The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-07-20
NEWARK STEEL WORKS.
Government Contract for the
Manufacture Of
Projectiles.
MAKING AND TESTING ARMOR
Methods Used and Care Re
quired z Curious and In
teresting Features.

that Our forts can Withstand lombard
ment b. any foreign ships, says the New
| ark Sunday Call That is one of the
things that we like about us, but at the
same time we are constantly engaged in
| perfecting proiectile-proof armor ana
misunderstanding projectiles. and the only
point to which we seem TO be drifting IS
| one when there will be no further need OF
e~ither-no giving or taklng. except OF
words. We cannot so back to stone AR
rows or h~atchets, nor can we induce otnef
nations to abandon srnokeless powder
and Guna-dum bullets for lances and lgns
4 armor. After warfare Is perfected we
must necessarily start in upon a cam
paisn OF talk and depend upon our great
est and most persuasive talk-tacticians 10
settle international difficulties. Mean
white. however. we are making both guns
| and arInor. The first TO pierce the latter
and the latter to offer sufficient resistance
to the former.
We arc particularly interested in both
| phases of this matter. inasmueh as New
| ark is the home Of the Haryeyized armor
plate of nickel steel, bnt at the same time
this city is still more Interested in the
making or armor-piercing shells and ma
chine guns. This work is almost eXeiu-
Sively carried on by the Benjamin Atha
q Elingwofth Company in the Harrison
branch of the works, where two large ma
chine shops were lifted up for the purpose
of turning the projectiles and boring out
the guns, the shops being already eqtlppeu
for making the necessary steel forgtngs.
IN making an arIaor piercing shell the
first requisite is the making of the proper
quality Of steel, and this knowledge IS ae-
quired not only by long experience put by
| the result OF analysis in the laboratory.
The right kin OF steel having been Sc
cured, it is forged into rough form under
the steam hammer with a rough nub at
the pointed end and then passes to the
lathe. which automatically reduces 1t TO
the requisite force, leaving a point as
sharp as possible and cutting off several
inches Of superfluous metal at the base of
the shell. Near the base an undercut nat
grove is made and into this q fiat strip
of copper is swaged with a hand-hammer
and afferWard turned down to Just engage
with the grooves Of the rifling. FORWARD
of the copper strip and just where the
shell begins to taper there is a slight swell
in the body of the shell, which JuSt MS
the bore. hut does not engage with the
rifing. Each armor-piereing projectile is
bored out at the base. although the cavity
is not intended to be filled with an eX-
plosive and is Invariably closed with a
tightly fitting screw plug, which is put
in after the missile is hardened by the
tempering process, which graduates the
hardening from point to base and which
is by far the most intricate thing of all,
as the requisite is that the shell must be
hard enough to penetrate armor without
breaking up upon contact. It may break
up after getting through the plate, but
must not go to pieces on the surface. TO
prevent slipping upon contact. each one
Of these missiles is provided with a false
nose Of the form of a pill box. It is a sec
ton of round steel bar cut off and bored
out to fit the fine point OF the projeetile-
and held in place by pressing its lower
edge into a groove turned in the shell close
to the point. Nobody knows what be-
comes of these soft caps when the missile
strikes q fort, a ship or a target. They
probably melt or fly into dust after their
object has been accomplished. as no piece
of one has ever been found. On a twelve
inch shot the soft sap weighs about two
pounds. 1t is put there because under the
circumstances it acts like a piece of rub
Der. and does not slip upon what are in
tended to be protective angles on ships.
None OF the shells made at the Harrison
works is intended to be exploded from the
inside. although all have cavities and
plugs in the base. The cavities ~~exactly
conform to the shape of the outside of the
projectile, but are quite small in proper
ton to the diameter of the outside, and 1t
is said that no explosive has yet been dis
covered of sufficient strength to disrupt
tho metal.
The Benjamin Atha & Illingworth Com
pany is making armor-piercing projec-
tiles from four inches to twelve inches
in diameter. and turning them out in
finished condition. They are made under
the supervision of an officer of the navy
and are tested before and after they are
finished. The testing of the metal is an
interesting operation. After each shell
is forged two test pieces are cut from
the case. They must be large enough to
make a bolt five and one-half inches long
and three-quarters of an inch in diame-
ter. Screw threads are turned upon each
end of the bolt and the body OF it is
1h1 -
one-ffth of a square inch in area. Then
it is marked with punches and put into
the testing machine, which is construct
ed upon the principle of a scale and
Immense pulling strain is put upon it
with a series Of compound levers until 1t
breaks. The strain is automatically reg
istered upon a scale beam, and in many
instances it goes up to 100000 pounds to
the square inch, although that is far be-
yond the requirements OF the Governs
ment. Steel for gun barrels is put under
the highest test for tensile strength and
elasticity, and frequently resists up to
q. 600 pounds to a square inch. In this
test the little steel rod is reduced in di-
ameter at the breaking point nearly one
half, and stretches nearly Is per cent. be-
fore the final snap comes. The Govern
ment specifications do not rea. lire such
enough. and no gun or proJectne goes
away from any big shop without two
pieces Of its. component metal having
been taken for test and recorded. The
specifications for gun steel are far diff
ferent than for projectlle steel. but the
same attention is paid to each and after
course each gun is tested, but it would
not do to fire each shell. as the projec-
tile is practically ruined in firing, and
tests are made by taking one at hap
hazard from a lot and trying it at, an
arInor plate. When a shell goes through
the armor, no matter how hard it may
be, it is bound to be disfigured. The
point may be intact, but If the projec-
tile does not fly into pieces the sides will
be gouged out in great grooves which
show a spiral course, showing that the
great slug of steel has continued to re-
volve while passing through the plate.
The scratches are often half an inch
deep and of irregular width. They are
not impaired by the rifling in the gun,
for the metal of the projectile, all ex-
cept the copper band, is harder than that
of the gun. and the copper band alone
receives the marks of the rifle grooves.
The Atha & Hlingsworth concern has an
eight inch shell IN the office which passed
completely through a heavy Harveyized
nickeI-steel plate at the Washington
proving grounds two weeks ago. The
point of the shell is fractured for only
three-eights of an inch back. but the shell
was broken III half without losing another
fragment except that at the point. The
tempered steel missile shows deep spiral
grooves upon its sides, and no wonder,
fer it passed through a deeply corrugated
by the jatsst and most approved process,
the test or which is that the hardest set
punch or file must not make the slightest
impression upon It. The result shown by
the firing of this particular shell Is said to
have been the best ever produced, and al
the same tirnc the arflor plate was re-
sarded as being Of the very highest quail
ity p~rocurable.
No guns are completed at the works
over the river. The parts are merely
forged. roughly turned and roughly bored
for the contractors .whp supply them to
the Government. and they do not look a
bit like weapons when loaded upon the
cars at the steel works arc. They are
the barrels. jackets. tubes and breech-
pieces of semi-automatie or machine
rifles of various sizes. from one TO six