6o4 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



tfiin point. Then the casting is withdrawn and allowed to get cold 

 more gradually. A regular and crystalline structure is in tliis way 

 produced, which has none of the defects of ordinary bronze. It is a 

 moot point whether phosphorus enters into the composition at all. 

 Chemists tell us they can find no trace of it, but this is no absolute 

 proof that a small percentage of the element was not originally con- 

 tained in the alloy, being burned out after it had done its work of har- 

 monizing the two metals. The inventor is rather reticent on the point, 

 but in any case it is very certain that he produces a uniform and 

 homogeneous alloy of a hard, crystalline nature. 



One other expedient Uchatius has recourse to in making his cannon. 

 When he has cast his gun and chilled it, he proceeds to dilate the 

 bore. Wedges of steel, shaped in the form of cones, are forced into 

 the tube of the gun one after another, until the calibre of the weapon 

 has been increased by something like seven or eight per cent. This 

 expansion or dilation of the tube has not only the eiFect of hardening 

 or steeling the core, but also of rendering the gun more elastic and 

 capable of resisting more effectually the strain put upon it at the 

 moment of firing. The gun, after this process, is in a state of elastic 

 tension, and it is said that there is a pressure from without, inward, 

 equal to that which was exerted to dilate the gun in the first instance ; 

 and that this is actually the case can scarcely be doubted, since it is a 

 fact that a section of the gun, before being quite severed, will tear 

 itself loose with considerable violence, and will be found on separa- 

 tion to have partially returned to its former calibre. 



So far as practical trials have been conducted with the weapon, 

 the Austrian Government have every reason to be satisfied with the 

 Uchatius gun, which compares favorably with the Krupp steel cannon 

 in the matter of accuracy and durability ; while, as regards its cost, it 

 is far cheaper than any other rifled ordnance. A steel field-piece costs 

 upward of 100, even when not protected with rings, while the iron- 

 steel weapon, manufactured in this country, costs about 70 sterling ; 

 the steel-bronze cannon of General von Uchatius, on the other hand, 

 are made for 35 apiece. 



In construction, the Austrian gun is so similar to that of Herr 

 Krupp, of Essen, that the latter claimed compensation for an infringe- 

 ment of his patent when the manufacture of the Uchatius gian was 

 first commenced. The Essen works, our readers may know, supply 

 not only Germany with steel breech-loaders, but have provided the 

 present belligerents with all their modern artillery. Russia has still 

 many brass cannon on hand, and Turkey a goodly number of Arm- 

 strongs, but both powers mainly depend upon their steel Krupps. 

 These stood the German army in such good stead during the last war 

 that tlieir reputation is firmly established. They are of crucible steel, 

 and the breech, instead of being upon a hinge, or in the form of a 

 block, moves round in a D-shaped socket, the escape of gas being 

 further prevented by rings of phosphor-copper. 



