NATURE 



*5 



THURSDAY, JULY 24, 18S4 



THE CONSTRUCTION OF ORDNANCE 

 A Treatise on the Application of Wire to the Construc- 

 tion of Ordnance. By James Ackman Longridge, 

 M.I.C.E. (London : Spon, 1884.) 



ABOUT thirty years ago, during the raging of the 

 Crimean war, special attention began to be directed 

 towards the improvement of our artillery. The old Board 

 of Ordnance was abolished. The manufacturing depart- 

 ments at Woolwich were put under the control of a newly 

 created Minister of War. That able and high-minded 

 officer, Colonel F. M. Eardley-Wilmot, R.A., was ap- 

 pointed Superintendent of the Gun Factories, July 1S55. 

 He commenced his work in a thoroughly sensible and 

 practical manner, and pursued his inquiries for suitable 

 materials for guns both at home and abroad. He was 

 ready to adopt anything, new or old, provided it was of 

 the right sort. Sir H. Bessemer has remarked : " My 

 early progress was known to only a few scientific men, 

 among whom was Colonel Eardley-Wilmot, R. A., who took 

 great interest in the invention." But in the summer of 

 1859 it was decided to adopt the Armstrong breech-loading 

 system, and in November 1859 Colonel Eardley-Wilmot 

 was requested to resign his post at the Gun Factories, to 

 make room for Mr. (now Sir W.) Armstrong. 



The 12-pounder Armstrong breech- loading field-guns 

 appear to have given satisfaction, and the authorities at 

 once proceeded to manufacture no-pounders on the 

 same system without exercising due caution, as explained 

 by General Peel in his letters to the Times about Sep- 

 tember 1868. For, he says, the following sums were 

 voted " for the purchase and manufacture of warlike and 

 miscellaneous stores : — 



In 1S60-61 

 In 1861-62 



£2, 830, 625 ; and 

 ^3,006,049 



a great portion of which was for the 110-pounder Arm- 

 strong guns, which had been adopted into the service 

 without any sufficient trial of them." Among other 

 things, the vent-pieces failed, no matter of what material 

 they were constructed. All the while the nation had to 

 abide strictly by the terms of its bargain— it had adopted 

 the gun, and it must take the consequences. We have 

 never heard that any variation in the principle of the in- 

 vention was tried with a view to relieve the gun of the 

 excessive pressure at the breech. It was said that there 

 was a contraction of the bore just before the seat of the 

 shot, so that there could be little doubt that the whole 

 of the quick-burning powder then in use would be con- 

 verted into gas before the projectile moved forward any 

 appreciable distance. Something must therefore yield, 

 and that was generally the vent-piece. Before abandon- 

 ing the system it would not have cost much to take some 

 disabled gun and remove the chief part of the obstruction 

 to the initial motion of the shot. But the no-pounders 

 had failed, and there was end of the system — according 

 to the decision of its own friends. But it will be seen 

 that at least one system employing lead-coated projectiles 

 of about 300 lbs. in weight was made to succeed. 

 The authorities then turned their attention to muszle- 

 Vol. xxx.— No. 769 



loaders, with which they were more successful. Although 

 they now used studded shot, they were careful to avoid 

 all needless obstruction to the initial motion of the shot 

 by the use of an increasing twist in the rifling. Also the 

 high initial tension of the powder gas would in this case 

 find some relief from windage. 



About the year 1869 the Prussian Government insti- 

 tuted a comparative trial between the English 9-inch 

 muzzle-loading gun and the 9j-inch breech-loading gun 

 of Krupp. Different opinions have been expressed re- 

 specting the fairness with which this competition was 

 conducted. But this much must be said in favour of the 

 decision arrived at, that the Prussians seem to have 

 abided by it, and that they have not come to England to 

 purchase muzzle-loaders constructed on the iron coil sys- 

 tem. The striking fact was that Krupp could construct 

 breech-loading guns to fire 200 to 300 lb. lead-coated pro- 

 jectiles from a 9^-inch breech-loading gun with safety, 

 whereas the Woolwich breech-loading guns failed with 

 similar shot of 1 10 lbs. with a bore of about 7 inches. 



Since that time breech-loading has ceased to be looked 

 upon as an impossibility. We even learn incidentally 

 that we have ships armed with guns constructed on that 

 system. 



About 1865 the Committee on Explosives was ap- 

 pointed, who continued their labours throughout many 

 years. We are not aware that details of their observa- 

 tions, made with the chronoscope and crusher gauges, 

 were ever published in extenso. So long as this remains 

 the case, the conclusions of the Committee can never be 

 completely accepted. But so many contradictory ob- 

 servations have been published that we are compelled 

 either to doubt the results given by the crusher gauge or 

 to suppose that the forces developed by fired gunpowder 

 are liable to great variation, even where the initial velocity 

 of the shot is the same. Observations with the chrono- 

 scope we put aside as of no value in obtaining an accurate 

 measure of the forces, which vary rapidly, and, acting 

 upon a body at rest, generate a high velocity in a space of 

 10 or 20 feet. Observations of that kind are only valu- 

 able when the force affecting the motion changes by slow 

 degrees. 



Throughout all these changes the Woolwich system has 

 been in the main the Armstrong system of coils of 

 wrought iron for both breech- and muzzle-loading guns, 

 while the recommendations of steel by Krupp and Whit- 

 worth have been set aside partly on the score of expense. 

 But now there are indications that the Woolwich system 

 of coiling is not considered to be quite satisfactory. 



Mr. Longridge says: — "Since 1862 millions upon 

 millions have been spent, and we are now told that we are 

 on the eve of a new epoch of expenditure, that the great 

 array of weapons which we have provided are no longer 

 up to the mark, and millions upon millions must again be 

 disbursed before the nation is properly armed" (p. 2). 



This seems therefore to be a favourable opportunity for 

 the official consideration of Mr. Longridge's system of 

 applying wire to the construction of heavy ordnance. No 

 other system allows of the tension being so nicely and so 

 readily adjusted. Mr. Longridge appears to have been 

 the first to advocate this system of constructing guns, for 

 so early as i860 he presented a paper on the subject to 

 the Institution of Civil Engineers. When he first applied 



