The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-03-24
.lNytNIIoRI! of TlIEIGAIlISS.GuN.

INVENTOR or HE CALLING GUN.
10 Is Now Hard ntiWorkiin Cleveland on q
More Terrible 3Wcspea Y
pt. Richard Jordan Gatlin. Che In.
y,a,or OF the famous engine d, death
which bears hjs name and Wills, torrns
a part Of tho he des.roSing equipment
OF every army aud navy 81 the world.
Il actively engaged ~ Cleveland! IN the
construction OF a uonsttrns deathsdtal-
Ing gun on newly calculated plans bas-
cd upon scientific prihclples. mechan.,
.caiiy and automatically correct
The fame OF the Calling guns III
tnown from one end OF the iworld--civ-i
T,ed and uncivillEed-toi the other.
Tbousanis upon thousands OF rebellioua
neople have fallen before its tiresbelch-
ms, lead-hurllng lnuzzlc trained BY ex.
perIcncsd hands. And yet, although In
hls cighty-iirst year, the doctor pro-
poses TO eclipse all his former achieve.
ments In tho line Of gun.making!
Although the inventor OF a murdcrous'
weapon, tho doctorSis one OF the Mild
,st.mannered. klndest disposlt!oned
mer, on earth. He IL u North Carollniani
by birth, but he has made this city his
homo for many years. nicomes by the
lille doctor honestly, being n medical
man By training and profession, butGs
A boz he took naturally to mechanics.
and thirty-Eevcn years ago conceived
he idea which resulted In the wonderful
run which bears his name. He does not
consider, however. that he has reached
Inc height OF his achievements, although
he SAYS his weapon Is hard to improve
anon, The new eight inch gun which Is
NON being constructed In this city for.
The United States government, which Is
nearly completed and soon expected to
explode itself and all other theories OF
ordinance construction, he believes will
DO the crowning glory This career.
II, would scarcely be poasiblc." no
says, ito overestlmate che Importance
Of the experiments In gun construction
that are being tried In Cleveland. = And
4, Is a fact that the ideas that are being
carried out in the construction OF this
heayy-calibred gun have never before
been put into operation In building q
large piece OF artillery. Heretofore what
Is known as the .''bullding-up,, process
OF guns has always been followed, but
In the present case the immense barrel
Is cast In one piece and mandreled. or.
bored through from end to end after
the barrel has been first cast, and then
re-heated. The process OF forging the iu-
terror will begin later, and II, Is this that
IS the most important partsof the work.
It is the interior forging that DR.. Cat
expected that General Miles will also
be here to witness the work. Exactly.
what this process consists Of Is known
only to a very few, and while Dr. Cat,
ling talked freely about all other par.
teulars OF the gun, when questioned
upon this point he remarked sisnif-,
cantly: That is something do not
care 10 discuss. I do not care to have our,
foreign contemporaries learn too much
OH that subject" 3;
1T Is the casting OF the gun that will
be most interesting to the public" con-
tnued DR.. Calling. land athat is more
remarkable when the. old style of build
ins-up construction Is understood. For
forty years big guns have been made
Of scores and scores Of pieces. First the
inner tube has been cast-a mere weak
shell. To strengthen this, section after
section OF steel has been builtup around
Il. Now, when these sections are heated
by firing they Of course expand and the
tube elongates.g have known guns to
I'm f,ro rtrr- hot, NJ toy
large enough TO allow half dollars to be
slipped In. After this the tube curves
downward and the gun Is useless. The
old style OF gun could not stand twenty
rounds in action, and / do not believe
one exists that could be fired twelve
times iniquick succession without being
rendered useless. Now, when gun
costs 100000 Kit Is pretty, expensive
shooting IL 1t can only be fired such a
limited number. of times. II believe the
new guns will toutlast the old; ones for
three or four times the number; OF dis
charges at leastaI II notlfred too rapidly,
a hundred rounds may easily be dis
charged from the mandreled gun.
Then. too, the cost is considerable
Item. I, We: can build two and perhaps
three guns on the new plan for what
one could be built for, Eand--what Is
more important in an emersency-they
can be built in a quarter; of the time.
: The old plan was unmechanical and,un-
scientific. 1t was the best that could be
done forty years ago; but way out OF
date now. When steel could only be
made In small crucibles they were oblig-
cd TO build up the guns, but nowfit Is
different. The casting is done with "a
rotary flow of metal, to give the band
q ropc-like consistency. and with the
alloys now known the scast-metal can
be made as strong az if 1t were welded.
England has given up the bullt-up gun
and Is now experimenting with a wound
wire method. The mandreliis far. ahead
OF this, however"
Il will oulysbe few days before the
DIS gun will be ready to be shipped TO
washington, where TIE rihing will be.
cone. and then It. will be ready for
mounting. When asked how he ever.
came 10 devote his mind to inventins I'M
PIGMENTS Of war, DR.. Calling laughingly
replied: y suppose you are thinking that
DO not look like murderous or de-
stfuctive individual. Well, the fact is I
am NOT. / have seldom told the history.
OIL my Inventions, hut I will say that the;
motives tiat prompted them were che;
most humane. That sounds strongly in!
consistent, does 1t not? But 1t Is none
me ies9 tue l remember the first idea
tnat ever prompted me TO invent a gun
se Wen as II i were yesterday. In 1862, !;
curing the civil war, lived in Indiana
Iolis' Almost daily watched the de-.
par.ure OF troops that had been sent
mere TO be drilled before being sent TO
me front. The many touching partings
i witnessed may well be imagined by
,nose VINO remember those awful tines
II was not alone the departIngs that L
Witnessed. for IN a little time the trains
oegan bringing back boxes. Sometimes
d aozen. sometimes twenty, a single