Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-06-19
walking back and forth before the en-

walking back and forth before the en-
trance. the Waterman standing near the
guard tower, houses built close together
on either side of the gate for officers quar-
tiers, and the long, low buildings which re-
semble store rooms, while the American
coiors float aloft from a 5O-foot f1agpoie,
and beyond some snowwhite cruiser lies
snugiy moored at the dock. Passing down
the main walk toward the water 'front.' a
long Slate-colored building Is seen, par
tally hidden by the high mound to the
right As he approaches this he seessthat
this building Is an unusually large one.
substantially constructed, with heavy
iron roof, in which there are many sky
lights Over the east door of the building
he sees the words Gun Shop" and after
passing through it finds himself in the CEN
ter of the building. and totally unprepared
for what he sees. His first impulse is to
exclaim or TO hold his breath while he tries
to grasp the enormity of the machines and
material before him. He has never seen
anything like it. To the right there are
monster guns in all stages OF construction.
massive iathes turning lazily with their
heavy burdens, giant cranes travelling back
and forth on overhead railways, while long
shafts and tremendous pulleyS reYOlye at
high speed against the west wall and hum
dreds of heavy belts turn and twist as they
transmit the power that turns many large
and wonderful machines.
The sight is an impressive one, even to
a person who is accustomed to seeing
large guns. for, while he may have seen
the largest machine shops, many times
larger than this one, containing a greater
number of machines. employing one hun
dred times more men and requiring many
times the power to run the machines, he
has never seen such large machines, such
heavy masses of steel being operated upon,
such huge travelling cranes, while guns Of
all sizes about him. In the presence OF
a 13-inch modern rifle the tendency is to
keep silent. In the presence of many such
monster guns, which shine like glass and
sra fnr Ia IA he
one is inspired with awe. The atmosphere
of the place is In keeping with the feeling
OF the stranger, for scarcely any noise is
heard. very few men are seen. and the
large and powerful machines seem to run
themselves.
The Big Travelling Crane.
The north end Of the shop is by far the
most interesting, and to this every visitor
to the works will turn. In this part of the
shop is the 11o-ton travelling crane than
which there is none more powerful in the
country; eight massive lathes and an
enormous rif1ing machine. all American
creations. One of the lathes is 100 feet
long. and is designed to make a 16-inch
gun, which is the largest and heaviest in
existence, being 30 feet long and weighing
| 11O tons. -Four others are capable of TAX
ing guns up to IA inches caliber, and differ
| from each other only in detail. In any one
| OF them the gun can be bored or turned.
| In fact, they are constructed and ar
ranged that both operations can be carried
| on at the same time. All of them carry
| tool carriages and clamps for cutting tools,
| each operating independently. The other
| three lathes are large, and are Us feet long,
but are not designed for boring, while each
| has sufficient capacity to turn the exterior
| OF the largest gun adopted by the navy
| tne 13-inch.
BY far the most interesting machine il
/ this interesting lot is the rifling machine,
| spiral
! the interior of the bore that impart to the
| projectile a rotary motion. 1t can operate
| on the heaviest gun made, while there are
| features about its construction as accurate
| as an astronomical instrument. The rifiine
head, the creation OF naval officers is q
| marvel in design and workmanship, and
| carries four cutters, each the counterpart
| of the other and operating simultaneously y.
| This was a great advance in the operation
| of rifiing big guns, for previously the
rifling head had worked on one groove at
| a time. Turning from this wonderful
| group OF machines, and the burdens, hard
| ly less interesting, which they carry, one
| sees near the center of the building the
| shrinking pits and furnaces. where the OPP
| Grafton OF heating and assembling the
| parts of a built-up gun takes place.
! In the south end of the shop there is
| greater profusion of guns and material
| than in the north shop, and 10 lathes are in
| operation. guns being bored, turned, rified,
and While they would be very interesting
| in themselves. che disparity in size between
| the guns and machines i'll this shop and
| those in the north shop impresses the Wis.,
| itor.
All guns of four inches. and up to and in
| Guiding those OF eight inches caliber, are
made here, and comprise by far the great
est number of guns used in our main bat
ieries. But these are as toys compared to
| the big 13-inch guns. for while the latter
weigh sixty tons each, the S-inch guns
weigh fifteen tons each. So it happens tina,
| the visitor will turn from this shop to the
ch it,cf hay and % he
westward.
| In this building. which is very similar In
| size and outward appearance to the gun
| Shop. every gun mount used in the navy is
| manufactured. As one enters the east door
| he finds himself in the center of a typical
! thoroughly equipped machine shop, pre-
| seuting a buster, il less interesting, scene
| than the great shop he has just quilted. In
| making his way around he will pass be-
| tween and around almost every conceivable
| shape of metal castings. bracket plates
! bronze cylinders, steel pistons and piston
| rods, large bronze, conioal-shaped stands
| and combinations OF wheels, levers, worms
| racks and pinions. These in the rough
| form, in the smooth and in all intermediate
stages. Together with the lazy little Dor
| ing machines. the small, lght-runnins
| lathes the steam drills, hammers, planners
| and all other machines and tools for light
| work. the material covers almost entirely
| the available floor space.
The Breech Mechanism shop.
| This is all very Interesting to the pro-
| fessional mind and the mechanical mind
| as they see these metals worked accura tely
| into odd shapes, but the layman will pass
on to the ''breech mechanism shop" where
] hundreds IT small guns, complete and
I ready for service, bright and beautiful
| shine and giisten like q newly polished
| nickel plate, and many larger guns, includ.
| Ing the Observation-Disclosures and reliable
eight-inch are blocked up on high wooden
| horses. In this shop all looks bright and
new. for here all breech mechanisms fol
| ail caiibers are made and fitted, except the
fitting OF the mechanisxns for the Iarresi
calibers. which b done outside. This shou
rivals In interest the north gun shop" al.
trough 1t Ia entirely different from Il n
\ every feature,
Here every machine, every tool. look,
Keen and delicate. while there everythiua
| looked grand and heavy. Breech nechan.
Ism. as the name implies. Il fitted In ~