Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-10-24
The MODERN BIG GUN
Its Making involves a Sequence
of Mechanical M'Cnde S.

of Mechanical N'cndo.ss.
HOW ARTILLERY IS BUILT UP,|
Boring the Monster Tube, Wrapping
5& OF, the Hundred Miles Of Wire and
Fitting the White Hot steel Jacket.
q, = Twelve Inch Weapon.
It takes big thought TO grasp the
aimlnensity of the famous Tyneside
hive Of industry, Elswick works, says
the Peoples Journal The area covered
by this huge concern is equal to that
of many "a fair, sized town. The EN-.
8ployees, 20, 600, are a whole population
in themselves. For full mile along
the northern bank Of the Tyne stretch
workshop on workshop. n
From the moment you put your foot
/ Inside the first dep,sA ssment you realize
YOU are In a veritable museum Of me-
chanical wonders. b 81
Here is gun being bored" your.
guide announces, and you accompany
him over to the huge lathe to see the
process and at the same time gather
some vastly interesting information as
to how artillery is built up. HIS
One of the first things done to these
ponderous weapons is the following
out Of the bore. This, as may be Inn
agined, is not the work Of an hour.
With the finest machinery In the world
1t required an average Of eighteen days
sto pierce ten yards long steel muz-
zle with a twelve inch bore, grooved
slantWise. EE5Si 81
TO see the gun tube, weighing any.
thing up to sixty tons, fixed into the.
lathe is itself most interesting. To
manipulate the larger pieces two hy-5
draulic cranes are used These cranes
work overhead and run on rollers bed
ded in the side supports. Electricity
supplies the working power. With the
huge load fixed, smo othly, almost ST.
lently, 1t is swung majesHcally into
the air and carried along in whatever
direction is required. Before you have
done specializing as to what may hap;
pen if that mighty load comes crash
Ing down on top Of you you hear the
order q owerH' and down comes the
sixty tons Of steel with the ease and
grace Of sixty pounds OF feathers. But
a. still greater marvel awaits you In
the next department to which you
are conducted. Here you learn some
thing of the process Of gun wrap
ping. The wire with. which modern
artillery is wrapped is Of the finest
steel, fiat, like the handspring Of a
clock, and full hundred miles Of 1t
are required to wrap a twelve inch gun.
The figures are somewhat surprising
wire enough to stretch In straight
line from Newcastle to Edinburgh used
on one single cannon! s3
| Wire seems a weak su distance to use
In connection with artillery. IN point
Of fact wired guns are the strongest
in existence The rified steel tube you
saw In the department just left Is ca
pable of withstanding a pressure Of
forty-fve tons; wired, the tensile re-
sistance will equal ITO tons, and pro-
jectiles may be fired from it at the
slightest fear of the gun bursting.
The wire is wrapped on to the tube
in the same way as thread is wound
round bobbin. The huge coll is fixed
| overhead, and as the powerful ma
chinery reyolyes layer after layer Is
wound round the gun taut as If cast
on and smooth and level as veneering
Think of it! One hundred miles of
steel wire, springy as quicksilver, guild.
ed automati cally by machinery, and a
strand tapping by the thousandth part
of an inchi ~ 81 ,s
Even now, however, that gun is in
quite an embryo stage. 1t has about
a dozen further processes to go through
before 1t is ready to hand over to the
government that has ordered it or
sent to the stock room. where many
hundreds of guns of all sizes and pat
terms are kept ready for immediate
sale to ANYBODY wanting them. b
You leave the turning shop and pres
emily find yourself in front of what
your guide declares to be furnaces, but
which you think would be better de-
scribed as infefnos. You are surprised
to learn that these furnaces are heated
by gas. and on inquiring the reason
you are told that3it Is for the sake Of
purity and cleanliness. The grit and
dirt from any kind Of fuel would ruin
the work done at these furnaces. And
what is that work? Putting on the
outer ia cket of the gun just q little
matter to buoy up those miles Of wire
and inches of forged steel within that
again
/ Presently there is commotion.
Something opens somewhere. There Is
| a terrific glare, and the temperature
goes sud- denly up to e. well, something
rather warm Then d crane is set in
motion, something you can family see
grips something else You don't wish to
look at-it is so suggestive OF the sun
within ten yards OF you and before
you well know what 1t all means the
lWhite hot steel Jacket is being fitted
IN fl1a crlfrs 1s, 7.fsl rsa a rad a Inn s2sf1e