58 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



and materials used, we give the items consumed last year : Refined 

 iron, 446,628 pounds ; cast-iron, 41,298 ditto ; inferior iron, 3,977 ditto ; 

 wire iron, 1,079 ditto ; cast-steel, 63,146 ditto; shear-steel, 651 ditto ; 

 nails, 2,326 ditto ; wood screws, 163 gross ; sand paper, 326 quires ; sul- 

 phuric acid, 2,823 pounds ; boards and plank, 145,013 feet ; timber, 

 32,204 ditto ; bricks, 20,000 ; leather, 1788 pounds ; sperm and whale 

 oil, 2380 gallons ; assorted files, 8613 ; grindstones, 52,634 pounds ; 

 charcoal, 46,598 bushels ; anthracite coal, 2,438,924 pounds ; pit coal, 

 53,700 ditto ; fire-stone, 4,480 ditto ; furnace clay, 134 bushels ; and 

 wood, 200 (2 feet) cords. 



The result of the operations of last year is as follows : 



Percussion muskets, complete, ..... 21,000 



Percussion musketoons, complete, ..... 2,000 



Muskets altered from flint to percussion, .... 57,272 



Extra cones for issue with muskets, .... 119,757 



Compound screw-drivers, for issue with ditto, . . . 90,908 



Percussion hammers, (for other posts,) .... 41,682 



Arm-chests and packing-cases, ..... 295 



Col. Pvipley, the commanding officer at the Armory, received an order 

 to alter the flint lock muskets to percussion, if practicable, at a cost not 

 exceeding $1 per musket. This work was commenced in July, 1849, 

 and the whole number, 113,406, were completed by February, 1851, at 

 a cost of 50 cents each. At the close of the year there were on hand 

 a grand total of two hundred and fifteen thousand nine hundred and 

 fifty muskets. The manufacture of a single musket is effected by four 

 hundred different operations, and the majority of the men employed 

 engage in only one of the operations. A larger number of muskets 

 were manufactured last year, than any year previous ; and a calcula- 

 tion, based upon the number turned out, shows that, throughout the 

 year of 318 working days, of ten hours each, a musket was completed 

 every eight minutes and fifty-six seconds. The various parts of the 

 musket pass, during their manufacture, through the hands of inspectors, 

 who, with their gauges, determine the exact dimensions of every piece, 

 and reject every one that is not exactly what is required. Thus, a hun- 

 dred thousand muskets might be taken to pieces, and thrown promis- 

 cuously into a pile, and the whole taken up and put together again 

 without the mis-fit of a single component to its appropriate place. 

 Thus, too, when the arms are in use, there is never need of sending 

 them to the Armory for repairs. 



The smallest piece value of a component of a musket is one mill ; the 

 highest $3.50. 



The following is the weight of a musket, in detail and total, expressed 

 in pounds and hundredths of a pound : 



Weight of barrel, . . . ... 4.25 



Weight of locks and side-screws, ..... 0.85 



Weight of bayonet, . . . . . . . 0.68 



Weight of musket without bayonet, .... 9.14 



Weight of musket, complete, ..... 9.82 



This weight is less than that of the old flint inusket. 



