4-36 



MEMOIR OF DANIEL TKEADWELL. 



all be restored, with the exception of the steam hammer substituted for the hydro- 

 static press, fi'om Treadwell's specification alone.* 



Section of the Treadwell Gun of 1865. 



Section of the Kkupp Brekch-Loading Gcx of 1880. 

 From the Encyclopiedia Brjtanuica, art. Gun-making, 9ih eiHtion. Except in the breech-loading apparatus, the resemblance 



between the Treadwell and Krupi) guns is obvious. 



Mr. Treadwell in his letter to the Secretaries, in 1862, writes : — 



"It might have been said, when this plan -was first promulgated, its principles pointed out, 

 and its advantages demonstrated, that, however perfectly I had tested by practical trial the su- 

 periority of my guns made twelve years before of wrought iron and steel, no such practical test 

 had been made upon the peculiar form last proposed (1854). This objection can now no longer 

 be made. If I have been prevented or denied the opportunity of giving the practical test myself, 

 others have partially done it for me. This has been effected, first, by Captain Blakely, an able 

 and scientific officer of artillery in England, who filed a specification there soon after the date of 

 mine, for an improved gun upon the same principle that is given by me. . . . 



" Again, Mr. Whitworth, who has carried on such a sharp opposition to Armstrong, uses 

 hoops strained on to the body of all his large wrought cannon." 



Had Mr. Treadwell lived lono-er, he micjht have added to these the names of all 

 the great gun makers of the world.f 



* The process of making the Armstrong gun, and also that of the hooping of cast-iron guns, were seen hy the 

 editor of this nieuioir at the Woolwich Arsenal, in 1873, and were a« above described. 



t During the war of the Rebellion, many guns were made for the Government with a cast-iron body and a single 

 wrought-iron band shrunk on to the body of the gun between the breech and the trunnions. The light guns, ten 

 or twelve pounder field-pieces, did well, and illustrated the value of the hoop or band, imperfectly applied as it was. 

 The heavy guns were a failure. The single band which was used was neither screwed, interlocked, nor spliiied to the 

 body ; it changed place and covered the veut ; havinsr been heated to 1100° F. in the process of manufocture, it was 

 no longer elastic. When strained by the force of the explosion, it remained enlarged and no longer gave proper sup- 



