The evening times., 1896-08-15
Guns WOUND NTH WIRE
They May Yet Be Used BY This
Government.
STOOD SUCCESSFUL TESTS

ssSt a<>tOAJ DcSc1OP-
ments In the Wire wound Machines
OF War May Justify Their substi-
tuition. s.ss.g
There Is a possibility that new gun
WIN be adopted for the army and navy.
notwithstanding the fact that the bui.t-up
guns have proved entirely Satisfactory, it
Is not al an certain that the development
OF wine wound guns will not one day Justify $
their substitution for this article of war
fare. Many official experiments have been
niasic with suuch guns in this co1ntry
Several years ago one invented by Dr..
w. e. Woodbridge was tried at Sandy IIeoS.
1t was q ten-incii gun, built at the govern
ment's arsenal at Watertown, Mass, and
supplied with its breech mechanism ut the
waterviiet gun factory. West Troy 1t had
"a CONTIGUOUS steel tube. ovedaid on its
rear half with cylinder OF closely fitted
steel slaves, the whole wound with timed
steel wire. to be soldered or brazed in an
oven. Forward Of the staves the wire was
wound directly upon the tube.''
1t stood rather. more than twenty rounds
successfully, and then the inner tube was
ruptured In several places. under pressure
OF SO. 600 pcunds per square inch Ihir an
other Woodbridge gun was no. fractured
until the ninety-third round, while a third
was fired successfully 161 rounds. with me-.
dum charges, yet did not secure a report
from the trial board In favor OF its adop-
tIon.
But the case for wire wound guns does
not at all rest on these trials OF the Wood
bridge. The splendid results obtained with
the Brownsegmental gun are widely known.
In that an innertube, made up of numerous
steel segments, is wound with steel wire
ut very great tension and with great
uniformity. This Congresses the segments
and allows a remarkable powder pressure
to be withstood.
As the segmcnts are small they can be
tested very thoroughly and thus good con-
struction and freedom from flaws are in
sured- 1t Is pointed out by the advocates
OF this gun that it was fired more than wo
hundred times, with pressures above 4O.-
600 pounds, after one Of its segments had
been fractured by a vastly greater charge
Of powder, and that nobody suspected dur
ing these 200 shots that the injury had oc-
cured The chief OF ordnance, Gen. Flag
ler. In his last report, says that 1.-The five
inch Brown segmental gun shows good en-
durance," and that IL most significant Of
ficial assertion.
TEN-INCH GUN TRIED.
Even here the evidence In favor OF the
possible development of American wire
wound guns does not end A weIlkno wn
ordnance officer, Capt. william Crozier.
who has been for fifteen years In the ord
nance department. several years ago de-
signed a 1O-inch wire-wound rifle,. which
was built at Watervliet. Its steel tube " as
overaid from breech to muzzle with steel
wire, wound in layers, with the coils elec-
trically welded. end to end, so that the
strand was practically continuous. 4 Jacket
cylinder covered the wire over the re-en
force. and layer of steel hoops covered it
from the trunniOn band to the muzzie.
or the present specimen of the Crozier
10-inch gun Gen. FIagler, in his last re-
port. sa VS. that lit has been fired 2 D rounds
TO date and is apparently in good nonii-
ton. The bore OF the gun has eDIargelmor
than that of the type 10-inch hooped gun,
but it is much less scored and erOtled, not
withstanding that the average pressure has
been higher than in the 0-inch hoope;i gun.
The tube of this gun was procured from the
works of lie Creusot. France. In po wer and
endurance the Crozier gun has made an ad-
mirable record."at a7'ra 1.' - 1fe
Certainly no stronger testimony need be
given to the wire-wound system. in its POS
sibiIities. Gen. FlagIer proceeded to de-
clare that. "although its testis not yet COM
pIeted. it has proceeded far enough to DEM
onstrate and prove that this wfre-wound
gun has-or. that wire wound guns made
on thispart cui arsy ystem can be made with
sufficient endurance and stability"
COST OF THE GUN
Still, he did not think that up 10 that time
the wirc-wound system had shown any
superiority OF consequence over tie built
up, hooped gun, SO that practically the qres-
itself to one of cost
AS to that point, the advocates OF wire
wound guns insist very strongly that they
cost less. Gen. Flagier. towcver, found
that the circumstances under which the
Cr0zier gun was manufactured did not fur
Dish solution OF the question. But he was
opposed to letting 1t pass as an undetcr-
mined matter, the built-up gun then re-
trieviDg its night of possession in the ex-
istipg doubt.
.'It is very important" said his report.
'that this question OF cost should be accu-
rately determined" And he did not adj
init IL as valid reason for excluding the
wire-wound gun that another system had
already the right of way.
.The power and the endurance OF this
gun,' he said, '.having been satisfactor-
lily proved, there is no objection to placing
q limited number OF this type in service.
The question of comparative cost can be
satisfactorily settled only by manufacture
ing a limited number OF these guns at the
gun factory, where the hooped guns are be-
ing made. under the same economic con-
ditioDs, and by keeping careful record Of
the cost With this very important object
In view, a provision has been inserted in the
estimates for the next fiscal year, under
the item OF steel forsiDgs, for authorizing
this department, in the exercise Of its dis
cretion, to manufacture a limited number
OF this type of wire.wouDd gun"
It would seem practicable, If the Brown
and the Crozier guns continue to show ex-
cellent endurance, to authorize the mann
facture Of a few Of them at government ex-