The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1889-12-11
BORING A sREecH.LoAplNc CANNON

At last the cannon is turned down.
and is ready to be bored inside. II
this operation it must be bored Sc
straight and true that the boring tool,
entering at the exact center of the small
end of the cannon, will come out pre-
cisely at the center of the large end.
seventeen feet away. Those of you
who have tried to bore a straight
hole lengthwise through even short
bit of wood will know that this work
requires not little skill and care.
When any of you boys have a job of
make fast the article to be bored and
turn the boring tool. 1t is just the
other way in boring a cannon. The
boring tool or "bit, =" is held firm and
motionless, while the great mass of
steel to be bored turns around. This
plan is found to insure steadiness of the
bit" 1t would be almost impossible
to make this bit firm and solid enough
to do its difficult work, and yet free to
turn around in the cannon. So If you
had been at the side of this gun-lathe
when the work was begun you would
have seen that the bit was motionless
except for q slow advance into the
gun.
The bit attends strictly to business,
and steadily bores its way through the
steel. Most of you have been to the
country and have seen pig roofing"
in the ground. Imagine, then, the pig
to be standing still and the ground to
be slowly passing under the pigs snout
and being rooted" and you will have
case much like that of the bit and the
cannon. In fact, the boring tool is
called ''hog-nosed" bit, and it roots
up that cannon as if it enjoyed the
operation. No long, graceful curls
come from this boring, but small. crisp
shavings that are removed as fast as
they accumulate in order that the bor-
ing tools work shall not be interfered
with. The bit is going into the steel
at the rate of three-eighths of an inch
for every turn of the cannon, and it is
making a round hole almost large
enough for boy to put his head in
five and three-quarter inches in di-
ameter. As the round hole grows
deeper, the heavy bar, ON which the
bit is fastened, advances into the can
non steadily, moved by a number of
wheels and screws that form part OF
the lathe.
must not lose sight of the shavings,
the little ones that come from the in
side, and the long, spirally twisted
ones that are turned from the outside
of the cannon. A military looking
man, standing near the table, does moi
lose sight of these shavings or trim
mings, either. For this mans bust
ness is to carefully inspect the borings
and trimmings. That is what he is
paid to do. Uncle Sam pays him,
and expects him to earn his salary
The cannon is being made for Uncle
Sam, aud he intends to find out all its
qualities, whether good or bad. Sc
the man eyes the boring carefully
Now, if with a plane, or your knife.
blade, you will cut thin shaving from
bit of wood, it will show any little
flaw existing in the wood from which
it was sliced. The tiniest knot-hole OF
crack will show in the shaving much
more plainly than in the wood itself
So it is with a cannon's shaving. 1t i
dreadful tell-tale, and the fault-fnd
ing man beside the gun knows this per
fectly well. He examines the spira
turning, or the little piece of boring
and finds no evidence of flaw o
crack. The long spiral strip is a
smooth as glass and glossy as your sis
ter's curls.
Into the solid steel the hog-nosed bi
roots its way, until it is in so far that
little electric light must bear it com
pany, to show the workmen how mat
tiers are progressing in the heart of tn
cannon. After eighteen days of stead
boring, the bit lets daylight into tn
bore of the cannon by emerging at tn
other Cor larger) end seventeen fee
away.--G. +. Muller, in st. Nicholas.