The morning times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1897, 1895-11-17
PUTTING ON THE JACKET.

In order to receive the Jacket the tube
is stood up in what is called the shrinking
lit. When the Jacket has been heated to
tie degree of heat nuted 1t is lifted out
OF the furnace and lowered or slipped down
over the tube to its position. 1t is
stupeDdous piece of work, but the object
and principle is Just the same as that to
be observed in blacksmiths shop, when
the crossroads Vulcan heats wagon tire
and shrinks it over the wooden rim. When
the blacksmith makes a mistake he swears
and begins again quite easily, but when
Uncle Sans workTnen make q mistake 1t
sets the old man back thousands of dollars
in time which to him means money.
There is q calculation in time from the
furnace to the time lust in slipping down
the white-hot shirt of Nessus and the time
it will take Tor the shrinking mass Ia eN-
actiy embrace with the eternal grip the
receiving tube. AN error In any one OF
these calculations means the relocating of
the whole mass, tube and all, to remove the
jacket and try again. This has occurred
only once and then 1t was only with one
of the hoops. II all the assumptions in
time are correct the gun has received its
Jacket and TO this succeeds the similar
processes Of putting on the hoops. The
ten hoops are of varying thlcknesses, but
when added to the jacket and diameter or
the tube bring the breech diameter up TO
fifty inches, the greatest diameter
of the gun body.
Then comes the rifling. The total length
of the bure is 454.46 inches, but the total
length of the rifling is only 31O.46 inches
The riflfng being complete the breech is
screwed in, there being nothing unusual IN
this process.
In addition to these pointers about the
great gun there are other things and es
pecialiy as to what it can do to be noted.
y, r;x nd half nr an H0D
pounds, the rifling contains fifty-two
grooves and the twist of the rifling is
from zero 10 one in twenty five, the width
of the groove is four hundred and nfteen
thousandths of an inch and the depth or
the groove is five hundredths OF an inch.
The length of the chamber is eighty and
lightweight hundredth inches, the diameter
of the chamber fifteen and half inches
The capacity of the chamber is fifteen
thousand and fifty-nine inches, the total
capacity of the bore being sixty four
thousand eight hundred and ffty-seven
cubic inches. The travel OF the proJectile
inside of the gun is three hundred and
seventy-three and fifty-eight hundredth
inches.
ENORMOUS POWDER CHARGES.
The weight of the charge for service
shot is five hundred and fifty pounds and
the weight of the projectile is one thousand
one hundred pounds. The weight OF the
proiectile is as one to one hundred and
tive nty- three, the last representing the
ratio weight of the gun. The projectiie
leaves the gun at velocity of twenty-one
hundred feet in a second. At distance
Of l 900 yards 1t is moving at the speed
of 1897 feet in a second and at 2,oOO
yards it is still moving at the terrific speed
of sos feet in q second.
Some idea of its speed may be had from
a comparison with a train moving at the
rate of sixty miles an hour, which is then
! flying over the ground fourteen feet In
I second. The big gun projectile after pass
/ inc over q mile ard a half with the loss
I of force flies through the air at velocity
/ 1913 times faster than the locomotive at It's
average greatest speed.
AT fifteen hundred yards, which is
| practically a mile, the proJectile OF this
gun will perforaie steel armor of twenty
three and forty.two hundredths inches in
| thickness.
These guns arc swung in turrets aboard
| ship, and are handled as easily as woman
| runs a sewing machine. 1t is fastened
| first on what is called the saddle, which
| describes that part of the adjustment; the
| saddle is attached to slides, and the slides
are fixed TO the girders. The whole ma
| chinery is placed in turret, which can
| be reyolved horizontally to follow the object
or TO bring 1t within range.
! Our guns have not yet been trained on any
/ foreign ship, and so far they have been only
| play things for bandboX officers and holt
| day mariners. 1t is good thing, however,
| to know what there is in store for the
| enemy when they heave in sight, and hell
breaks loose from the gaping monsters
that swing innocuously in the steel clad
| turrets of our Leviathans of the deep.