The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-10-01
Boring a Breech-Loading Cannon.


At last the cannon is turued down, and is
ready to be bored inside In this operation
it must be bored so straight and true that
the boring tool, entering at the exact CEN
ter If the small end Of cannon, viii come
out precisely at the center of the large end,
seventeen feet away. Those Of you who
have tried to bore straight hole length
wise through even short bit of wood will
know that this work requires no little skill
and care.
When, any of YOU boys have a job of
boring to do at your work bench, you make
fast the article to be bored and tn II tho
bori tool. 1t is jul 1t the other way in boring
a ca non. The boring tool, or "bit," is held
firm and motionless, while the great mass
of steel to be bored turns around. Til,
plan is found to insure steadiness of the
''bit.n 1t would be almost impossible t.
make this bit firm and solid enough to do
its difficult work, and yet free to turn
around in the cannon. 81 if you had been
at the side of the gun-lathe when the WORK
was begun you w uld have seen that tn
bit was motionless-except for a slow adj
vance 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 a pig roofing" in the ground.
Imagine, then, tie pig to be standing still
the pigs sncut and being ''rooted," and you
will have a 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 avings that are
removed as fast as they accumulate in order
that the boring TOOLS work shall not be in
terfered 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--5M i ches in
diameter As the rou ID hole grows deeper,
the heavy bar on which the bit is taste cd
advances Into the can ION ste .dlly, moved
by 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 inside, and
the long. spirally twisted ones that are
turned from the outside of the cannon. A
miitary-looking man, standing near the
lathe, does not lose sight of these shavngs
or trimmings either. You can see him il
the picture. This mans busine is to care
fully inspect the borings I'd trimmings.
That is what he is pail to do. Uncle Sam
pays him and expects him TO earn his
salary. The cannon is being made
for Uncle Sam, and he intends to find
out all its qualities, whether good o.
bad So the man eyes the borings care
fully. Now, if, with plane, or your knife
blade, you will cut thin shaving from a
bit of wood, it will show any little flaw ex-
isting in the wo from which it was sliced
| The tinlest knot-hole or crack will show in
the shaving much more plainly than in the
wood itself. So it is with acannon's shaving.
| 1t is a dreadful tell-tale, aud the fault
finding man beside the gun knows This per-
fectly we'll. He examinest spiral turning,
or the little piece of boring, and finds no
evidence of flaw or crack. The long spiral
strip is as smooth as glass and as glossy as
! your sisters curls.
Into the solid steel the hog-nossd bit roots
its way, u til it IS in so far that little
electric Light must bear it company, to
show the workmen how matters are pro-
! crossing in t 10 heart of the cannon. Aft r
eighteen days of steady boring, the bi. lets
| daylight into the bore OF the cannon =
emerging at the other Tor larger end,
seve teen feet away.