The record-union., 1892-11-23
Special to the REooRp-UN1ox.

Folger, Chief of the Bureau Of Ordnance,
IN his annual report to the Secretary of
| the Navy, which is a very lengthy one,
asks appropriations aggregating nearly
Two and half millions for his bureau,
but the request seems moderate in view
Of the achievements Of the present year
and the promises of the future. The
voluminous report is filed with interest
ing details as to how the American navy
compares with the navies Of foreign
nations, and how native skill ana in
Ventiveness have placed this country in
advance of all others in the comparatively
new (as far as the United States is con-
cerned) field of armor construction and
great gun-making. To arm the vessels
of the new navy, 381 guns, varying in
caliber from four to thirteen inches, were
required, and of these 237 are already
completed and lis afloat.
A marked step in advance has been
made in improving the breech mechan-
ism Of ten and twelve-inch guns, so they
may be worked easily and rapidly by
hand. The bureau is now building a
nickel steel gun on new designs invented
by William Sellers, which will doubtless
inaugurate the entire use of nickel steel
for naval gun construction. 1t is stronger
and better than ordinary gun steel, and
the designs permit the reconstruction of
a gun whenever the tube is worn. The
use in guns up to six inches in caliber OF
fixed metallic ammunition has resulted
so satisfactorily that it is said to be merely
a question of time before the idea will be
applied to larger cslibers.
Rapld-hre mechanism as applied to
tlVe-Inch guns has enabled five shots to
be fired from one gun in fifty-nine sec
onds, but the result of the application of
this mechanism to The tour-inch gun
was followed by results still more re-
markable, for it has been possible to fire
five shots in fourteen seconds.
improvements are noted in the quality
Of domestic brown powder supplied dur
ing the year, and it is stated that the
bureau has taken steps to establish the
manufacture of brown powder on the
Pacific Coast, supplying the California
Powder Company of Santa Cruz, Cal,
with a testing implement and guns, and
securing for it the use Of the Dupon
formulas. a marked progress has been
made in the development Of navy smoke
| less powder during the year. 1t is now
made IN large quantities much safer than
! other powders, Is unaffected by climatic
conditions and is superior in a marked
| degree to the best European smokeless
| powders.
Tests with high explosive emmensite
have been made with great success, and
shells filed with this material fired at the
| high velocity of I, 900 feet per second from
rified guns and exploded upon impact
with water at 6,000 yards range. Expert
ments with another American explosive
| have shown that common shells filed
| with this material can be fired through
SIX one-inch iron plates and burst deto-
natively at will beyond them. These ex-
] dad 49,
long discussion with regard TO the rela-
tive merits of firing high explosives from
air guns or powder guns.
The report speaks in terms of praise of
the developments in this country of the
manufacture of armor piercing pro-
iectiles, and says in a test recently made
at Indian Head Of eight-inch shells, two
of the celebrated German Hotter. two of
the Carpenter and two of the Stirling
product, the Carpenter shells were
| clearly equal, if not superior, to the best
! Of Hotter manufacture thus far delivered
in this country. One of the Sterling pro-
| jectiles showed qualities Of very superior
| character.
! The deliveries of automobile tOrpedoes
were delayed by the difficulty expert
enced in securing suitable TASKS, but
these have at last been obtained from
domestic steel companies, and a number
of Howell, Whitehead and other torpe-
| does are expected 10 De presented Tor
testing at an early date.
Commodore Folger speaks approvingly
Of the submarine boat now the subject of
experiments at Chicago. While full sue
cess has not been obtained the invention
| is promising. and he suggests combina-
ton with it in effective warfare of q con-
trollable floating torpedo or submarine
gun.
Under the head of torpedo boats the re-
port makes strong recommendation
that petroleum be used for fuel in these
! boats, increasing their radius of action,
giving better control and generally in
| creasing their efficiency.
The report says that the labor troubles
at Homestead put temporary stop to
the armor manufactured by Carnegie,
| but work has again begun. and il is hoped
/ that in a short time the armor product OF
| the Carnegie and Bethlehem Compa-
MES will reach six or seven hundred
| tons OF finished plates per month. Orders
| for armor to the full amount Of both con-
| tracts have been placed, and there is
about 7 1000 tons still needed for the ships
authorized by law. The department is
preparing to advertise for bids for this
quantity of armor Of nickel-steel and
treated by the Harvey process, at the dis
cretion Of the department
Touching the development Of armor
in this country, the report describes a
"
nickel-steel plates. On one Of these five
of the eight-inch Hotter shells were
smashed without injuring the plate. Tho
test was more severe than ever before
made. The Commodore thinks the re-
suit of this great development of armor
! will doubtless be to check the tendency
in Europe to abandon guns Of large
caliber, which was caused by q belief that
| the guns were more than ample to pene-
trate the heaviest armor.
Some information that may lead to a
revolution in gun-making, and also have
| far-reaching effects in other directions, is
contained in part of the report which
treats Of nickel and steel alloys, follow
ing up certain suggestions made by
James Riley of Glasgow. The Ordnance
Bureau succeeded in making alloy of steel
with twenty-five per cent. of steel that
possesses all the best qualities and
strength of steel, with high elasticity
distributed throughout the mass OF metal
and the best of all is that it is practically
non-corrodable in air and almost so in
water. Experimental gun barrels and
torpedo nets are TO be made at once of
this ALLOW, and it is believed gun barrels
Of this material will not only be rust
proof. but will resist the corrosive action
of powder gases, because the metal has
only one-tenth of susceptibility of steel to
the magnetic force. IL is also proposed to
construct an armored tower which shell
ters the conpasses of one of the new Ves-
sells Of this material,