Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1898-06-16
Our New rhirteen-inch Guns.

| TIE higl power rife Of today is the
crowning feature Of the modern float
| ing fOrt-a battleehip. Although the
| old gun founders cast beautiful cannon
of artistic design which modern ordi
nance cannot approach for beauty, still
the modern gun, though exceedingly
plain, is a work of the highest mechani-
cal order Although many foreign gun
! makers have discarded the hoop gun,
| we still continue to make them, and our
| guns are inferior 10 none. The distin
| gushing feature of our American rifles
is their great life, ard one Of the 10
inch guns on the 'Miantonomah has
| heen fired over hundred times 1T the
| Indian Head proving grounds, and
many more times after being placed on
tae ship. 1t is believed that the war
with Spain will give data which may
determine the average life of our 12-Gnd
13-inch guns, but il is not expected that
the war will last long enough to put
any of our guns out of action on ac-
count of weakness caused by repeated
firing Ont Of all of the guns made at
oar Washington gun factory, not one
has ever burst in service while abroad
gun accidents under service conditions
are Of not infrequent occurrence
The navy of the United States has p
| l3-inch guns The battleships "Indi-
l .ts1 81 49,
| have already been furnished with them
| and the Kearsarge, Kentucky, Al
| ALBANIA, and wisconsin will each
have four mounted in their two tuTets
| The gun is built of three parts tube
| Jacket and hoops The bore of the gun
| Is formed of tube which is OF uniform
| diameter throughout. except where the
| powder chamber cuts it away. The
| gun is built mp around this tube by
| shrinking on bands which, while really
smaller than the tube itself, are expand
! ed by heat and then shrunk on, prOduc-
ing great compression care is of course
taken to prevent the tube from being
| compressed beyond its elastic limit
What is termed the Jacket is another
approximately cylindrical tube which
1 is more than one-half a. long as the
| gun This reinforces the tube where it
Is cut away for the powder chamber
and also gives the necessary support for
! anchoring the breech mechanism. The
gun is further strengthened by addition
al pieces called hoops, also shrunk on
| Even the jacket, in turn, is reinforced
| by hoops or bands, which are interlOck-
| ed in an ingenious manner The gun
| forgings are made from open hearth
| steel, cast ingots, each being about
twice as heavy as the finished piece
| The ingot is forged down, rough bored
and turned nearly the finished dimen-
sion, and test specimens are taken from
one or both ends after the forging has
been annealed, oil tempered and again
| annealed If satisfactory, the ingots
are then accepted by the government.
| The pieces are then sent to the gunehop,
at Washington. The gunshop work is
| principally turning and boring. The
| work has TO be done with the utmost
| accuracy; for shrinkage it is done TO
| 1000 of an inch. The tubes are Dor.
ed as well as the jacket, and the hoops
are also accurately turned inside AT
ter the tube is finished, the jacket is
sbrunk on by heating in a furnace for
| ty feet deep to a temperature of about
| $50 deg. Fab. Twenty or thirty hours
! may be needed to bring it to the uni
| form temperature The Jacket is then
lifted out of the furnace by the crane
and is lowered over the tube, and If the
| jacket is properly heated il goes smooth
ly to its seat and the embryo gun is al
| lowed to cool Then the fore part of
the tube is turned for the chase hoops,
which are then put successively IN
place; then the jacket hoops are shrunk
| on III the same general way The next
operation gis to finish boring the gun,
and then the rear of the gun Is bored
! out to an increased diameter TO form a
chamber for the powder. This is con
nected with the main bore by a coEical
| portion OF the bore, termed a Compres-
sion slope Back of the powder cham
Der is a short box of still larger diane
ter, termed the screw box, which has
screw thread cut on its inner surface.
Then sections Of this screw thread are
slotted out, forming the interrupted
screw for the breech plug The eXter
ior of the gun Is now finished tu ned
and the bore is rifled The gun is then
ready to receive its breech mechanism
The l3-inch has new arrangement OF
the breech mechanism, which is super
iol to the one formerly used. which re
quired thee distinct operations: l. turn
] ing the breech plug ,, Withdrawing the
breech plug 3, swinging the breech
plugand tray away from the brreech.
On the shaft below the worn wheel, Is
a wheel which first acts as gear wheel
on a rack fastened to the breech plug.
| TO slid the breech plug into the screw
box when the breech of the gun is to be
! closed, an then acts as worn wheel on
a worn rack at the end of the gear rack
! and at right angles to it, thus turning
the breech plug and locking it III place
! by means of the interrupted screw
! The usual gas check and firing mechan-
SIN common to all large rifles is used in
This gun.
/ The gun is mounted in sleeve, key
or bar is secured to the gun and fits "A
( grove in the sleeves, which permits the
gun to slide longitudinally. The recoil
| is taken up by four recoil cylinders
: They are mounted in collars, the lower
portion forming an integral part of the
sleeve. The piston rods are attached TO
4