54 TEAR-BOOK OF FACTS. 



The following communication from Mr. Whitworth himself (in the 

 Mechanics' Magazine) will be read with interest : — 



The results of the experiments recently made with my rifled cannons at 

 Southport have elicited notices and comments which I think require me to make 

 some explanation. My rifled guns have not been made expressly with the view 

 of obtaining great range : that is one of the advantages they possess, but it is 

 not obtained at the sacrifice of others. They are all adapted, not only for firing 

 solid shot, but also for hollow shot (which may be filled with molten iron), and 

 for every description of shell. Tho capacity of the shell is easily increased by 

 adding to its length; and, as my guns are rifled throughout and require no 

 chamber, shells of any length may be fired with any requisite charge of powder. 

 The tables of residts published in the newspapers were in some instances arranged 

 by the gentlemen who reported them, in increasing or decreasing order; but tho 

 numbers prefixed do not indicate the order in which the shots were fired. This 

 arrangement may have produced an impression that the ranges in certain cases 

 gradually diminished. This was not the case : in some series the longest ranges 

 were attained by the last shots fired, and the piece, as it was warmed by the 

 discharges, became cleaner than it was after the first or second shot. The fact 

 that the ordinary cast-iron service guns which I rifled as an experiment in 1858 

 proved too weak to be used as rilled pieces has been much dwelt npon; and it 

 was perhaps an error of judgment to apply my system experimentally to the 

 cast-iron blocks without strengthening them. I may mention that the service 

 cast-iron 68-pouuder rifled by me, when tried at Portsmouth in 1n.">S, propelled 

 my flat-fronted shot through one of the 4-inch wrought iron plates, and also 

 through the ship's side on which they were lim.lv bolted, the range being 46fl 

 yards. In no other instance, I believe, has a single shot been driven through tho 

 4-inch plate. The experiment wr.s not repeated, as the east-iron gun burst. All 

 the guns, however, which I have myself made are ready for any proof and any 

 comparison thai may be required. Their strength is such that they can be ele- 

 vated on their carriages, and be fired, if necessary, as mortars, at any angle, with 

 tho largest charge of powder that can be consumed in them. The 3-pounder was 

 repeatedly fired at an angle of 35 deg., and attained a range of more than live 

 and a-half miles, without doing the piece or its carriage the slightest injury. 



These guns being stronger than is practically necessary, there would be no 

 gain in adding to their strength, though I could do it ii" requisite. The ma- 

 terial of which the cannon is made is the same as that used for my rifled musket 

 barrel — homogeneous iron. To obtain an extreme proof of its strength I 

 loaded one of the barrels with a leaden plug, so long that a full charge of powder 

 was unable to drive it out. On firing the powder, the pin:: remained in tho 

 barrel, and the gases of the explosion all came through the tonshhole, leaving 

 the barrel uninjured. This experiment was repeated tour times with a similar 

 result. The brass howitzer guns which I rilled for the Government in 1856 

 stood every proof to which they were subjected. I could not now improve upon 

 them as muzzle-loading guns, and foe] confident that they are us efficient as any 

 rifled cannon of like calibre that have been made. In fact, of the rifled ■ annon, 

 as of the rifled musket, constructed on the principles which I have adopted, it 

 may be said that practically, they must all shoot alike — a result which neces- 

 sarily follows accurate measurement and workmanship in making them. I 



had no w ish to make ■ special gnu, any more' than to ohoose out Bpeoul experi- 

 mental results. Eh 'da of all the shots Bred daring onr late experiments irere 



taken by disinterested spectators, and have been published in BOTeral journals. 

 The merits of the -■■ i thoroughly tested, and may now 



be fairly judged. The practice with the smallest gun, the 3-pounder, proved all 



I wished to establish in point of range j it WH rn-.il.- to sur- 



with the heavier oannon Breda! a high elevation. Of the durability of 

 my gun- i i - ik with the utmost confident tde of the harder and 



homogeneous iron, they must be more durable than forged gun 

 of comparatively soft and Borons wrong] mono of them upwards of 



1 1 have I a Bred, chiefly at high elevations, mthonl the gun exhibiting 



any injury or sign of wear. The Dreeoh-loading arrangement pie that 



i aatly Injured, The guns Bred at Southport had all I d standing 



on the open shore a ration ofeea air and drifting sand* fur some 



most of them during the whole winter. The relative merits of my own 

 ami other systems are beat co mp ared by appealing to practioal results. 

 show that the system of construction which enable! the simple hurd metal pro- 



