The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1897-12-04
Practically Not a Single Piece Of Cast Stee!
In the New Gun.
REVOLUTION IN HEAVY ORDNANCE
Instend OF one Huge CASTING and n
Succession OF Jackets Shrunk
Upon II, Is simply {" Succession of
Steel Rings forced Upon Tho Gems
trnI Tube by nydruniIc Pressure.
(C,hicago T'ribline.)

Representatives of the British War
Department have been In Chicago in
the last few days inspecting the model
of Il wonderful new cannon which Is
at present locked UP In vault I'm the
New York Life building awaiting trans
portaton TO Washington, and thence
abroad
Instead of one huge casting and n
succession Of Jackets shrunk upon 1t,
the process used in making all large
cannon this gun is simply a success
sion of thin steel Rugs forced upon the
central tube by hydraulic pressure
III The gun Is a success it meacls that
big cannon IS The future will cost but
fraction of their present value, and
tina. instead OF thousands OF dollars be-
Ing expended in transportation of un-
wieldy pieces, monster cannon can here
after be carried in sections as ballast
The representatives of the British
government went away convinced that
the inventor had brought about a rev
Olution i'll the manner of making can-
non.
There is practically not a single piece
Of cast steel in the new gun The cx-
nensivc process of casting one of the
things which makes modern cannon
cost into the hundreds of thousands
OF dollars, is entirely done away with.
Not having any castings. there can be
manufacture.
The largest piece OF metal In the gun
is the central tube containing the bore
which Is nothing more than thin
steel tube. slightly conical externally,
with the large end toward the breech
On this tube thin rings OF rolled steel
the thickness Of buH.-saw are forced
pS hydraulic pressure. In one respect
the process is an exact reversal OF the
modern method OF shrinking steel
Jackets upon the central tube of big
guns
The steel In Il modern cannon, by the
expensive system Of casting in vogue
costs nearly $3.50 a pound. a big coast
defense gum. like some the United
States has been setting up along the
Atlantic. costs from 500, 900 to 5000, 900
Ihe huge Erupp gun at the Worlds
Fair cost 100000, and thousands of
dollars more to transport it.
These big cannon come so near being
one piece OF steel and the present
method of casting has so many imper-
fections. that big gun will hardly hold
together for more than fifty or one
hundred shots. Once the gun shows a
defect, no matter how slight, it is
ruined.
The new cannon is practically hides
tructhble. and the larger the gun the
safer ii can be made. The principle IN
VOWED is so simple that United States
army men and engineers who have had
chance to Inspect II have burst out
laughing. not at the gun. but because
no one ever thought of it before.
The steel rings of which the new
gun is composed make heating an i'm
possibility. As long as the tube holds
together the rims will take up the heat.
which will lose itself between the rings.
The stra!1l will be transmitted from
the tube to the rings, protecting the
former and rendering the tube practi-
cally indestructible as long as the
riflng holds out. -Four steel rods par
allel to the bore of the gun reinforce
the rings.
The gun will be of especial advantage
when ii comes to overland transporta-
ton. The simplest or hydraulic pres
sure which could be carried oa the
back OF mule would put twenty
ton gun together, and n pack train
OF dozen mules could carry q cannon
large enough to destroy n modern bat
1 tleship y gun as large and powerful
rs the Krupp cannon exhibited at the
Wo:ld's Fair could be carried on two
canal boats
The gun has already been inspect ed
by the superintendent OF the United
States Ordnance Department. and pre-
parations are being made to construct
Il idrSe gun al the United states navy
yard in Washington under Col. Blood r
direction An English firm is already
constructing several of the guns for
tests abroad
The model now at the New York Life
building was constructed under the a.
rectiOn of Duane Doty, chief engineer
of the Pullman Company. c. G.. Chaplin
is financing the new gun. The strange
thing about the invention is that col"
Blood is only an honorary title. and
that the Inventor has but recently
turned his attention to modern ord
nance.