52 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



wound round with coils of square steel wire, of the sixc of one-sixteenth of an 

 im-h, the coils being six deep at the breech, and diininis.hin.u- to two at 

 the muzzle; and, after subjecting it to a severe proof, submitted it, in June, 

 18')'), to the Select Ordnance Committee. The decision not being favorable, Mr. 

 Lonu'ridge continued his experiments, employing a cylinder of cast iron instead 

 of brass, and succeeded in producing a gun, weighing only three hundred 

 pounds, which could throw a shot of seven and a half pounds to the distance 

 of a mile, a result which, he believes, is not attainable by any six-pounder 

 in the service. He further extended his invention to the construction of 

 cylinders for hydraulic presses, and succeeded in combining the two very 

 desirable qualifications of lightness and strength to a degree far beyond 

 anything that has been attained by any other mode of construction. 



Such, briefly, are the principal points which were submitted by Mr. Long- 

 ridge to the meeting. We have already said that in the discussion which 

 followed many of the most distinguished authorities, civil and military, took 

 part. It seems to be generally admitted that, as far as regards mere strength, 

 Mr. Longridge's guns arc likely to be superior to any others. Most of the 

 objections which are made to his plan are based upon the difficulty of securing 

 the wire firmly at the breech and the muzzle; points which, says Mr. 

 Longridge in reply, present no real difficulty at all. 



Several gentlemen speak up in favor of cast iron as a material for artillery. 

 Mr. Haddan and Mr. Bashley Britten, to whom the task of rifling the exist- 

 ing iron ordnance has been chiefly entrusted, both declare that, for ranges 

 of from three to four thousand yards, the old guns are all that can be de- 

 sired. They urge, with considerable cogency, that a longer range than this 

 is not practically required. In order to make sure of hitting even a large 

 object at six thousand yards or upwards, it is necessary to throw away in 

 ascertaining the range more shot than can, with a due regard to economy, 

 be spared. Cheapness must be an important element in the calculation. 

 An old iron gun, who.se value is not more than .20, can be rifled for thirty 

 shillings, and so enabled to throw shot to a distance of more than three 

 thousand yards; and it is bad economy to spend 200 on an Armstrong 

 twelve-pounder, whose performance is but little if at all superior. Mr. 

 Conybeare and other gentlemen extol the American system of casting iron 

 guns hollow, and cooling them from within outwards, by passing through 

 them a continual stream of cold water, while the outside is kept heated. 

 This method secures the advantage of keeping the outer portion of the gun 

 in a greater state of tension than the inner; and Mr. Conybeare anticipates 

 that the gun of the future will be of cast iron, and manufactured in this 

 manner. But the truth appears to be, that cast iron, though not so utterly 

 untrustworthy as is asserted by Mr. Longridge, cannot be relied upon as a 

 material for artillery. One gun may survive thousands of discharges, and 

 another, made of the same iron, and under the same circumstances, may 

 burst at the first discharge. Sir C. Fox advocates the use of iron alloyed 

 with wolfram or titanium; and Mr. Abel, the chemist to the Ordnance 

 Department, states that a compound far superior in tenacity to ordinary 

 gun-metal may be obtained by mixing copper with from two to four per 

 cent, of phosphorus. But there is little doubt that, as far as is yet known, 

 the only reliable guns are those which arc built upon one modification or 

 another of the new principle. Mr. Lancaster says a few words respecting 

 the bursting of his guns in the Crimea, a misfortune which has since then 

 been frequently cited as a proof of the inefficiency of his system. The acci- 



