The Washington times., 1902-08-02

personally concerned, it is now possible
TO announce that another and most graf
flying step toward perfection in modern
war devices has apparently been taken
through the efforts of an American Of
fiCer.
The Krupp process Of hardening the
face Of ship armor. regarded generally
as giving the greatest resisting power
10 the protection plates Of armored yes
sells. has been outstripped in effective
ness, il is believed. by another process
of American invention that may over
come the wonderf | penetration ability
secured by the soft-nose armor-piercing
shell packed with the high explosive
known as Explosive D." and fitted with
the delay-action fuse.
To appreciate what the possession of
a better mountaineering process than
the Krupp means TO the United States
in the warfare of the future, it is neces
sary TO recall the accomplishments of
the army ordnance department.
Krupp Armor Outclassed.
The Times. on Wednesday, told that
actual tests had demonstrated that the
ordnance department has succeeded In
securing a fuse which did not detonate
the charge in the projectile until the
limit of armor penetration had been
reached. and that shells containing the
army high explosive, regarded as the
most powerful in the world, had been
shown to be able to penetrate fourteen
inches of armor face-hardened by the
Krupp method.
AS the thickest krupp armor on any
battleship in the navy, built or project
ed, is, or is to be, only twelve inches,
the absolute necessity of securing some
better protection was obvious, particu
larly in view of the acknowledgment of
the Chief of the Naval Bureau of Ord
nance that the limit of armor weight on
battleships had been reached.
To increase the thickness of the ar
NOR beyond twelve inches would be, he
said, to reduce the general efficiency of
a warship to such an extent that il
would be foolish to make the change.
and ii was therefore necessary to meet
the problem presented by the wonderful
success of the army by increasing. Ii
possible. the effective resistance of ar
NOR beyond that given by the Krupp
hardening process.
At the time this was said IT was not
known outside OF a very limited number
OF ordnance experts that a hardening
process regarded as superior TO the
Krupp method had been practically per-
fected after much careful study and ex-
pertinent.
Its discoverer OF inventor is Lieut..
Cleland Davis. of the navy-an accom-
pIished and brilliant officer who has de.
I'D -
now attached to the Naval Bureau of
Ordnance. Just what he has done may
be better understood by the layman from
a brief statement of the methods en-
ployed by other processes to make ar
NOR better adapted to Withstand the fire
OF heavy artillery.
Advances in the Process.
Modern warships we're first protected
by plain steel, and later by nickel
steel Then the Harvey process worked
a great improvement.
The armor plate in this process was
covered with a compound OF animal
charcoal and scraps composed Of
parings from horses hoofs, leather
horns. and other animal carbonaceous
matter. to a thickness dependent upon
the ueDtH oil uaTQGDtu lace TtlllTEu
This plate, so covered. was placed in
a furnace and kept at red heat for a
period averaging two weeks. by which
time the carbon from the animal mat
ter soaked into the surface of the steel
increasing it's carbon and face harden
ing u.
This method was expensive and te
dious. To carry it out a large plant
was required. as the furnaces were
useless for the entire period Of the
hardening work.
The Krupp process followed and
worked revolution The. method en-
ployed by the great German gunmaker
consisted in using a highly carbonated
gas. directed by many gas jets upon the
face 10 be harder ed. At a red heat
the plate absorbed the excess carbon
from the gas just as It absorbed the
animal charcoal in the Haryeyed plate.
and with greater uniformity and econ
omy Of treatment.
Armor treated by the Krupp process
was adopted as the standard in the
United States Navy.
Harder Face Needed
Since the record breaking work of the
army 12-inch cosst defense gun. at
Sandy Hook last November, when a plate
treated by the Krupp process was entire
ly penetrated. the best minds in the
Navy Ordnance Bureau have been deyot-
ing themselves to the further develop
ment of the armor plate as opposed Dy
the modern rife.
Lieutenant Davis was member OF the
board which witnessed these tests and
since then, like his associates in orl-
nance work. he has been endeayoring to
apply his great knowledge OF face hard
ening processes 10 securing an improve
ment on the Rrupp method. He attacked
the problem in a normal way and in a
manner that has probably solved it.
HIS plan contemplated the use ri
heavy currents OF electricity. directed
upon the armor plate while in 4 heated
condition by large carbon ancdes. simi-
lar to the candle OF an arc Hight. hut
many times greater In size.
Lieutenant Davis, in his experiments.
discovered that a current of electricity
sent through such a carbon across an arc
and into the surface OF a plate carried
with il bodily portion OF the carbon
OF the anode ana transferred il into the
body OF the metal. The spot so treated
became intensely hard-harder, it Is
claimed, than any other face hardening
process can yield. And the depth OF the