452 THE SCIENTIFIC PAPERS OF 



at this portion of the process time was valuable ; but he felt sure 

 that great practical benefit would accrue if the steel could be kept 

 in a quiescent fluid state for a quarter of an hour before pouring. 

 He considered that both papers were of great interest, as they 

 directed the attention of steel manufacturers to points where great 

 improvements, as regards uniformity of metal, might yet be looked 

 for. 



In the discussion of the Paper 



"ON THE METALLURGY AND MANUFACTURE OF 

 MODERN BRITISH ORDNANCE," 



By Colonel MAITLAND, Superintendent, R.G.F., Woolwich, 



DR. C. W. SIEMENS,* F.R.S., in opening the discussion, said 

 that the observations which he proposed to address to the Insti- 

 tute had reference almost entirely to the first paper, that by 

 Colonel Maitland on the practice now followed at the Royal Gun 

 Factory. When a public department like the Ordnance brought 

 their practice before them, it was, no doubt, with the intention of 

 inviting criticism, and it was a duty for the Iron and Steel Insti- 

 tute to discuss it freely. It was satisfactory to find that the 

 Ordnance Department had at last seen the advantage of using steel 

 not only for the inner tube but also for the hooping of their 

 ordnance. To that extent he was pleased to express his entire 

 concurrence with the author. He did not, however, quite agree 

 with him that it could have been the absence of block powder or 

 compressed powder that was the cause of the long delay ; because 

 if steel was both stronger and tougher than iron, then whilst the 

 more dangerous small powder was used, there must have been all 

 the more reason to resort to it as the stronger and tougher 

 material. It was true, as Colonel Maitland had said, that with the 

 use of small powder the strain thrown upon the inner tube was so 



* Excerpt Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute, 1881, pp. 483-488, 521, 522. 



