MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 57 



age, and, tit the period alluded to, our superiors, perhaps, in gunnery, 

 and certainly in ships, we speedily discovered that headlong, uncalcu- 

 latiug courage was not alone sufficient to insure success. In the action 

 between the United States and Macedonian, Decatur, conscious of the 

 superiority of his long 24 pounders over the 12 pounders of the Mace- 

 donian, pelted the enemy at a long-shot distance for an hour ; and the 

 British court-martial on 'Capt. Carden found that the Macedonian was 

 very materially damaged before close action commenced." 



Sir Howard Douglass regards with distrust the introduction into British 

 ships, to the extent to which, in some instances, it has been carried, of 

 Paixhan and other French shell guns, as yet untried in actual combat 

 in broadside batteries. This description of guns he considers not well 

 adapted for action, either at great distances or at close quarters, and is 

 of opinion that ships chiefly so armed will stand little chance against a 

 distant cannonade of solid shot guns, owing to the superiority of the 

 latter in respect to power of range, accuracy in distant firing, and pene- 

 trating force. Scientific American. 



MACHINE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PERCUSSION CAPS. 



A MOST ingenious machine for the manufacture of percussion caps 

 has recently been invented by Mr. George Wright, of Washington. It 

 occupies a comparatively small space of about three by four feet, and is 

 supplied with copper in sheets, fourteen by forty-eight inches ; the ful- 

 minating powder being deposited in a small hopper for distribution in 

 the caps as they are formed. The machine, being supplied with the 

 material, it is put in operation by steam power, and the sheet of copper 

 is fed from right to left and left to right, alternately, rolling in at the 



cj tj *- ' Cj 



proper interval. The star or blank, for the cap, being cut, it is quickly 

 transferred to the forming die, where it is pressed into the required 

 form. The cap is then lifted from the die by means of a punch 

 beneath, and lodged in the periphery of the charging plate ; it is then 

 carried around by the plate, passing under the hopper containing the 

 powder, where, receiving its proper charge, (half a grain.) it passes on 

 under 'the charging punch, where the powder is firmly pressed in the 

 bottom of the cap. The cap is then thrown from the plate, falling into 

 a drawer beneath, prepared to receive them. It then continues its 

 operation of cutting, forming, charging and pressing, in rapid succes- 

 sion, until the whole sheet, as if by magic, is transformed into caps in 

 a finished state, ready for use. One man or boy, only, is required to 

 superintend its operation, producing 5,000 caps an hour, or 50,000 per 

 day. Scientific American. 



MANUFACTURE OF MUSKETS AT THE NATIONAL ARMORY, SPRINGFIELD, MS. 



derive from the Springfield Republican the following facts relative 

 to the manufacture of muskets in the Armory at that place, for the 

 year ending June, 1851 : 



The total expenditures of the Armory for the fiscal year, ending 

 June 80th, 1851, were $271,308.33. Of this sum, $179;216.29 were 

 paid out for labor alone. To show the extent and variety of the stock 



