736 



ORDNANCE. 



larger pieces). The term hexagonal as ap- 

 plied to the bore, though nearly, is not ab- 

 solutely accurate, as the angles were a little 

 rounded. The projectiles which he invented 

 were also peculiar in form and character. They 

 were of steel or u homogeneous iron," which 

 is a mild steel, and is extensively used by 

 Krupp, of Prussia, for cannon. In form they 

 were hexagonal, with a twist corresponding 

 to the turn of the bore ; at first the anterior 

 end was oval or rounded at its extremity, but 

 when the penetration of iron plates with ord- 

 nance projectiles began to be recognized as a 

 necessity, he made the head or front flat, with 

 the edge a little raised and sharp. The hex- 

 agonal surfaces were slightly hollowed to give 

 the projectile more steadiness of motion. At a 

 later period he still further improved both its 

 steadiness and range very greatly by making it 

 taper toward the posterior end, giving it lines 

 somewhat resembling those of a ship of the 

 new model. . These projectiles have sometimes 

 made as many as 60,000 rotations per minute. 

 We have said that Mr. Whitworth did not at first 

 intend to become a manufacturer of cannon. 

 At the instance of some of the ordnance offi- 

 cers he made several brass pieces on his prin- 

 ciple, the brass blocks being furnished to him 

 by the department, and subsequently some 

 pieces from cast-iron blocks, which, however, 

 burst after a few trials, cast-iron cannon made 

 by boring proving too weak for the severe 

 strain required from rifled pieces. The Ord- 

 nance Department having committed themselves 

 fully to Sir William Armstrong's guns, refused, 

 with some rudeness, to have anything more 

 to do with Mr. Whitworth's rifled ordnance ; 

 and as he believed that he had hit upon the 

 best principles for the construction of rifled 

 guns, he resolved to go into their manufacture, 

 and eventually convince the Government of 

 the error they had made. The question of what 

 was the best material for ordnance was the first 

 to be decided, and having tested in his previous 

 experiments brass and cast iron, neither of 

 which seemed to him to possess the requisite 

 tenacity and strength, he fixed upon " homo- 

 geneous iron," a mild steel, as combining the 

 two qualities of hardness and toughness in the 

 requisite proportion, and at the same time per- 

 mitting the gun to be much lighter than if 

 made of cast iron. His guns were hooped with 

 steel through their whole length, the hoops be- 

 ing forced on cold by hydraulic pressure ; back 

 of the trunnions were three layers of hoops. 

 Recognizing the advantages of breech-loading, 

 he constructed his guns to load equally well 

 from the breech or muzzle, but without any 

 chamber at the breech for the expansion of the 

 gases, which was not needful, as his projectile 

 did not change size or form from firing. The 

 bore was of the same size throughout. The 

 construction of the breech was very simple, 

 and there was no necessity for a separate vent 

 piece, as in the Armstrong gun. The range 

 and accuracy of these guns have never been sur- 



passed; the three-pounder, in the experiment 

 at Southport, having thrown its shot, at an an- 

 gle of 35, to a distance of 9,688 yards, arid his 

 twelve-pounder, a projectile 10,300 yards or 

 nearly six miles. The Whitworth shell has, 

 however, proved the chef (Tauvre of his inven- 

 tions in connection with firearms. The power 

 of his projectiles to penetrate iron plates of 

 four and a half or five and a half inches, when 

 fired from his seven-inch gun even at a dis- 

 tance of 800 yards, was fully demonstrated; 

 but it was objected that they could only punch 

 a round hole through the walls of the iron- 

 clad vessels which could easily be plugged. 

 Thereupon Mr. Whitworth demonstrated that 

 this cylindrical flat-fronted projectile could be 

 fired through the water without deflection or 

 such obstruction of its velocity as to prevent 

 its penetrating the hull of any ship far below 

 the water Jine. He also undertook, what other 

 inventors pronounced impossible, to make a 

 shell which should penetrate five or six inches 

 of iron armor, and then explode inside the ves- 

 sel. For this purpose he made his shell of the 

 same material as his shot (homogeneous iron), 

 with a heavy flat front, and in the cavity placed 

 his charge of powder or other explosive mate- 

 rial, wrapped in several folds of flannel. No 

 percussion cap or fuse was required, the im- 

 pact of the shell upon the iron plating produc- 

 ing a condensation of the iron, accompanied 

 with such disengagement of heat as was suffi- 

 cient to explode the shell, while the flannel 

 acted as a time fuse to delay the explosion till 

 the shell had passed into the vessel. The ad- 

 vantage of this method of making shells, if it 

 could be accomplished without impairing their 

 formidable qualities, was obvious, for they 

 could be transported without danger, and the 

 numerous serious disasters resulting from their 

 accidental explosion could be avoided. In a 

 succession of experiments made upon the War- 

 rior target at Shoeburyness, this shell accom- 

 plished all that its inventor promised, penetrat- 

 ing the target with its wooden backings, and 

 when by experiment the requisite number of 

 piles of flannel for enveloping the charge was 

 determined, exploding with terrific force be- 

 hind the target. 



The Blakely gun has a steel tube for its core, 

 thickest about the centre of the gun, tapering- 

 externally toward the butt and muzzle, and 

 upon this hoops of iron in successive layers are 

 driven. The form of his projectiles we have 

 not seen, but they are said to be constructed 

 on mathematical principles, and their rotation, 

 like that of the Whitworth projectile, is very 

 rapid. These guns have been constructed of 

 very large caliber, and a considerable number 

 of them have been imported by the Confed- 

 erates, with whom, however, they are not now 

 in favor, owing to their liability to burst. The 

 British Government ordered from the inventor, 

 in Jan., 1864, an 800-pounder cannon which is 

 to be tested to destruction, and four others nre 

 to be manufactured on his plans at Woolwich. 



