The herald., 1894-05-20
WOULD NOT STAND THE TEST,
The Tale Told in Very Few
Moments.
The Indiana's Armor Plate Crushed
Into Fragments.
The Unsuccessful Trial May Result in
Loss of $500. O0o-Ths BETH
lehem Steel Company VIII
Try 1t Again.

By the Associated Press
WASHINGTON, May 19.-With roar
and shock that made the earth trem-
BILE, the navy pet, the Pinch rifle,
hurled its s50-pound projectie against
an 1S-inch nickel-stesl Harvey z I'D plate,
the most powerful ever tried, at the
proving ground today. and tore the 80
tons Of steel into great fragments. The
result was complete surprise for all OF
the experts and a sad blow to the Beth
lehem Steel company, for unless they
can do better with the next plate they
will lose 100000 represented by the
group OF armor plate OF which the sam
pie piece tried today was the test piece.
The plates submitted to test were No.
5-l07 B, representing 6l3 tons OF side
armor intended for the battleship In
dians, and made by the Bethlehem
Steel company. 1t weighed 33$s tons.
and cost about $4,000. In shape it
was oblong. 16 feet long by 71a feet high.
Is inches thick above, with the lower
edge AZ inches beveled off to a minimum
thickness of 8 inches. 1t was nickel
steel, forged by hydraulic pressure and
Harveyized.
A 13-inch rifle. the largest in naval
use, WAS to be fred against this. but the
plate was found to be too narrow to
warrant this severe test. 80 the 12-inch
gun, which will hereafter be the maxi
mum ordnance construction, was leveled
at the plate, distant about 400 feet.
The projectile, Carpenter armor piercer
weighing $50 pounds and driven by S671s
pounds of Dupont's brown prismatic
powder, few across the space with
velocity of 1865 feet per second. and
struck the plate about foot to the right
OF the center. When the smoke cleared
away there was an exclamation OF sur
prise from the spectators.
About 80 feet in front of the target
lay the shot, apparently little changed,
while in the plate was gaping hole,
and worse than that, three great cracks
yawning open eight inches, running
clear across from top TO bottom and
from the shot hole to the lett edge.
An examination showed that the
shot had forced it's point through the
plate to the banking and had then re-
bounded after cracking the plate. Had
the plate been fastened on the Indiana's
aide instead of against So inches OF
OAK DhcKou against tuo mir
side. the chances are that the
battleship would have had fright
full wound. Further experiment seemed
to be needless, but the contract con-
sideration requiring it, another shot was
fred at the fragment OF the plate in the
right about aeven feet broad. that re-
manned uninjured. This time the gun
ner put 439 Is pounds OF powder in the
gun and the projectile, another 12-inch
Carpenter, was given force and sent at
the maximum velocity-l926 feet sec
ond. Again the plate waa rent, split
ting widely across, but the shot
did not escape, for while it forced
its point through the plate ana
about eight inches into the oak backing
it was twisted in several places, the
point remaining in the steel and the
remainder lying in fragments outside
the plaIe.-The Bethlehem will have
another opportunity to submit another
l8.inch plate to test before the entire
group OF 20 plates for the Indiana is
finally judged and as they will doubtless
take another chance to save the $780,
600 which the plates cost, the next trial
nay finally set at rest the doubt that
now exists as to the cause OF the failure
today.