The herald., 1896-03-08

manufactured for the army. Ph!ladel.
phia will be protected with sixteen
guns and sixteen mortars, and Boston
with forty-three guns and 12S mortars.
San Francisco will have eighty-eight
guns, or nearly as many as New York,
and la mortars. Washington will de-
pend on thirteen guns and eight NOR
tars.
How big the building and how large
the force of men necessary to carry out
the provisions of the $S7 ,OOO,O 900 bill is
question which the ordnance officials
have not settled. The present gun fac
tory is $50 feet long and 100 wide. The
men do not work separately, 90 in most
factories, because everything is entire
ly different from the average meohani-
cal shop. Some of the tools are 1870
feet in length, and to manipulate them
many trained hands are required. A
tool of this kinda lsthe-is used for
turning gun weighing 2S0,OOO pounds.
1t is said to be the largest lathe in the
world, as it can be used on 16-inch
guns. Such a gun is 1857 feet in
length, and the length of the bore ia
$50 inches. For single charge it re-
quires 1860 pounds of powder, and
throws a projectile Weighing 237O
pounds. At short range it would PEN
citrate 1873 inches of solid eteei. and at
two miles would go through 25 inches
of solid steel. The projectile travels at
the rate Of 1875 feet second, which
shows that it would be a difficult mat
ter for warship to dodge it. no matter
at what distance she might be. The
average warship, with its ten inches of
steel armor, would be pierced like It's
sue paper by such projectile.
The most interesting feature Of the
Washington gun shop is tho shrinking
pit, located in the center of the build
ing. In that part of the building, to
the north of the pit, the very heavy
guns are made, while in what is known
as the south shop the guns Of smaller
calibre are turned out. All the ma
chinery used in the shops is as deli
cately adjusted as the works of small
watch. The variation of the one
thousandth part Of an inch might ruin
gun on which months Of labor and
thousands Of dollars had been spent.
The shrinking pit is deep brick
lined hole cut in the floor of the build
ing. There are different depths at
which men may stand on stagings con.
structed of wooden gratings, SO that
tAO mcOudulO6 uQIlAS bho PAOC0o0 Vi
the assembling of the different parts
of the guns can render assistance at
different heights.
The long steel tube, which is to be-
come the barrel of the finished gun,
10 stood upright in the pit at such
depth that the jackets and hoops may
be put on conveniently. Gold water
from circular copper tube, which is
placed around it, is continually
squirted on the tube in order to pre-.
vent any expansion, be it ever SO slight,
from the heat radiated by the furnaces
near by, and to keep it cool while the
jacket and hoops are being placed on.
At the east end of the pit is one of
the heating furnaces. In this furnace
the jacket has been kept for twenty
four hours, measured carefully from
time to time. both outside and in, in
order to assure perfect SUCCESS in the
assembling, for the inside of the jacket
can not vary in diameter the one-thou-
sandth part of an inch from the calcu-
lated width on the outside Of the tube.
When all is ready one Of the travel
ing cranes ia brought over and the top
of the furnace is lifted off. Immedi-
ately the other crane takes hold Of the