The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1901-01-12

The process Of manufacturing gun
metal sEed making it into gum barrels
Tor shetguns may be classea as one of
the fine arts. The past fifteen years
has witnessed great changes and
marked improvements i'm lit. At one
time gunmakers depended entirely for
their material upon the supply OF
scrap, Of fine iron and mild steel, such
Es hOrseshoes, nails, old coach springs,
clippings of saws, steel pens and
scraps, great and small, OF all kinds.
The pieces We're carefully sorted and
placed in a cylinder which, revolving,
slowly polished cleaned them by
attrition one against the other. They
were then cut into small pieces of uni
form size and placed in "a furnace until
Rt s.. white heat or state of fusion.
Then they were gathered together in a
bloom. after which they Were welded
Into rough cube Of iron.
This cube was rolled into bars and
the bars cut into the lengths required,
bundled together and again brought to
welding heat. They were; then ham,
mered into rods five-sixteenths OF an
inch square, or smaller or larger, as
required by the barrel weller for the
work in hand. AT one time fine la
mascus barrels We're made almost en-
tirely from old coach springs. 1T was
found that this metal would make very
strong arf fine barrels, with great
freedom from "greys," or the specks
that disfigure barrels, but do not inn
pair their strength. 1t was thought
that the peculiar wear to which the
fine metal in the coach springs was
subjected had a tendency peculiarly to
fit it for gun barrel material. ~
LAS the years rolled on the demand
for coach springs exceeded the supply,
until at last gun barrel metal was
made from a mixture of pig metal OF
the very best ores, and to-day barrels
in twist, Damascus, Illuminated and
plain steel are produced amply strong
for all the uses for which the shotgun
is intended. Inferior metal scraps OF
all kinds are used in making the bar
rels Of the very cheap guns. Fine gun
barrels must be made up from the
very best Of material, and the most
expensive steel and iron that can be
produced is incorporated in the best
barrels, be they twist, Damascus or
aminated work. -
The pig iron first is placed in a fur
mace and reduced to a fluid state. This
operation cleanses is from all dross. It
Is then permitted to cool. While the
temperature is going down it is gath
cred and worked into blooms. 1t then
goes to the steam hammer, under which
1t assumes the shape Of square blocks.
1t then passes through various rolls
unit. bars of the proper diameter and
length are obtained. The hananering
has condensed the metal and elininat-
ed many Of the impurities. The roll
ing has augmented it's tenacity and
ductility, elongating and ramifying
The 'fibers. The mild steel to be used
In connection with the fine iron is pre-
pared in a similar manner and is made
from the best Swedish pig iron and be-
comes extremely tenacious and elastic
under the repeated heating, hammer
Ing and rolling. In these operations or
preparing and refining the steel and
iron, says the New York Sun, there is
a constant loss of metal. The loss in
pudding is about 10 per cent, and in
rolling IL per cent.
The bars being now ready, are cut
into equal lengths, bundled together,
put into the furnace, heated and weld
ed and elongated by rolling into rods
This process of heating, rolling and
hammering is gone through with from
five to seven times in the operation Of
making good and first quality gun bar
rels. The quantity of mild steel used
In good Damascus is about 60 per cent.
and of fine iron 40 per cent. The per-
centage having been determined on,
of oIl> fol Eve io1,f nf
inch square are bundled together, steel
and iron rods being sandwiched: The
bundle is then brought to a white heat
and the successive layers Of iron and
steel welded together and rolled into a
rod The rod is again heated and
placed in a machine for the purpose
and twisted into rope fo rm until it has
from ten to fifteen turns to the inch.
If fine figure is desired, from four to
six rods of iron and steel are used and
bundled together, and by twisting
down, produces fine damascene work.
This severe. twisting has shortened
the rod to the desired length and in
creased it's thickness 40 or so per cent.
Two of these rods are now placed side
by side with the twistings running III
opposite directions, reheated and weld
ed into one and rolled into a fiat rod
or ribbon of, say half an inch by sew
en-sixteenths Of an inch for the breech
ends OF the barrels and half an inch
by, .three-sixteenths for the nluzzle
ends. The barrels or tubes are made
an two parts, and in the operation OF
welding, called jumping. they are
brought together, in the middle. These
rods are again heated and twisted In
the form OF a spiral tube; this tube is
brought to a white heat, and, glowing
under the master hand is, by a quick
and deft movement, jumped on the an
vii and the open coils welded together.
The tubes are Immediately placed on a
5rooved rest and hammered lightly to
round them UP.
y The muzzfe and breech ends Of the
barrels l,aveing been thus welded sep
arately the next operation Is to join
them together. This Is a very neat
and artistic piece Of work, but It is
quickly and perfectly performed. On
flrst-grade barrels it would require the
inspection of an expert to detect the
jointure, the whole tube from breech
to mnzzle presenting the appearance
OF being made from one coiling of rods
hS uo " asaS wv SofAo a. 2 sAASslleu
and brought together, there is light
tap on the anvil and the welding is
completed. 81
In all the operations of heating.
hammeTfngs twisting, and rolling, the.
metal has been in the fire from seven
to ten times, and under each nanipu-
1ation has grown purer, stronger, with
increased density and ductiIity, result
ing in an exceedingly tough and won
derfully homogeneous product. The
tensile strength of good gun metal is