The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-16
HOW UNCLE SAM
TESTS THE
WIRE WOUND GUNS


will be added as a standard weapon
to our army and navy service
The wire wound gun problem is a
good many years old. Every one at all
| interested in ordance matters has heard
OF the Brown segmental wire wound
gun, yet there are probably very few
people who could tell what a wire
wound gun really is, or where the seq
mental part of it comes in, or whether
the arm is intended for the infantry
or for seacoast defense. The war de-
partment is not saying very much
ABOUT the matter just now, but it really
Will be a more momentous decision
than is generally understood If does
not involve any revolutionary change
In the system of armament but if the
gun Is adopted. either the Brown gun
or some other, it will mean adding a
weapon to the American offensive and
defensive power that unouestionably
VIII be on plane with the latest de-
Velopments abroad.
wire guns have for some time been
standard arm of the British army
ana navy. If the testing board at Sandy
HOOK decides In favor of adopting 1t In
the United States service, we will have
something at least as good as ANYTHING
In use abroad. If the board does not
decide favorably 1t will mean simply
tnat the new wire gun is no essential
Improvement over the jacketed gun
now In use in the service. Whichever
way the decision goes, however. we ara
having a competitive test of the wire
guns now. and the war department. as
a result, may get a thoroughly modern
| weapon, the invention of one of its own
officers, rather than have to rely on a
private company for furnishing it with
patented article.
&c
name implies, gun that is built up OF
WIRE In sections around comparative-
| ly thin inner tube. In that most wire
| guns are all alike, and there is nothing.
| In their outside appearance to distin-
| guish them for the layman from the
ordinary jacketed gun of the service.
| But there is a good deal in the gun
that does not appear to the eye. In the
nrSt place they are cheaper to make.
They can be built of less expensive ma
terlais, and they are lighter after they
are made. 1t has been claimed that
they are enough lighter to allow one
additional six inch gun in the battery
OF hrst class cruiser or battleship. but
this the war department says is not So
However, they are enough lighter to
make some difference in the handling
or the gun on shipboard.
The first essential of the wire gun ia
an inner tube of fine steel for the bore
ana powder chamber, but as this is to
De reinforced on the outside. it can be
made much lighter than the inner tube
OF a solid steel gun. Then comes the
winding with wire. For there is a spe-
clal winding lathe. Square wire, one
tenth or an inch in size, is used, timed
TO prevent rusting. The wire has q
tensile strength Of 175,0O0 pounds to
the square inch. 1t is wound upon the in-
ner tube at a tension of 935 pounds, but
this tension varies increasingly from
Iln inn 1.sI-
mas 10 be almost a thinking mechan-
ism, and has to be delicately adjusted
and carefully handled to produce Just
the desired results.
Now, the advantage claimed for the
wire gun is that it will stand a heavier
bursting charge than a solid steel gun.
The wire is so wound that it takes up
the strain of the discharge just when
and where it is most needed, and the
wire envelope recovers from the shock
better than does the solid steel Jacket,
SO that the life Of the gun is practically
limited only by the wearing out of the
rlf1ing after repeated discharges. When
the rifiing is worn the comparatively
inexpensive inner tube can be replaced
at less expense than would be the case
In boring out one of the big built up
steel guns
AS has been said, the wire gun pro-
blem has been before the war depart
number of tests of the Brown gun.
Without entering into any controversy
on the respective merits of the Brown
and Crozier guns, one may refer to
the course that the experiments have
run up to date. The Brown gun has
been tested before by the department,
and appropriations have been made at
various times to carry forward the
work. Gen. CroZier, now chief of ord
nance, designed the gun which bears
his name while he was captain in the
ordnance office. 1t was ready for
manufacture about the same time the
Brown gun finished its first test. But
the gun was never built, and when
Gen. CroZier was promoted and be-
came chief of ordnance it did not seem
good taste to him that he should take
up his own invention and push it while
he was the head of the department
that would have to test it.
However, when the last appropriation
was made for building and testing a
six inch Brown gun, he called the at
tention of the secretary of war to the
fact that the department had a gun
of its own which might as well be test
ed in competition with the Brown gun.
At the same time he requested to be
relieved of duty with the board of ord
nance and Notifications that would
have to pass on the wire gun. So the
testing has been turned over to the
chief of artillery of the army, Gen. ].
p. Story, under whom the final decision
will be rendered.
The department and the Brown COM
pany are not particularly keen on CIV
ing out the exact cost of making their
respective guns. But it may be said
that there was an appropriation OF
SAL, 900 made for the construction and
purchase of ammunition for the six
inch Brown gun. When the cost of the
ammunition for the two tests is de-
Quoted, 1t figures out about 900 for
the construction of the Brown gun, and
$1,000 for the Crozier gun. But to be
fair, it should be said that the war de-
partment gun was made in the govern
ment works. The principal difference
in the two types is IN the segmental
inner tube Of the Brown gun. which is
built up out of steel slaves more or
less like the making of a long narrow
barrel. The muZzle energy of each gun
when it is completed will be about
1860 foot tons. The Crozier gun, like
the Brown gun, has been patented, but
the patent has been thrown open to the
government and TO the public, so that
the chief OF ordnance has no pecuniary
interest in the result of the test,
though he is naturally holding aloof
from any supervision over it.
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