Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1890-08-29
IMPROVEMENTS IN BIG GUNS.

period was in 1872 when some ol
the old smooth. bores were convert
ell into rifles. In the army the lO
inch and in the navy the ll-lnch
smooth. bore were changed into
S.inch rifles by the insertion OF
wrought.iron rihed tubes.
One of the first errors out OF
which the government made Its
way was attachment to cast'lron
as the proper metal for heavy can
non. Baving manufactured ex-
cellent smOOth-bores from cast
iron, 1t was thought that cast'lron
rifles would be best, although OH
er countries which have carried on
much more extensive experiments
with the rifled arm had long since
concluded that wrOugh-irOn was
better than cast.IrOn, and that
steel was best of all.
The building up of gnns is not a
new nor recent idea. A built.up
gun is one which beginning with a
central tube or core, the barrel
proper, in which the interior bal
listic properties Of the proJectlle
and the explosive are developed, is
composed of successive layers OF
metal, which may be wound on as
ribbon is wound on a block, or may
be slipped over the tube the
results to he reached IN the con-
structIon of a gun are shooting
qualities and endurance, and en-
durance is best attained when all
the component parts ot the piece
bear their just proportions of the
strain. The disintergratlon of a gur
of cast metal begins inside, 50 that
a cannon may be IN most crlti
cal condition before there are 9DJ
superficial signs of weakness.
AS long ago as 1841 Prof. Dan
iel Treadwell undertook to NEE
this difficulty by making his CUR
of successive rings, each ring be
ing composed of several thin rings
laid one upon another. The largel
rings were assembled into tube
by welding. Afterward Professor
Treadwell used a steel tube, abOu
which he wound a bar of iron splr
ally. Successful guns OF small
calibres, II and 24 FOUNDER how
itzers, were made on this patterl
for both the army ard navy, bu
some 80 Founders were failures
In Europe hOoped guns were made
of wrought.iron as far back a
1880.
Rodman's guns are familiar
The CoIumblads are built by thi
method, and on Rodmau's lines
The essential feature of the devlc
was the cooling of III
metal from the interior, in oil
der. 10 use the inventors Ow
words, to bring "each one of th
indefinitely thin cylinders cOmpo'
ing the thickness of the gun - q.
to the breaking strain at the sam
instant"
How greatly superior this wa
TO the old method was shown
the trial OF the first ROdman COlun
biad IN 1919. Two S.inch gun
we're tested. One was a Rodma
gun and the other was not. III
, latter was bursted in the s0t
round the ROdman gun wlthstoc
$50 rounds. Subsequently IL
= superiority of the new system VIZ
shown to be even greater than thl
a There is, however, one enormou
and fatal fault in all cast meta
which has been especially dev(
4 oped and illustrated in recent q
a tempts to manufacture cast-ste
l. ordnance. The casting is abs
- lutely uncertain. Sometimes
bursts in the process of cooling
70 sometimes in the lathe; and We
u frequently cavities are discover
in the bordering.
a But the Rodman smooth-boT
were very efficient guns, and th
!, and the Slnch converted rif
have long constituted the sole
n mament of our sea coast defenc
- The calibre of these smooth-bo
rs range from eight to 20 inches.
90 1888, according to Captain Birr
4 the government possessed 2lO
m inch, 99S 1O.inch 3O5 10 inch q
m. 2 2O.lnch guns OF this charac'
,t Congress has within a year mi
ar. an appropriation for the establi
are ment OF a plant for gun.maklng
IN. the Waterviel Arsenal at W
- Troy, and the work of construct
modern bullt-up steel guns for
army has actually begun. In
mean time the navy has made '
+ol, stridss forward, and in the "
fer equipped foundry at the Wash
-. ton Nsvy.yard has just tnrned
some 6, 8, and 10 inch pow