Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-12-29
WOOLWICH IN WAR TINE.
EnxIand's Military Factory Working
Under Pressure.

One of the most curious sights at Wool
wich is the making of the cartridge cases
for the Nordenfeldt and Hktchkiss guns.
The process is very similarNto that emf
ployed in he making of the cases for bus
cts described in these columns ttbe other
day, only that instead of taking little Sat
disk of metal say as big as q shilling, and
squeezing and stretching it into a bullet
case perhaps three-eighths of an inch in
diameter. and somewhere about one and a
half inches long the machines for the larg
er missiles may start with what looks to be
a circular sab Of brass three-quarters of
an inch thick and big the crown of
your hat. In much the same way as the
bullet cases are formed, these solid slabs
of metal are forced by Irresistible piston
power through a series of holes rather too
small for them.
The piston drives right into the middle of
the disk and squeezes it into the hole and
out the other side. Just as one forces his
finger into a tight-fitting love, so the pis-
tons in these successive machines drive into
the cup formed of the solid meta, and, with
more apparent ease and smoothness than
the glove stretching. the metal cup is mar
rowed and elongated until il has become
a tube closed at one end, perhaps six inches
in diameter and a foot and a half long. or
thereabout These are to be filled with
cordite: In the middle of the cordite how
ever, is little powder magazine for
pioding it, the powder itsef being first
fired by fuse. In the firing of the shrap-
mel shells this fuse is a little piece of clock
work that may be set like an alarm, to go
of after certain interval, so that the fir
ing OF every shell may be taken to involve
the throwing of q tmepiece at the enemy.
The gun-carriage shops are extremely
interesting, more particularly the making
or the wheels The actual carriages are
complicated structures of metal for the
most part, and the uninitiated stranger
h4F troll fbrI,r ,,l, tl,n
vast wilderness of machines that are drill
ing, and boring, and turning. and punching
and slottins in the HARDEST of metals as
though it were chalk or cheese. They have
a huge Circular plane in one of the shops
The thing is a ponderous crossbeam turn
ing on central pivot and covering a cir
cuiar space % feet in diameter. Over this
space the crossbeam thrusts down some
half dozen tools, each capable of planning
away the surface Of the hardest steel as
easily as carpenter will take off shavings
from deal plank. One of these tools
brought to bear on a plate of steel adjust
ed not too far from the center of the ma
chlne-Where, of course, 1t is most power
ful-will strip off a shaving an inch wide
and sixteenth of an inch thick In con-
nection with this gun-carriage work they
nave steam hammer, but nobody takes
much notice of that. 1t is puny affair
tnat might be unpleasant to get down upon
a bad corn, but compared with the big one
further on is not thought much Of The
hammer itself weighs only seven tons. and
a
That is all. What is that compared with a
hammer of hundred tons coming down
with drive of thousand tons? Yet either
of these machines will crack nut without
damaging the kernel If required.
But the making of the wheels Is the pref
ttest part OF the gun-carriage factory at
WoolWich These wheels must not only
carry heavy weight of metal, but they
may be required to go dashing across a
rough country at the heels of a team of
ho T going at the top of their speed.
n moi, Io,r-, int,
or pumping over rocks, and the giving way
Of wheel means the disabling of the guns.
Every part of every wheel therefore is the
subject OF the closest study, and though
they are made of wood for Hghtness, they
are practically unbreakable under almost
any conditions Of strain. The box in the
center or the wheel through which the axle
runs Is made of gun metal; the spokes are
OF oak. and the outer rim of ash. The cut
ting and turning of the spokes are particu-
larry pretty processes to watch. They are
copying lathe. The required form of the
spoke Is produced in iron. This iron model
Is part Of the machine, and from 1t the
wooden copy Is exactly reproduced. Every
form The fitting them into the box. the
building round the outer rim in sections,
and its swift revolution against a cutting
blade are all effected with an ease and pre-
cision and celebrity that give you almost the
Impression OF natural process.
The completion of the wheel Is the ap-
plcauon OF the tire. In the making of or
binary wheels the iron tire is put on red
hot, when. Of course, it is considerably ex-
banded. When 1t has been firmly secured
to the wood 1t is plunged into could water
ana the sudden contraction tighteus 1t up
But there is no heating of this stout steel
band. 1t Is forced on to the wheel quite
cold, and then it Is laid In q circular bed
with powerful hydraulic rams all around it,
As the water power begins to crush In
upon IT all round there is groaning and a
creaking as of some wretched body under
nroy \ T.
box, the rim is driven in upon the smokes.
and the cold steel tire is frightened round
the rim, the solid metal itself being con-
tracted and condensed. and thus losing no
less than five inches OF its circumferenca
The wheel Of gun metal, oak and ash and
steel Is thus frightened and compacted into
a whole almost without any joints what
ever, and the pressure being absolutely the
same all round. the perfectly circular form
Is secured; 1t is the very perfection of the
wheeiwrights craft, and can bc seen only