The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-02-25

4 Discovery Made which VIII Save
Thousands OF Tons OF weight on
Shfus

y DAeEoNerN Mnde " men VIII save
Thousands OF Tons OF Weight on
ships.
Carnegie armor furnished a surprise to
ordnance experts at Indian Head to-day.
says a Washington special. and it is pos
sihle that a distinct advance in warship
protection has been made by the Pittsburg
concern. whose managers conceived the
idea that the resistance Of a Harveyizel
plate might be increased by reheating and
MASKING il under rollers subsequent TO
the completion Of the American surface
carbonizing process. and. after thus tough
enins its texture and minimizing its in
ternal strains. spraying its face with ice
water TO secure the ADVANTAGES of chilled
hardening.
\ seventeen-inch plate. similar 20 those
made for the barrettes Of the battls-ships
was treated in this manner. and reduced
10 a thickness Of fourteen inches. II had
the usual wooden backing. and was at
tackled with ten-inch gun under all the
conditions attending the trial of a four
teen-inch plate.
The first shot had a striking velocity
Of J, S59 feet per second. Its point went in
about seven inches, and IT upset com
pletely. the great mass projectile scatter
ms i'm small bits. Not the slightest crack
was developed in any part of the armor.
Although struck point blank by q she'll
having the highest penetrating velocity
required under service conditions prac-
tieslly no damage was done and in the
opinion of the chief of ordnance, Commo-
dore Sampson, the plate. although but
fourteen inches thick, could not b. con-
sidered i'm the fourteeu-iuch class. So he
gave the orders TO treat it as ffteen-inch
armor, and the gunners put enough addi-
al
proiectile in the big rifle TO give a strik-
ing velocity of 1910 feet per second, which
IS the maximum power that can be eX-
erted by the American ten-inch gun. and
considerably more than could be expected
of any 'rreign weapon of the same size.
Altogether there was pa pounds of
brown hexagonal powder behind this shot,
in the same vertical line Ii crumbled to
pieces, leaving disfgured hole and a lot
of fused metal where IL hit but the plate
showed no crack, not even where AZ had
been presumably weakened by the first
attack.
The nonplused naval officers then re-
sorted to heroic measures. The huge
twelve-inch gun was wheeled into line
and trained upon the plate, and enough
powder was crammed in behind it's pro-
jectile to give 1t a striking velocity of
1,S5S feet per second. 1t bore a clean hole
through the plate, but its tremendous
blow failed to develop even a radical
fracture.
No further tests were deemed necessary,
as this was the ordeal to which seventeen
inch armor is subjected, and the fourteen
inch plate was evidently unequal in resist
ing powerto the barbettes Of the Oregon,
Indiana or Massachusetts,.
1t resisted cracking better than they
have done, however, and 1t is now an open
question whether a practical discovery
has not been made by which hundreds of
tons weight may now be saved without
sacrificing efficiency on the battleships
yesterday provided for in the naval APP
preparation.
Apparently, two inches in armor thick
ness may be saved by the improved treat
ment, if to-day's test is corroborated by
those sure to follow, and the weight of
that two inches saved from the exposed
surface of modern fighting vessels means
tons upon tons Of added guns, machinery
and coal