Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-09-08
A Paris Fair Exhibit That Has Many
Visitors.
TEE LONG TOMS OF BOER FAME
Disappearing Turrets and Rapid
Fires Amaze the Crowds.
OTHER MODELS LIKE TOYS
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

mandatory from which arrived the Long
Toms " which surprised the English troops
at the very first encounter at Dundee. and
which have remained since the mainstay of
the Beers. Consequently it was not unex-
pccted to find the pavilion of the Creusot
company at the exposition well thronged
with people of all sorts and conditions whom
one could hardly have considered to be in
terested at ordinary moments in the manu-
facture of mammoth instruments of destruc-
ton. There were shopkeepers from Paris and
their wives, small boys and little girls, priests
from the provinces and Boer sympa thizers
from every country in Europe, gazing in
open-mouthed wonder at the cannon thirty
feet long, at plates of armor half yard
in thickness and ingots fifty tons in weight,
on all of which they uttered sage opinions.
The pavilion, situated on the left side
of the Seine, nearly opposite the Troca-
dero, attracts the attention from affair by
its peculiar appearances huge red paint
ed iron dome, surmounted by a smaller
dome, representing approximately the tur-
ret of a battle ship and adorned with
fantastic assortment of constructions exhib-
itng the character of the work turned out
by Creusot, while cannon of various sizes
project in the menacing and inSolent fash
ion peculiar to the species. These cannon
are doubtless dummies" but within the
building all is real. and we come at once
in contact with that peculiar atmosphere
of solidity and seriousness which one asso-
ciates with Nasmyth hammers and the
casting of steel.
One of the first objects to strike the at
tention Is an immense tube or barrel of
cannon standing thirty feet in height, show
ing the appearance of the instrument be-
fore turning and polishing. Near by is ex-
h:bited a tube of even vaster proportions,
for 1t represents the core in which the
barrel is cast. On the same floor we see
plates. intended
for the armor Of battle ships, which have
been subjected to tests by the Creusot pro-
jectiles. One of these plates played a part,
though a passive part, in series of stud
les behalf of the United States navy in
1890 The plate. ten inches in thickness.
was fired at by cannon of six inches
caliber, carrying a shot weighing hundred
weight with the average velocity OF GOD
yards a second. Two of the projectiles, be-
ing of steel hardened by what is known as
the Holzer process, went through the plate
in well-cut, smooth, round holes. but when
the projectile was of softer material 1t ac-
tually stuck in the plate and may now be
seen there so tightly lodged as to seem part
of the casting.
More Recent Trials.
Stupefying as these results seem, they
are surpassed by the exhibits representing
the trials Of later date. In 1898 the armor
plate of the Russian battle ship the
Three Saints was subjected to similar
tests. The plate, however. had no less q
thickness than 16 inches. while the caliber
of the cannon was Increased to 9ls inches.
and the weight of the pro1ectile to over
300 pounds, the velocity remaining about
GOO yards second. The plate in this case
was not perforated, the projectile having
apparently penetrated to the greater part
Of the width and then bounced out. A
number OF other plates tell the curious his
tory of the struggle between the force of
the projectile and the resistance of the
armor, in which successive discoveries or
inventions have alternately given the adj
vantage to one side and the other, until at
present the problem seems like that famous
logical one Of the encounter Of the ire
slstible force and the immovable obstacle
Railway locomotives, vast cylinders for
printing machines and other products of
the arts of peace are close by, but these de-
serve separate article. We ascend q
staircase to view the cannon themselves
notice catching the eye, we set foot
upon the first step:
DO not touch; danger of death"
This startling announcement is due to the
presence of electric currents in connection
with the magnificent exhibit of vast dyna-
mos.
An EIeyen-Yard Tube.
The largest gun shown is an immense
structure whose tube stretches no less
than eleven yards into space from the
platform which it stands. The caIiber
OF this weapon is 91a inches; 1t weighs
about twenty-five tons, and it carries its
protectile, weighing three hundredweight
to distance of nearly sixteen miles, al
though II Is not reflective beyond the
range of twelve miles. The breech of this
cannon is, of course, Of mammoth size, yet
so perfect Is the workmanship and so deli
cate the mechanism of the piece that the
breech can be opened by one man with the
aid of a kind of winch. One man can also
adjust the pointing of the cannon for TAX
ing aim. Cannon similar to this shown
ha ~
for arming the Spanish cruisers Cisneros
Catalina and Princesa de Asturias. These
guns have all the latest improvements
The charging of the breech and all the
performed by one man, either by crank
worked by hand or by electricity. The
initial velocity of the projectile is about
half mile per second.
Near by is a gun mounted In a turret
a eclipse. that Is to say, a turret that
disappears as soon the shot is fired and
reappears at the moment required to take
aim and to discharge q new proiectile
The turret Is really a kind Of steel dome
or carapace, out of which projects the barrel
or the cannon, and which fits like a piston
into the cylinder That comparison, in
immense apparatus, for the tower disap-
pears simply by being withdrawn, by a
piston action into the body Of the cylinder
IKE second turret The structure which
looks so uncompromisingly massive and
heavy Is so well adjusted that the move
ment can be effected by a man turning q
crank in the interior of the turret, or still
more easily. though less simply. by the use
OF electrical apparatus. The gun Is a quick
firer and 1t Is not difficult to imagine what
havoc might be wrought by this one un-
canny instrument sending forth Its shells
at great distance and with startling rapid
| fty. and yet offering only an occasional
glimpse of Itself to the enemy Th,
note of modern warfare as exhibited by
! the Creusot works is quick fire. To this
are added extreme facility of loading ease
| of manipulation and extreme accuracy OF
adjustment of the entire mechanism
Their Bulk and Range.
| All the guns hitherto described are
naval guns, somewhat resembling those
! monsters which Capt Scott took from his
| ship to play so prominent a part in the re-
| lief of Lady smith. The enormous range
| of these guns enabled the English to shell
the Boer positions while remaining them
| selves in complete security. Their bulk,
| however, renders their transport by land
| so difficult that altogether different designs
of carriage are necessary for the army
| artillery. The Creusot company has not
| made any special display OF It's Long
| Toms, nor even of the redoubtable Maxim
Nordenfelts. or Bomb Ma xims" as the
Beers called them which proved so deadly
/ to many storming party of the English
nd r;x