The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-08-13
MAKING TIE GUNS LOOKS SMART.
How the Glossy Grown Coat Is Put on the
Cannon on the New Cruisers.

How the Glossy Grown Coat Is Put on the
Cannon on the New Cruisers.
Ever since our government has been
building upi great white navy thousands
of visitors have besieged the men -of-war
whenever an anchorage in port has afford
ed an opportunity. Officers and men have
been piled with questions concerning ev-
erything aboard ship, from the pennant
that futters from her truck to the mystic
ries of her double bottom. The ponderous
tapering rifles of the warship with their
training wheels, cogs and recoil cylinders,
elicit perhaps most of the admiration and
questioning. The visitor stands, all eyes
and ears, as a bluejacket swings open the
bfeech of the gun and explains the mech
anism OF the block and vent. Then the
landsman gazes long and admiringly
through the glittering ri1ed bars and
wonders at the terrific power of SO pretty
and graceful a machine. And at last,
when the breech block has been clattered
back into place, the visitor in nine cases
out OF ten will ask a question that has
been perplexing him ever since he laid
eyes on the gun.
How do you obtain that deep bronze
color on the outside of these guns?''
The questioner is well aware that the
gun is of steel, and he notices that the
bronze color stops abruptly just over the
curve Of the breech. He has felt the glossy
brown surface, with it's darker lines, like
the grain of polished mahogany, and has
probably given it a surreptitious little
scratch with his nail without being any
wiser. The russell gloss defies the scratch,
and the visitor repeats his query. Then
Jack proceeds TO tell the process by which
the guns on our fighting craft are kept
cleaner and glossier than those of any navy
in the world When rife comes from the
arsenal, it is coated with grease to pre-
vent rusting during transit, and this coat
ing is kept on until the huge steel struc-
ture has been lifted into it's carriage. The
grease is then removed by carefully wash
ing the gun ia a strong solution of COM
mercial potash or lye. 1t is washed twice
with this liquid and allowed to dry thor
oughlv. The gun is then like glistening
silver tube.
The next operation and one requiring
more care, is the application of a mixture
of sulphate of copper dissolved in sweet
spirits of inter. To an ounce of each is
added a pint of distilled water. Four
coats of this are poured on and rubbed
down hard and allowed to dry for "a hours.
Under this treatment the silver tube is
transformed into one of warm reddish
brown without gloss. By adding arsenic
to the same solution and applying again,
the gun assumes a darker tone. Now
comes the hardest part of Jacks work, the
polishing Boiled oil is mixed with bees
wax and turpentine until comparatively
thick substance results. This is laid on
and polished down with cotton rags at
first and then with the palm of the hand.
The result is the mahogany brown SO much
admired by inquiring visitors.
The brown coat lasts remarkably well
unless the gun be fired, when the heat Of
the discharge seriously damages the pol
ish. 80
The last coat is replenished about every
month. Now York Sun.