The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-11-06
IIurvcyizcd Armor in England.

The triumphs OF American armor-making
processes at Indian Head arc now to be sup
plcmentcd by victories gained on foreign
proving grounds. An American Harveylzeu
plato tested in England on Tuesday com
plctely smashed up five proiectiles. without
suffering a single crack.
The particulars show that this trial was
of tho severost character customary III
England. Tho plato was OF tho standard
dimensions, feet high by feot wide ana
1917 inches thick. 1t received five shots
from 6-inch brcechloadng rifle. three OF
the loo-pound proicctiles being OF HobT-
zER's make and the other two OF PALL1-
sEE's. propelled with tho usual velocity OF
1910 feet per second. They werc all broken
into fragments. Tho degree OF penetration
effected In the plate is not mentioned. but
tho great fact Is clear that tho plate
achieved triumph.
The British nre using q MISUNDERSTANDING
process OF their own, the invention or Capt.
TRESIDDER: but 1t seems to be admitted ny
the dispatches that the process OF Mr.. NJ. a.
HARVEY of Newark. which Is tho one EN-
ploycd in our navy. showed to such ndvan-
tago in Tuesdays ttfal that 1t may be
adopted also for British ships. Some Of the
English ordnance experts have never been
inclined to accept the high valuation put by
our American authorities on the alloy OF
nickel in steel: but they saw very quickly
the gain made by Supcr-carbonizing the
surface OF the plate. Perhaps they found
in the lnttcr an escape from tho compound
nrmur dilemma. The great competitive
trial between SCHNEIDER and CA,lMELL
pin cs ut Annapolis had ended In COM
D!rtr victory both of the n!"kel-stccl and
the all-stecl over the compound plate. the
nickcl-stecl also doing better than the steel
without the alloy. Then came the various
Indian Head trials which showed that the
HARVEY profess had made still fur
thor gain for nickcl-steel plates. as
adopted by that time for our navy.
This. however. was n return. In some
respects. to the old theory OF harder
face and softer back. on which tho COM
pound urmur system rested. The differ
cncc. to be sure, was the nll-lmportant one
IL II homogeneous plate hardened instead
of two different substances welded togeth-
er. Still the English seem to have watched
with appreciation this development in our
nrmor making, which had followed close
upon the downfall OF both Browns and
CAMMEL1.'S plates in trials against steel and
nickcl-stccl at Annapolis, Amager. Ochta.
Tuesdays test, however. by Government
officers on tho ordnance hulk Nettle. at
Portsmouth. is perhaps less striking than
the one of last July at South Bethlehem.
The vcoctics used it is true. being 1910.
were substantially the same MS the 2,075
used with the G-inch gun against platos in
tests at Indian Head. which had shown the
superiority of the Harveyized armor. But
at South Bethlehem in July five shots were
fired from nn S-inch gun against plate OF
the same dimensions as in Tuesdays trial
at Portsmouth. and every one OF these pro-
jectiles also was broken to fragments. and
not a single crack developed in the plate.
Tho projectile Of tho s-inch gun had less
velocity. as it weighed two and half
times as much as that OF tho 0-nch gun;
but the aggregate striking energy very
far exceeded that developed on Tuesday.
In view. therefore. of the results obtained
at South Bethlehem. those at Portsmouth
will not appear extraordinary on this side
OF the water. however they may have been
regarded by JOHN BULL.