Year: 1861

From the Springfield Republican.


The Watcrvliet Arsenal situated at West
Troy, is, you doubtless know, the largest ar
scnal for the construction and fabrication Of
military implements, other than small arms
and cannon, in the country, and a visit to its
workshops at the present time, powerfully
impresses one NTH the power and resources
Of our Government. Everything at present
is OH war footing, and from three to four
hundred hands directly, and as many more
indirectly, in the neighboring foundries, are
kept busy night and day. Through the thiev-
ing Of Floyd ard the recent acquisitions of
Government, the arsenal has been nearly
stripped Of muskets, pistols and cannon, but
OF other munitions there is yet an ample store
large number Of hands arc engaged in the
preparation Of ammunition; six thousand ball
cartridges arc made daily most of these are
intended for the Minnie rife, but large num-
bcrs Of the old fashioned round ball cartridges
arc also manufactured. The rapidity with
which cartridge is made is wonderful. A
boy sits at a counter with cylindrical stick
pile of creased balls and one of prepared
paper before him-a jerk and twist at one
cnd-a twist of a string, and the cartridge Is
ready for filling in less time than it takes to
read this description. They are then taken
in another room, placed open end up in shall
low boxes, and man by means of simple
instrument fills them with an equa. and spe-
citic'amount Of powder, at the rate Of thirty
a minute. A twist at the open end and the
cartridge is complete. The manufacture goes
on so fast that it requires nearly dozen men
and boys to pack, box, and remove the fin
ishcd cartridges. In another apartment
number of men and girls arc employed in the
manufacture Of cannon cartridges Of all sizes
from the mighticst columbiad down to the six
FOUNDER. The material of which they are
made is kind of WOODEN goods (morccm i'm
ported from England especially for that pur-
pose. Thousands Of yards of this material
were in the process Of being cut up and man
ufacturcd. Cannon cartridges arc not filed
here, but at the place where they arc intend
cd to be used. In still another department,
grape, canister and STRAPPED ammunition are
now in course of preparation, while huge cart
loads of bomb shells and spherical shot arc
hourly arriving from the neighboring foun-
dries. The grape shot arc larger than sup
posed, and might more properly be called
peach shot than grape shot Some six or
more Of these are packed in sort of wire
corkscrcw arrangement, and fitted into tin
case, and when thus finished have much the
same appearance of jars Of preserved meats
or fruit.


The manufacture of bomb shells is also
matter of much interest. The preparation Of
those witnessed was briefly rs follows The
shell is first filled up with old-fashioncd round
leaden bullets; melted sulphur is then pour
cd in to fill up the intcrstices and bind the
bullets in one solid mass the shell is then
put into kind of lathe, and cylindrical
hal Of flo NJ a.. Al, n. III
is bored through the bullets and the sulphur;
this cavity is filled with powder, even with
the interior edge of the orificc, six inch
shell of the kind here described holding about
half pound the fuse fitted into the orilice,
is a recent Belgian invention, made Of pewter,
and resembles the screw cap used for the pa.
tent fruit cans. An examination Of this pew
ter cap shows, however, that it is made of
two hollow dies Of metal screwed together,
and filed with meal powder; number Of
fine holes arc drilled in the lower disc, while
the outer disc is entire, and marked with fig
urcs in a circle, !, 2, 3, 4. In this state the
shell is water and weather proof. When ta-
ken for use, the gunner, by means of a small
steel instrument, scoops out a portion OF The
outer soft metal surface, and lays bare the
charge of composition powder below it. IF
the shell is desired to explode in one second
after leaving the gun, the scooping is made
on the figure one; if in two seconds, on the
figure two, and so on; the idea being that the
shells Of this description shall first strike the
object aimed Mt, and do execution as a bali,
and then explode, sending the bullets forward
rs il from another cannon located at TIE point
where the fight Of the shell is arrested. Large
shell of eight or ten inches arc filled with
powder only, and bursting do execution by
means Of Their fragments. These large shells
are generally fired by means Of fuse of meal
powder extending through brass plug
screwed into the mouth OF the shell in both
cases the fuse is fred by the ignition of the
charge in the gun.