The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-05-25
IRON PLATE FoRr1FIcAT1oNs.
An Interesting Invention by James Ac-
 ton NTillar ,nF Nya,,, ITava,

describes at length an invention or James Acton Miller, superintendent of the National Pipe Bending Co.,, of this city. The Army and Navy Journal in part says:
 'The interest manifested in coast de- lenses will be greatly enhanced when the full scope of the possibilities of the use of iron in fort construction is fully considered, as briefly set forth below, as is claimed by the inventor, James Acton Miller, New Haven, Conn, that forts can be constructed by this means, prac- tically indestructible. and at small part of the present cost.
 Ordinary plate armor, requiring sup porting structure is not to be considered for moment on account of cost, but in defenses of the nature described below, the fort is made directly where it is to be used and with a very simple plant.
 ''One very important feature of this invention Is the fact that almost any kind of metal that can be melted may be used, as it is a well known fact that mixtures of scrap iron run in ordinary foundry practice makes a very hard casting, and this is to be desired, and 1t is thought by the inventor that only Q small part of new metal will be re- quired for casting the body walls of forts, and for that matter where great haste is required and not sufficient time to procure new material, the entire fort can be made out of old material by simply setting up plates of any thick ness that may be gotten hold of conven- iently sufficient distance apart to keep the desired thickness of the wall, and these plates can be bolted together by means of running long bolts through iron pipes cut off the proper length to hold the plates apart and the interven- ing space between the plates can be filled loosely by old wire, long pieces of scrap iron, old pipes, rails, etc., or any thing that can be secured of the wrought metal kind, then by banking UP outside of the plates above men tioned, the cast metal may be run be- tween the same, so as to form solid wall reinforced with the wrought metal before mentioned.
 This construction is not recommended by the inventor, but is simply mem tioned as showing the innumerable ways of utilizing tin scraps, old cans, hoop skirts, if they should ever come in fashion again, and, in fact, almost any
 thing of the metal kind, either fusble or not, in this manner of fort building, but it is the intention of this article to describe the regular construction of this class of forts as above referred to. It is necessary to have a proper substruc- ture, and 1t is thought better to provide foundation for the walls at a suffi- cient dep n below the ground to avoid any possibility of projectiles piercing below the iron walls, and to guard against this it might be we'll to cast a wall of iron, a few feet outside of the regular wall, with view of making it a stop for projectiles that might strike into the embankment around the fort or the ground surrounding the founda- tion, and under this head 1t is thought better to cast number of walls formed largely of this scrap material, cast so as to defect the projectile downward, and it will be seen that when the outer wall is struck by low shot, the projec- tile will be deflected downward and the force weakened; this increased as it comes through bed of sand to the next wall which increases the deflec-
 tion until it's force is spent.
 After the foundation is provided, 1t is desirable to cast a floor right where 1t is to be used, having supports of brick stone or iron work, In addition to the regular ground formation under the floor, and providing for tracks for handling the guns, ammunition, etc, inside the fort, also for pillars to sup port the overhead roof where required.
 The material recommended for use as superstructure is I channel and T
 beams, and these are cut in lengths and
 used either straight or bent, as the shape of the iron work demands, first
 having the web punched through with large holes, say three inches in diame- ter, to allow the cast metal to inter- lock when run through the framework
 of the fort, but before the superstruc- ture is put in place. all wrought parts around which metal Is to be run should
 be timed, so that the cast iron will be united with the beams in such manner as to be practically inseparable as 1t is a well-known fact that the use of tin with cast iron hardens and toughens the same by chemical action so as to make IL almost an lHlpOSSlDlllly IO uflll or break the casting.
 The constructive problems connected with this manner of fort building may at first appear very hard to solve, but the the average mechanic conversant with the different materials used will readily elucidate anything that comes up, and as to thickness of the walls, 1t would have to be left to experience or test as it is we'll known fact that the resisting strength of cast iron against puncture is very high, and also that wrought iron and steel are very hard to
 break, and by combining these two properties in the construction of a wall to resist just this class of strain, it would appear to the most casual obser- yer that this would be the ideal con- struction to meet every requirement. for
 the purpose, with the additional fact that mixtures of metal can be used that will make next thing to a steel casing,
 and it is evident that this combina tion taken with a good body or net work of wrought iron will form an impervious wall.
 As to the cost of this fort it will vary with circumstances If the location is
 such as to admit of readily procuring large quantities of scrap iron of various grades, especially the cheaper kinds, such as stove plate, grate bars, scrap tin, etc, the cost per cubic foot in the