Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1898-04-13

In this--the old one was cast and the
modern one is built. The old gun was a
single piece of metal. The modern gun
is mechanism. It may be taken apart.
The old one was simple and the new one
is complex A steel tubo forged, 419
inches long, with walls inches thick
at one end, weighing Is tons, is the
basis of IL inch modern gun. With
this as a core there are put around it II
other cylinders of steel. The adjust
ments are perfect, within q thousandth
of an inch.
When this tube reaches the factory,
the car which brings 1t is run within
the building, and the first Of the big
machines which arc to handle it during
its different stages lifts it off and drops
it beside other tubes on the floor Of the
building. This operation is performed
as easily and gently by the travelling
cranes as a man might handle three
foot section of one inch lead pipe,
There are three Of these cranes at Wa
tervliet-two of so tons each and one Of
100 tons. They are simply great bridges
which span the buildings width and
run it's length on trucks not unlike car
trucks on elevated trestles, one each side
of the factory. The larger one works by
electricity.
One of the chief objects in building
up gun rather than casting it is that
it may have greater strength than an
equal amount of cast or forged steel of
the same proportions. Another advan-
tage is that by making gun i'll thin
layers the quality of the metal may be
known all the way through-a thing
impossible in thick castings.
When the tube has been measured, it
is lifted by one of the big cranes to
lathe of monster proportions, and it is
trough bored" as it is called. This
process requires several days, and when
completed the crane again comes and,
lifts it to another lathe, where the
shrinkage surface for the jacket is turn
ed. 1t is then bright, smooth shining
cylinder. The jacket is simply steel
cylinder large enough when expanded
by heat to go over the tube. 1t covers
the tube for little more than one-third
it's length from the breech.
When the tube and the jacket are
ready, the most interesting, the most
delicate and the most significant Of all
the processes comes next. This is the
operation of shrinking" The coat is
to be heated until it is large enough to
go on over the tube, and then, cooling,
the tough band of steel is to contract
with such irresistible force that the
mighty steel cylinder will be com pressed
until it's bore shrinks under the enor-
nous pressure.
In the center of the factory is the
shrinkage pit. It is an excavation so
feet deep, with an exterior opening 40
feet long and 20 feet wide. When they
began to excavate 1t at the Watervliet
factory, 1t was found that solid rock
lay underneath the building to more
than that depth. The pit is therefore
nothing but an excavation into solid
rock. No retaining walls were needed.
A furnace occupies a portion of this pit,
in which the jackets and hoops are
heated. There is at the bottom and
built upward some distance apparatus
by which one Of the monster guns may
be balanced and clamped immovable In
vertical position.
When the jacket is put On and has
cooled, the gun is lifted from the pit
and carried down the room to the lathe
The processes by which the tube was
prepared for the jacket are repeated
with the different sets of hoops. Five
times the 10 inch gun makes the jour
ney to the pit. Each time it comes out
heavier by many tons than when 1t
went in, and each time it assumes more
and more the appearance of a cannon,
losing it's harmless appearance as a cyl
inder of steel and looming up formida-
BILE, massive and threatening.