The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-03-13

drel-a long. straight shaft Gf rnktai-ss
TILTED until the casting slides of the end
and settles on The bottom OF the furnace.
There you may see it and other great
moons standing side by side. some black,
sone red. some glowing white with the
furnace heat
When the casting has reached the tenn
pef&ture for forging, the crane lowers tho
nandrsi into the furnace drops ie into
TIE hole in the casting and Tits IL until
the casting rests on il horizontally. Then
II IS lifted from the furnace swung out
ward and run DOWN the room to one OF the
great hydraulic presses. This press is
sometimes called ''huggsr" believe.
though il pats and squeezes the metal
rather than hugs H.
The presses used in the forging of gun
tubes have a pressure OF 700 10 5000 tons
There is an immense frame OF steel with
IN Il plate and above hat plunger
which works by hydraulic pressure. A
crossbar at the end of this piunger covers
the breadth or the open space between the
supporting pillars OF the press. 4 little
army Of men guides the mandrel on which
the casting hangs. Hydraulic lifts hold &c
IN position. turn IL over and move il back
ward and forward on the bedplate. As Il
moves ana turns the plunger goes up and
down. and the crosshar kneads 1t and pats
IL and Squeezes il just az you might pat
y -
piece OF dough. The great white mass
rsdiaiss heat which is not altogether I'M
grateful on a midwinter day, though am
not prepared 70 say that I should like IL
so closs 10 me even with the thermometer
at zero. In the summer the men who
guide the end of The mandrel and the man
VINO scrapes the scale from the mass with
a nat-ended poker as 10 goes through the
press must lead lives OF great suffering.
Near the furnaces in the summer months
the heat is something awful. and meh
work stripped TO their waists, bathed con-
Stantly in their own sweat
As you watch the kneading process 10.
ing ON under the press you see that the
tube - growing thinner and larger and
longer. The pressure from above expands
ii at the sides. ana as il turns around ande
around 1t IS expanded at every point unt1l,
the trained eye of the workman sees that
II is OF the right shape for the shop. Then.
it is lifted from the press, eth ON the
mandrel, and carried by one of the over.
head cranes TO furnace. where IL 10
heated until Il is of a salmon. pink. The{
right temperature is recognized by tho
color When that Is reached, the tube II
hoisted ont OF the furnace and plunged
into bubbling tank of oil. After that 10
is put into an annealing furnace. where
fire Of wood completes the process foe
tempering II. The Importance OF this
process il very great. for Ii the govern
ment inspectors. who test bars from cast
ings. find that II is below the high Rovern-
ment standard. IL is rejected. and that
means loss of several thousand dollars
TO the makers.
The forgings for the ten and twelve-inch
guns are delivered at the Watervhet ar
senal in the rough. There are eleven
forgtngs for a twelve-inch gun. They
range In weight rom the trunnlpn hoop.
which weighs 5000 pounds, to the tuba
aud iarEpf uhfCh uafch 20
pounds each. The aggregate weight OF
the eleven pieces is 900 pounds, and tho
completed gun weighs 1850 pounds,
about 10 per cent. of the rough weight
being removed in the machine shops.
The sixteen-inch gun, too, VIII be as
sembled Al Watervliet but the assembling
of the smaller guns is done here. Each
piece il turned and bored down . tho
proper dimensions on the big iath The
jacket and hoops are shrank on tho snls. !"
They are heated. and the tube. held aloft ,
bv one Of the great cranes, Is lowered
within. When the jacket. or hoop cools,
1t contracts and holds the tube In a grip
which nothing can release. BY the
shrinking or the Jass~ssst. IN the tube ands
the hoops on the Jacket Ihe. k~s0ts1 bshl IL
up" Modern guns are known as. "bhilt'
up ESns. and they have a resistance thas
WAS neSsr dreamed OK in the days OF tho
civi war; though a few built up guns
were made ~ that time 1.-THE iartrst OF
these early MADE lip guns was built OF
cast iron reinforced with wrought iron.
II weighed twelve }tons. and Its eos: was
81 800. -.
The making OF the breech mechanism 10
vp,.s' her complicated undertaking. 80 Ii
the fSs,,Alacg OF the disappearing carriage.
All these have been much simplifed In re-
cent years. however. and the gun which
once took six or seven months m building
can now be turned out ready for service
in one-third Of that time.
GEORGE GRANTIIAM Balm.
The frat Hungarian cyclanedia In six