New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-10-21
By Frank w. Getty

some one with more than superf1cial
/ knowledge of Inferno interiors to de-
scribe adequately the kissing, bubbling
beds of molten metal. the huge, roar
| ing, fiery furnaces and the terrific
grinding crashes which accompany the
process of turning out big guns.
II takes year to turn out one big
gun for the British navy, but the won
der Of it is that they ever get one
/ finished at all. You can build a bat
tleship or a skyscraper or subway
| in about the same time it takes TO
/ turn ingots of raw iron into one Of the
big 16-irch guns which grace the tur-
+ rets of a modern dreadnought.
you're just in time TO see them tap
a furnace said an official.
This is the first process in the man
ufacture of naval gun. For days
the molten steel has been splashing
and bubbling in a huge brick furnace,
/ constantly fed chunks Of raw iron by
/ its grimy, sweating keepers.
/ Provided with heavy blue goggles
and protected from the terrific heat
| by n metal barrier. we watched a be-
1 trousered munitionette. electric loren
1 in hand, approach the. rear of the great
! furnace. which is about forty feet IN
diameter. A runway had been put IN
place to receive its contents, and
| down below (for the furnaces are all
/ built on the second story of the build
| ing) huge bucket, sixty feet deep,
awaited its fiery food.
Furnace Pours 1928 Tons
The electric torch did its work quick
, ly. In less than minute, with roar
1 that gradually increased in crescendo
until II became a whine, the furnace
shot forth its flaming contents through
an Overwhelming breach. A veritaoie
! Niagara Of white-hot steel poured down
/ into the bucket, until 1875 tons OF seetn-
ing metal had made the trip ana was
wheeled away to be cooled.
The Cathedral" as the workmen
have STYLED it, staged the next step.
In this huge structure, more than 100
4 feet high. the great, solid mass OF
cooled steel was lifted from its bucket
by crane capable Of lifting $50 tons
and treated TO an oil bath in cylinder
/ sunk ninety feet in the ground.
Boring out the barrel Of one of these
engines of destruction is perhaps the
most awc-inspiring process OF the
whole lot. After its oil bath the huge
ingot is again thrust into a furnace
and subjected TO a most terrific heat
for many days. Then it is rolled out
o. the furnace and swung into position
as lightly and easily as a child would
handle a feather. Huge pincers, d.
rected by swarthy men and girls VINO
seem like mere pygmies beside theil
giant victim. lift the great white-ho'
cylinder onto rollers and force It onto
the whirling auger, which shrieks and
whines as It cuts its way through the
mass.
Then the giant is rolled and bathed
and pounded for weeks and months
subjected constantly TO the whitening
blasts of furnaces and the tripham-
mer blows of giant presses.
Uses $50 Miles of Wire
All the big naval guns are built in
three major sections. There are the
barrel and the jacket, which Is cast
separately. ard a layer Of wire be-
tween. This middle coat is TO provide
greater resistance against the gases
which form in the barrel Of the gun
when the shell is fired. There are
of the big guns Of the Queen Eliza
beth type, similar TO those that are
used on modern United States dread
noughts. This great length of copper
is put on with the most painstakng
care, and is in itself process requir-
ing more than a month. The wire
which is really one long ribbon, is
about d quarter Of an inch wide, SO
a little elementary mathematics shows
US that about 1000 square feet OF
copper 20 TO make a waistcoat for onC
of these gentlemen.
After its parts are assembled the
big gun is groomcd and polished anC
filed and rfed until it becomes 4
thing Of wonder and beauty. which car
send shells weighing more than tor
tearing Boulevard twenty miles.
All these different processes are &C
companied by a Babel of shrieks
whistles and groans. No two machines
sound in the same key, and each sec
tion Of the fifteen-acre factory seems
hotter than the last. The roar is no
quite deafening but IT stays in the
eardrums 8 long time after one comes
out into the open air.
The most brilliant display Of fire
works is when the huge ingots of allo.
steel are rolled out for shell-proo
armOr plating. We watched this proc
ess from a distance of more than on
hundred feet, yet the heat was so ter
rife that the sweat poured down gu
faces and our collars melted.
Getting 1t Into Shape
A trapdoor of one of the furnace
lifted and munitions workers, appar
emily obliyious TO the blast, reached IL
great block Of fiery steel. a little iro
carriage received it and, running
quickly across the room, slid il OF
on to great iron rollers. Each time
came out on one end, little thinne
than before it went through, workeF
heaped great piles of brush on top 0
it, which cracked and roared as the
caught fire and were crushed betwee
the rollers. Showers Of sparks file
the air and clouds of steam arose fror
the reserve piles, on which hose wa
constantly played. The brushwood !
used as part of q process known a
"annealing," which scrapes the QUITE
surface Of the armor plate and pre-
vents a tendency to flake OF.
One would have 10 spend about
month 10 be able TO describe adequatel
eveI fraction of the tremendou
work that is going on in this, typica
English munitions factory. The higl
spots, however. that stick in one
memory, after short visit is over ant
the roar is out of ones ears and tn
! white-hot glare gone from before tn
eyes, are the munitions girls and tn
bird they call the ostrich.
Ostrich a Weird Bird
This last is "a most marvellous crea
b ton. II does everything an ostrici
can do except hide its head IN th'
sand. Il runs along on little mar
d, row-gauge track, operated By mum
tinnnite who sits nerched mn WHOM