ORDNANCE. 



625 



steel, proved utterly inadequate to withstand 

 the 2,000-lb. Palliser shell, fired with 341 or 

 342 Ibs. of powder. Each plate had 29 inches 

 of wood, and 22 of metal, besides an inner skin 

 of iron 1$ inch thick, and the projectiles pen- 

 etrated the 23 inches of iron and 29 inch- 

 es of wood with ease. In the trials at Shoe- 

 buryness with the 80-ton gun in February, 

 1877, a charge of 370 Ibs. of powder was used, 

 and a 1,700-lb. projectile, against a target of 32 

 inches of iron and 15 inches of wood. The 

 iron was disposed in 48-inch plates with 5 

 inches of teak sandwiched between, in three 

 thicknesses. The Spezia projectile had 1,500 

 feet velocity per second at striking, equal to 

 31,200 foot-tons or 584 per inch of circumfer- 

 ence of stored-up work, while the English shot 

 had 1,496 feet striking velocity, and but 26,- 

 400 foot-tons or 525 per inch of circumference 

 penetrating power. The shot buried itself in 

 the Shoebury target. The base was broken, 

 the left segment being found 7 inches and the 

 rest 5 inches from the face, while the back of 

 the target was bulged out 7 inches and cracked 

 through ; the point of the projectile remaining 

 6f inches from the rear face. The shot was 

 split in quarters by 4 longitudinal cracks. In 

 May another trial was made with the 80-ton 

 gun at Shoeburyness upon the same target. 

 The chamber of the gun had been enlarged to 

 18 inches diameter, capable of receiving a 

 charge of 425 Ibs. of powder, the diameter of 

 the bore being 16 inches; the weight of the 

 shot was the same as before, 1,700 Ibs. The 

 shot penetrated to within 5 inches of the back 

 of the target; the back was starred, and the 

 point of the projectile was visible through the 

 large fissures ; the rear plate was bulged out 

 nearly 14 inches. The projectile was badly 

 broken up ; the hole made in the face of the 

 target was larger than at the other trial. A 

 shell fired from a 38-ton gun in March exhib- 

 ited the same behavior as that fired at the first 

 trial of the 80-ton gun, breaking up into 4 lon- 

 gitudinal segments. A 89-ton breech-loader, 

 made by Sir William Armstrong, which could 

 be loaded and fired by one man, gave better 

 results than the 38-ton gun at Shoeburyness, 

 a 700-lb. projectile receiving a velocity of 1,615 

 feet per second with 160-lb. charges of pebble 



Eowder. The Armstrong gun had a 12-inch 

 ore. The gas-check consisted of a steel cup 

 resting against the breech-screw. The breech 

 is closed by interlocking the threads in the 

 breech-screw and in the worm of the gun, 

 which pass each other by channels slotted in 

 the threads. A turn of 1.6 of a revolution locks 

 the breech. The rotation of the projectile was 

 induced by the breech-cup. In the new Arm- 

 strong pieces and generally on the Continent of 

 Europe the sharp twist in the breech which 

 imparts the rotation is made of If calibre. A 

 second 80-ton Fraser gun was cast at Woolwich 

 with a polygroove bore, having 32 grooves, for 

 a projectile without studs, but provided with 

 a copper gas-check at the base. 

 VOL. XTII. 40 A 



The first 100-ton gun was returned to Els- 

 wick, after the trials at Spezia, for the pur- 

 pose of being chambered and having its bore 

 enlarged. The Italian Government has com- 

 missioned Sir W. G. Armstrong & Company 

 to manufacture 8 of these great guns, two 

 more of which have been completed this year. 

 The guns have a calibre of 17| inches, and a 

 powder chamber of 19} inches. The greatest 

 charge of powder fired at the Spezia trials 

 was 397 Ibs. ; the projectile weighed 2,000 Ibs. 

 The new guns are to be fired with a charge of 

 470 Ibs. and projectiles of 2,280 Ibs. weight 

 The Fraser 80-ton gun was fired with a great- 

 est powder charge of 425 Ibs., and a projectile 

 weighing 1,700 Ibs., the bore of the gun being 

 16 and the powder chamber 18 inches. The 

 guns furnished to the Italian Government are 

 provided with the hydraulic gearing and car- 

 riages designed by George Rendel. These 

 great guns are to be mounted on turret ships, 

 similar to the British Inflexible, two of which, 

 the Duilio and the Dandolo, are built; they 

 are plated with steel armor, rolled in the foun- 

 dery of ML Schneider, of Creuzot. The German 

 Government have had a gun of 124 tons weight 

 made by Krupp ; it has a calibre of 46 centi- 

 metres, or 18J inches, and is of steel, hooped 

 in different parts. 



Guns have been made recently of steel with- 

 out blows, in the French arsenals, which prove 

 equal in strength to the best forged steel can- 

 non. A tube of steel, with a wall 1 J inch 

 thick and a bore of 5 inches, cast in Terrenoire, 

 was tested with charges of powder and ball 

 nearly to the muzzle without rupturing; and 

 all the different tests to which the metal was 

 put exceeded the requirements for French ord- 

 nance. The French now make their heavy 

 artillery of three materials: a body of cast- 

 iron or cast-steel; a central tube, usually of 

 hammered cast-steel; and the fretes, around 

 the portion where the rending effect of the 

 powder is felt, of puddled-steel, whose action 

 is to permanently compress the interior parts. 



Considerable improvements have been made 

 in the manufacture of projectiles for heavy ar- 

 tillery. Shells made of steel without blows 

 have been made in recent trials to penetrate 

 plates of thickness equal to their diameter at 

 an angle of 50. The use of copper gas-checks 

 around large projectiles is a great improve- 

 ment; the retarding effect of the gas escaping 

 by windage can be appreciated from the fact 

 that it has been found to compress the central 

 part of a shell to the extent of 4 per cent of 

 its diameter. In British arsenals shells are 

 now cast of such perfect smoothness that it is 

 unnecessary to turn off the outer surface^ as 

 was formerly done ; this remarkable improve- 

 ment in the process of casting steel, which 

 should be made public property and applied in 

 other founderies, was developed when it was 

 found that the loss of the outer skin of the 

 casting entailed a great sacrifice in the strength 

 of the projectiles. 



