106 



ORDNANCE 



W hen it waa decided to hare eight inch rifles among 

 -oftheKoaohcruuicnmhere were DO plant.- in 

 thi* country "Wo to uuk< tlio neoewary lorgings, mi they 

 wereobt.iiiii-1 in Knuland from ( 'h.irl. > ( ':imim I ofShet- 

 field and Sir Joseph Whiiworth of Manchester, l.ut we 

 shall uo< ha re to depend on foreign manufacturers in tin 

 future. a* there an- a number of tiled-works now pre- 

 pared to furnish such forgings aa may be needed. 



As a rough approximation the range i 

 is taken as one mile per each inch ut calibre. I nt 

 this gives results uuilcr rather than over, oil during 

 tlie .iul'ilce year of Queen Victoria a jubilee shoi 

 w:is lireil from a I'.J ineli gun. with a muzzle velocity 

 1 feet ner second, ami during a time of flight 

 of 61 second.-* it passed over ll! .'' miles on a measured 

 range. 



P 



Naval 8-in. Breech-Loading Rifle. 



The character of the latest guns designed for the 

 army and navy is as follows : 



JVdry Guiu. 



A 119-ton gun built by Krupp is said to have been 

 fired 200 times and is still in good condition, and a gun 



Gvn- Carriages. When the vast energy of a modern 

 high-powered gun is considered, the design of a suit- 

 able gun-carriage will be seen to be a problem culling 

 for great mathematical and mechanii-al jii<L'ment ana 

 application. The energy of recoil of a 100-ton gun is 

 60,000 foot-tons, sufficient to lift a vessel of 10,000 

 tons displacement six feet in the air. yet tlii.- va.-t 

 energy is taken up without shock or damage to the 

 vessel in less than five feet recoil. 



The first carriages were simply fixed supports, fol- 

 lowed very shortly by movable ones as larger charges 

 ileniandea some recoil, the gun being fastened by straps 

 or bands around the gun. Next trunnions were in- 

 vented fitting in sockets on the sides of the carriage 

 and permit ting the gun to be elevated or depressed 

 without moving the carriage, and soon trucks or 

 wheels were put on the carriage to facilitate moving it 

 about 



These carriages were at first niade of wood and later 

 on of iron. The Marsilly carriage is mainly used for 

 our broadside smooth-bore guns in use now, the recoil 

 being limited by a rope or breeching. 



As the energy of recoil became greater it was 

 necessary to allow the gun to move relatively to a fixed 

 part of the carriage, and the carriage was made in two 

 parts, one called the slide held against recoil by a 



Pivot, and the other sliding on it called the carriage, 

 nction was set up between the carriage and the slide 

 by means of plates on one part tightly com pressed be- 

 tween plates on the other. As it was found that the 



Central Pivot Carriage, 6-in. Breech-Loading lliQo. 



weighing 139 tons is now building at Kssen which will 

 penetrate four feet of wrought iron at the muzzle. 

 TVaynii have been prepared at the Royal Gun-Foun- 

 dry. Woolwich, fora 156-ton gun. 



above method was uncertain in it.- action a hydraulic 

 recoil was invented, by which a piston is fixed on one 

 part, fitting into a cylinder on the other. On recoil 

 the water is forced from one side of the piston to the 



