Evening star., 1926-10-17

consists Of four complete furnaces.
Each furnace Is made Of sections
which resemble the wooden forms
used in building concrete silo. These
circular sections range from "a to 66
inches in height. Each furnace can
be built up to suit any size Of naval
gun. The furnace. when not In use.
Ia really a monster insulated cylinder
which incases the naval gun. Tne
electrified heat is distributed through
out the furnace by means Of coils at.
tached to the inside walls. They
are controlled so that uniform temper
atures throughout the furnace can be
developed There are two heat-regis-
tering devices in each section Of the
furnace, so that during the treatment
of any gun observers can keep tab
on the temperatures in all parts Of
the massive electrical cover during
the process. This is the largest type
electric furnace ever built. If all the
equipment were operated simultane-
ously. power enough to illuminate a
city of 100000 inhabitants would be
consumed.
We stood by and watched with in.
terest as painstakingly a rified liner
was swung into place by the electric
crane and then lowered into a gun
furnace for one day and night. With
marvellous mechanical dexterity the
steel liner was lowered into its hot
steel jacket. A large hydraulic Jack
was locked into place over the mouth
or the gun to hold the liner in place
during the shrinkage process. This
business of removing old liners and
providing new ones is a work which
Involves remarkable mathematical ac-
curacy. The fit is so snug that mi
mute fractions of measurements as
small as one or two one-thousahdths
of an inch are dealt with The er-
rors Of tolerance in this repair work
are SO minute as to appear trifling
to the most of us. Unless this Won
derful accuracy. however. is satisfied.
gun liners worth anywhere from SIS.
600 to $25 900 may be ruined
No body of gun makers. machinists
and their helpers can be found which
| surpasses in skill, experience, capa-
bil1ty and initiative this group of 125
Federal experts who sign Uncle Sans
pay rolls. Many of them have served
under four to six different Presidents.
They have written ordnance history.
Their daily labors have aided gun
making in its never-ending forward
march. The clank of steel on steel,
the screeching of compressed air and
the metallic murmurs of mighty ma
chimes are their treasured anthems
of industry.
THE navy yard gun shop has been
pioneer in ordnance manufac-
ture and experimentation. 1t was IN
strumental decade or more before the
Civil War in the conversion Of smooth
bore guns into rif1ed armament, and
the substitution of cylindrical pointed
projectiles for the historic round shot
which previously had been used.
Forty years ago the Washington Navy
Yard was dignified as an important
source of ordnance material for the
National Navy and it's large fleet.
From that time to this. it has been
developed as a specialized ordnance
plant and today is one of the most
complete establishments in existence
| The cherished traditions, ideas and
| ideals of the United States Navy re-
| lating to ordnance are centralized in
this practical production project
The Washington ordnance factory
provided the majority of the ar1rla-
ment and equipment used by the
American fleet which participated in
the Spanish-American War. The ma
val guns, mounts, gun sights, turrets
from the days of Grover Cleveland's
| first administration to the administra-
| ton of Calvin Coolidge have been de-
| signed and developed in the Washing
| ton naval shops. Ten years ago this
establishment expanded to where 1t
could produce all the ordnance, in
Guiding both guns and mounts, needed
| by our Navy. Today it's personnel is
but small reflection of its 1918 roster.
| However, q skeleton of specialists Is
retained as permanent employees for a
| nucleus Of any potential emergency
organization which may have to be as
Sembled.
The Limitation Of armament treaty
| greatly reduced and changed our naval
| ordnance production. This interna-
tional agreement restricted the size OF
| warships to regulative dimensions.
This, logically. revolutionized ord.
| nance equipment. Changes in style
and design of naval guns and
their mounts have been consum-
| mated in order to provide smaller
vessels with maximum fighting facili-
ties. Special attention is now paid to
the gross weight of the sea guns.
Much special machinery, including
tools, jlgs, and fixtures, has been pro-
| duced to serve new needs. Examples
of such are the heavy boring mills and
planers used in the Washington gun
shop for machining mounts for air
plane carriers and light cruisers.