with q long stiff rod, upon the end Of
which is fixed a cutting tool Of the hard-
estfsteel, growing. as 1t must. the steel
core of the gun. So slowly does the
massive cylinder revolve that, even at
the breech where itkas largest diameter.
1t scarcely seems to move at all y The
rifling rod. as well, as the, rate of revolu-
tion IS regulated by a beautiful piece of
nlechanicism, covered nEwith II num-
pered arcs, and figures and described
as marvef OF mathematical sRill ap-
piled to al mechanical process When the,
huge htlndred-ton creature is done, it is a
wonder indeed. Its Weights twice that
OF a large railroad loco tive; it is forty
feet long from breech. to muzze, and laid
across Broadway it would reach Just
about from curb to curb; it is seven feet
IN diameter at the breech and two feet
eight inches from inner bore to outer
surface. With an efficient range of sew
Ieral miles, it carries a conical shct,
twenty inches through, weighing almost
a ton, and needing several hundred
pounds OF powder to project it. A shot
of this size now penetrates the thickest
naval armor plating, and cuts through
twenty inches of solid iron backed with
oak as cleanly as a bullet through
cheese. It has, after much experiment,
been found that the most effective rifiing
Tor these cannon is a groove starting as
q straight line at the breech. Half way
to the mrlzzle the groove begins to turn,
and at the muzzle the curve is greatest,
sending the ball out with.a kind Of cir
cular snap which, SO say the engi-
neers, gives the greatest range and pre-
cision to the projectile. a
The massive machinery which handles
these big pieces of ordnance as readily
as child's toy excites scarcely more
wonder by its strength than by its uner-
ring accuracy. 1t includes horizontal
revolving bed, used for cutting the bed
plates for the guns, and probably not
less thanforty feet square; a crane which
lifts easily 200 tons and can readily swing |
in the air four American locomotives;
and the famous trip-hammer, weighing
forty tons, and said to be the largest in |
the world, yet which can be SO gently |
managed as to force q watch -crystal into
its place without breaking it. How ex-
celient are both the material and work.
manship turned out by these splendid
machines at Woolwich, is proved by ac-
cident as well as by design. In small
building is shown an eighty-ton gun
which was tested intentionally until it |
burst. By its side lies the big gun Of the
Thunderer iron-clad, which was burst BY
accidental double loading a few years
ago, with the deadly result which many
will recall. In both these great pieces
the fractures are almost perfectly SYM
metrical, forming cubes forward OF the /
breeeh. and proving alike how flawless
was the material and how evenly distrib-
uted was the strength OF the gun.-lLoss-
don Cor. N. 7. Post.
The date burned in the bottom Of
The Cincinnati indestructible railway
sandwich has led eminent archmologisfs
to infer they were originally cast for the
Mayhower supplies. They are four
inches thick each side, and lined with |
apparent traces of ham. The assay also