New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-12-23
Simply passing tho time while you ere srdsEins u
ner" the answer.
You Americans . very peculiar people.
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METAL FOR HE1VY GUNS.
WHAT SORT OF STEEL SHOULD BE UsEDH
REFLECTIONS CAUSED BY THE BURSTING or rHs
GREAT GUN AT NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
or EXPERTS DIFFER

GREAT GUN AT ANNAPoLIs-OPINIoN
or EXPERTS DIFFER.
ANNAPOLIS. Dec. 22.-,rhe bursting OF the ssr.iBeh
rfned gun cast OF BesseIner steel on the Ordnance
proving ground here few days ago has bcen fol-
lowed by a good many I told you so's!' Not enough
has yet been disclosed to determine the unntness %
cast stoel for heavy ordnance that it's failuro
due to experiments with = new process Of tenn
pering. Dr. Gatling's opinion is that the failure OF
the gun grew out Of It's being cast whole; that had n
been cast with and cooled from the centre
Uhe Rodman process), the gun In all probsoflity
would not have burst Commodore sieard Grief Of
the Bureau OF Ordnance says that during the process
OF boring and rfing II discovered that the steal
contained many little globuar spaces or Chambers
caused by the gases becoming imprisoned In the cool
ing metal while endeavoring 10 force way through
the molten mass. They were not large, ranging
from the size Of pnheai 10 three OF four tines
that size but their tendency TO weaken the resist
Ing power OF the gun. Ensign Dsshlei one OF TIM
officers who made the tests with the gun, says ths,
the experiment proves that Bessemer cast steel VIII
do for great guns; II has not the elasticity
the tensile strength needed and 1t showed weakness
at the breech, where It ought to have had strength
The word STEEP AS used now Is comprehensive,
bracng material running from pure quality Of iron,
with little or no carbon and tensile strength o,
$4,000 pounds up TO toolsiecl with a high percentage
OF carbon and tensile strength Of over 10000
pounds. Experts speak of the former as mild
stcel' the latter hard steel' In the speci-
acatons Of the Ordnance Office of the War Depart
ment for bids for hoops for eight-inch
guns tensile strength Of not less
than 100000 pounds per square inch IS re-
quired. At recent convention of the Naval In
situte Steel for Heavy Guns' discussed BY thirty
six civil and mining engineers OF prominence. manu-
facturers Of steel and Army and Naval officers. FL
ward Bates Dorsey advised the Of the ordinary
mild steel Of commerce. DR.. Calling also advocated
Tho NJ mill h.tH stool II ~ Il
well and carefully tempered, Is far more treachcrous
and easily broken or fractured when subjected 10
violent shocks than soft or mild steel lie said:
The repeated firing Of a gun Will produce what Is
known as The fatigue OF metal. and when thar occur
and the metal becomes more or less cryssllzed tho
lifetime OF The gun may be said to be az end Al all
events, when gun gets in such condition II berOmes
liable 10 burst and is dangerous to the men using H.
Professor Tnurston referred TO steel made in
crucble and containing about $40 per cent Of carbon
He says of this
1t Is possible that this metal be used in
ordnance but IT would be wise to settle the question
the small scale fist by using IL In steel howtzers.
and defer the making of large gun until tho
smaller sizes had proved safe The process Of or
on a small mass Of even high tool steel; but Il
stln remains to be shown that great masses ara
be safely treated for ordnance purposes In this say
Thomas C. Clarke, civil engineer concerned with
Mr. Dorsey in the use of mild steel, or steel of a
low carbon, said
1t seems reasonable to suppose that high steel
eeran nSp While bGr w ses would
results
Professor Egleston, Of the Columbia College School
Of Mines, said:
The Limit between steel and cast-iron IS not wide
but the difficulty OF managing IL IS no greater now
than OF learning how to make casron guns OF largo
size when the cast-ifon guns OF General hodhan
Of superior quality and he educated The country
up TO his IDEAS We shall have 10 do for steel ~ha5
General Rodman did for cast Iron One Of the great
est difficulties in manufacturing steel in lsrge masses
is that people insist upon hammerng It, and 80 IA
as large masses of steel IS concerned they mover
should be touched with a hammer In any stag O.
their Manufacture. Hammering generally makes steer
brittle, except in very small sizes -. As II I
impossible 10 entirely prevent the occluslon OF largo
quantities OF gas and the consequent Dl0W-hoHs am
the concentration Of impurities BY Equation from ths
top toward the bottom and from the sides TOW ara mo
centre, powerful presses are the only way n WHICH
such large masses of steel should be treated
Lieutenant Commander Barber. of the Navy. an
ordnance expert, said;
Tho statement that mild steel s the most reliable
Of all CHI ap metals and that IL can be badly WOlhec
out in Naval experience. There probably never was
good and certainly never any better steel put INTO
vessels than In the Atlanta Boston, etc. This steer
was Obliged show 10000 pounds tensile strength.
pieces for hull material -. Midvae snd
Cambria in the United States, Creuzot In France,
Whtworth In England and hrupp IN Germany woum
all differ from the cssayst in the idea that tbs failure,
OF modern guns are largely due to defective OIL
temper.
Lieutenant W. IT, Jacques Of the Navy said:
Is II then Of such material as Mr.. Dorsey advocate
that military engineers should construct guns 10
il with such material that we are TO invite similar
failures those he condemns In England! am su,'
no ordnance officer in either of our departments wou
dare TO do it, II he were required to stand by ana
guns cannot be described by either of the terms
mild" hard; it must be tough and elastic