The age-herald., 1899-12-09
ARMOR PLATE
 BEFORE THIS CONGRESS
From the Washington Tlmes.

Fifty-ffth congress to the Fifty-sixth, is that of armor plate. In tine closing hours of the last congress an act was passed fixing the price at $500 ton. No factory in the country will agree to furnish armor for the newly authroized warships at that figure; hence, the secretary of the navy has been compelled to suspend all efforts towards getting these ships under con sstruction.
 For the armor on the battleships Maine Ohio and Missouri, authorized in 1S97 he is permitted to pay s40O, but he is unwilling to do this as long as s4oO will not buy the best armor in the market: hence the work on these also has been delayed. On a pro- posal for a government armor plant, commmittee of congress made last year an exhaustive report, but nothing more has been done in the matter.
 All our warships have been fitted with the Harvey armor, which costs the gov ernment $iOO per ton, with an agreement to add $l1.2O ton if necessary, so that the price is always said to be $411.2O a. ton A group of senators led by Chandler of New Hampshire and Tflman of South Carolina objected to this price because they claimed
 
 less. But new factor, the Krupp armor. has come into the argument. When the ordnance bureau officers began to fear that Qhey were to have the price of armor re- duced to 800, they called to the minds of me senators the fact that all the great naVies or Europe were equipping with krupp armor, which was, they said, much better than the Harvey, and the price of which was so45 a ton.
 The ordnance officers replied that they had recited all these facts when congress convened in December, but that their state- ment had been pigeonholed and ignored. Ine navy department now relies upon con- Sress to enact a law which will enable the department to go into the market and buy The pest armor at the regular commercial prices.
 Armor-clad ships in the American navy are comparatively new thing Ten years ago there were no armored warships made or authorized by this government A New ark iron-maker. H. A. Harvey invented the hrst armor plate used extensively in this country. He made it by putting the plate into forge-furnace and burning carbon into it. Admiral O'Neill, chief of ordnance, IS fond of telling how the first plate which Harvey made for the navy department was tested. Before this test MT Harvey had submitted to the ordnance bureau a very small plate, perhaps two feet square, It was found strong enough to resist small projecties, and Harvey was encouraged to make larger plate in order to allow the department full test This plate was made under the supervision of the ordnance bureau.
 All was in readiness for taking the plate out of the forge-furnace for the cooling process, but when the effort to remove the plate began it was found that it had been burned fast to the furnace, and it took several teams, working for five hours, to remove it. The water was then poured on it for cooling. The long time required to remove the plate from the forge and it's consequently cool condition, and the fact that the water was poured upon one side only caused the plate to curl up, to the amazement and dismay of Harvey and the ordnance officers. Soon afterward it began to uncurl and kept on until it had curled in the other direction. All the officers present ready to vote it a great fail ure, but they agreed to test it in its curled- up condition The test showed the plate to have wonderful resisting power.
 Later a new method of treatment was found by which the plate could be quickly removed from the furnace, and water was poured upon it from both sides at the same time. reventing any warpipg. The per fected plate was still further tested, and finally adopted by the government. It Is made by only two concerns in this coun- try.
 Krupp the German cannon-maker, few years ago invented a process by which very strong armor has been made. The process in its details is secret, but it is known to consist of placing two plates near together, face downward. with gas-pipes. between them; the carbon, instead of being burned into the plates, as in the Harvey process, is forced into them by means of the gas from these pipes. The warship which con- veyed the Kaiser to England last week was a fine example of the new armors work. The rights to the Krupp armor are in the hands of the Harvey Continental eom- pany, with headquarters in Paris It is supposed that si5 of the s545, the price of the armor, is the amount of the company's commission. Of course, this company does not control the manufacture of the armor in Germany, and it is thought that the German government, with which Krupp is on terms of confidence, secures the armor at a lower price than any other governs ment.
 The right to make the Krupp armor in the United States is in the hands of the Carnegie and Bethlehem companies, the same that make the Harvey armor. At Cramps shipyard in Philadelphia two great battleships are building side by side, one Far for the United States. The Russion ship Is to be fitted with the Krupp armor, while the American is to wear the Harvey