Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1897-03-18

constructed that it will measure the
thickness and tensile strength of hair.
OF the four kinds of cannon-mountain
guns, field guns, siege artillery and sea
coast deferses, the last is by far the
bulkiest, and it is to the manufacture of
these that the Watertown arsenal is
devoted. The carriage is building for
cannon which will be the largest in the
world, equal in size to the one exhibited
by Krupp at the Chicago worlds fair in
'93. It will be a breech-loader with
bore of 16 inches, the length of the bar
rel being 1867 feet. When completed
it will weigh 100000 pounds or lao tons.
The projectile will weigh 2,37o pounds,
while one round will consume LOGO
pounds of powder. At a distance of
1850 yards, about a mile and half, the
projectile will penetrate steel of the
best quality to the thickness of 29.2
inches. These figures must appear
all the more surprising when one con-
siders that the largest cannon used in
the civil war, which in its days was it,
self giant, weighed cne-sixth as much,
fired projectile of 500 pounds with so
pounds of powder, and had penetrat-
ing power of inches at shooting range.
Bulky as these instruments are, their
complished with the utmost nicely.
The slightest flaw in the bore of the
cannon may make it absolutely worth
less, while error in the setting of the
carriage would destroy its accuracy.
The barrel is made of the finest quality
of forged steel, which is put into huge
lathe and bored. Around this heated
steel bands are placed. As these grow
cold they shrink upon the inner metal
| and counterfeit its expanding force.
By this process the pieces of metal are
more firmly united than by any amount
of welding or casting. The process of
banding is continued, more bands being
wrapped around the rear end of tho
gun, where the shock of the explosion
| is greatest. Finally the metal is planned
off so as TO give the barrel its conicaI
shape; it has now been '-assem bled and
finished" All of this work is done at
Watervliet arsenal.
The manufacture of gun carriages at
Watertown is attended with much mora
/ complicated, though not more deli
| cate, problems. There is more oppor-
tunity in this direction for new inven-
tons, and new varieties OF carriages
are constantly being introduced. Two
kinds Of carriages are now in use in
our seacoast defeases - the barbette
and the disappearing carriage. With
10th OF these the great problem is to
check the terrific recoil of the gun
without dropping it abruptly. On the
barbette carriage piston attached to
the barrel moves in a hollow cylinder
| filled with oil The head of the piston
las a small opening, through which
rod runs that thickens TO the rear. AS
| the gun recoils the piston is showed
back; it presses against the oil in the
cylinder, and as the escape grows small
er is gradually brought TO standstilL
The disappearing carriage is so con-
structed that no part of the gun is
above the parapet, and no view of the
enemy, except at the moment of firing.
At the discharge the barrel drops back
ward and downward, and is then held
below by means of a pawl and ratchet.
A center weight attached raises it to
the firing position.