Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-10-10

versant with the whole subject of artillery.
His Majesty in the kindest possible way, gave
me carte blanche to make any experiments
desired at Vincennes
SOME EARLY EXPERIMENTS.
A great many SO-pounder elongated projec-
tiles were made, and were fired from a19lncn
l2pounder smooth-bore cast-iron gun at the
Polygon at Vincepnes. They were nred
through a succession OF thin wooden targets
placed 100 meters apart, through all of which
they cut circular holes, thus showing that they
went end on; thin coat of black japan had
been purposely put on them, and when the
shots were recovered from the bank in wh1ch
they were lodged, the coat of Japan was seen TO
pc partially scraped off in spiral lines. caused
by their passage through the wooden target;
the angle of these scratches being carefully
taken. showed that from u to ~ rotations had
taken place in the length of the gun.
After many hours practice on cold Decem-
Der day, retired to The officers quarters In the
old fortress of Vincennes, and while standing
around blazing wood fire, slipping some not
splced VINE, Commandant MIME (the inventor
OF the rifle observed "that although the rota,
tion of the shot was effected, unless we had
something better to make our guns Of, such
heavy elongated projectiles could not be
used wi with safety" This casual oDseryatSa " ion
greatest industrial revolutions that the present
century has to record, for during my solitary
ride In cab that night from Nlncennes 20
do to improve the quality of iron used in the
manufacture of guns.
My knowledge of iron metallurgv was at this
time very limited, but this was in one sense
unlearn, and SO could let my imagination have
full scope. After many months of trial and
much building up and pulling down OF rever-
beratory furnaces. 1 cast a small model gun; the
iron was very white, and, in turning 1t, little
short curly shavings were cut off. 1t was Won
derfully tough for cast iron, but wonderfully
brittle if classed as wrought iron. The little
model gun looked very beautiful when highly
polished, and [ took it to Paris and begged the
Emperor to accept it as the first fruits of my
studies of the metallurgy of iron. He expressed
himself much pleased with ii, and complimented
me on having achieved step in the right dlrec-
tion, and with his own hands placed 1t in
bureau, saying, Some day it may become an
interesting relic"
ON THE EVE OF DISCOVERY.
About this period began to fully appreciate
the fact that if l could improve cast iron and
render 1t malleable and still retain its fluid
state, that apart from its use for artillery, it
would be of the greatest commercial value for
all engineering purposes. l therefore pursued
my experiments with greater ardor than e7er
for was convinced that 1 was on the eve of
producing quality of metal that would super
cede wrought iron. I consulted MIR. George
RennIe, the eminent civil engineer. l Showed
and in it we made charge of 700 pounds OF
Blaenavon pig iron into an ingot OF malleable
iron. Mr.. Rennie was in raptures with the re-
suit, and said: You must not keep this light
under bushel for single day longer; and,
by-the-bye. there is a first-rate opportunity for
you The British Association meet at Chelten-
ham next Tuesday; read paper there by all
means. am President of the Mechanical Sec
tiOn; it is true all the papers are arranged. but
if you will write paper 1 will take the re-
sponsibility of putting it first on the list" He
kept his promise, and read my paper "On the
Manufacture of Malleable Iron without
Fuel.
The entire iron trade of the kingdom was
startled by the facts detailed in this paper,
backed as they were by two small bars of malle-
able iron. one of which had been piled and re-
rolled; a few days later the iron masters came
trooping up to London to see the new process.
There are many interesting incidents connected
with these visits, which l cannot trespass on
your time to relate; but some idea of the ex-
citement may be gathered from the fact that,
Notwithstanding the imperfect state of the
process at that time, was actually paid fNOOO
for licenses granted within one month of the
reading of my paper. At many iron works the
managers set TO work to test the invention in
the rudest possible manner with such means as
they had a. sheir disposal, all of which attempts
were failurr. In my experiments l had used
Blaenavon pig iron, which was successful, and
at that time had no idea that other brands of
iron would fail in the manner they did. No
sooner were these failures known than an
extraordinary revulsion of feeling was mani
tested, and the most perfect distrust of the in
vention became universal. The public press,
which had spoken of it in such glowing terms.
of it as "a brilliant meteor that had fitted
across the metallurgical HORIZON, dazzling a few
enthusiasts, and then vanishing forever in total
darkness"