Oct. 27, 1881] 



NATURE 



609 



ably shaken in the management of the Royal Arsenal, by 

 the bursting of the Thundero-'s 3S-ton gun. Col. Maitland 

 reviews in succession the early history of Steel vcrsics Iron, 

 the successive improvements in the manufacture of gun- 

 powder, the processes of the manufacture of the iron and 

 steel, the buildmg up of the gun, and the boring and 

 rifling of the barrel. The paper concludes with a descrip- 

 tion of some of the special tools and furnaces in use at 

 the Arsenal. As regards the question of powder, it is 

 satisfactory to find from an official utterance that the 

 problem of the proper action of gunpowder is at last 

 thoroughly understood. On this point the author states, 

 "With the large slow-burning powders now used, long 

 heavy shell move quietly off under the impulse of a 

 gradual evolution of gis, the pressure of which continues 

 to increase till the projectile has moved a foot or more ; 

 then ensues a contest between the increasing volume of 

 gas, tending to raise the pressure, and the growing space 

 behind the advancing shot tending to relieve it. As 

 artillery science progresses, so does the duration of this 

 contest extend further along the bore of the gun towards 

 the great desideratum, a low ma.ximum pressure long 

 sustained." To this last sentence we call particular 

 attention, for in the attainment of this object by our 

 powder manufacturers lies the whole possible develop- 

 ment of the power of artillery. When the author Uses 

 the words loiu maxiinuui pressure, we take it that the ex- 

 pression must be understood in a relative sense only, and 

 that the maximum pressure should not be high as com- 

 pared with the mean ; what is in reality the great deside- 

 ratum is as high a maximum pressure as is consistent 

 with the strength of the gun, sustained throughout the 

 entire length of the bore. How far this object is from 

 being attained at present can be seen at a glance from 

 the shape of even the most modern heavy gun, which is 

 very thick at the breech and dwindles down to almost 

 nothing at the muzzle, showing that the pressures at the 

 breech are still far from being sufficiently sustained. The 

 problem here is more one for powder-makers than artil- 

 lerists. The latter can but indicate what is wanted, It 

 seems from a priori grounds impossible to expect that 

 the solid pebble powder now in use, burning as it does 

 from the surface to the centre, can ever give off the in- 

 creasing volumes of gas wanted in order to fill up the 

 spaces behind the advancing projectile, and thus maintain 

 the pressure. It is, we believe, no secret that the results 

 attained with our home-made powders are inferior to 

 those furnished by the perforated prismatic powders 

 made in Germany and Russia. 



In dealing with pure metallurgical processes Col. 

 Maitland made a great mistake in not making himself 

 acquainted beforehand with the name of the inventor of 

 the process of making steel adopted at the Royal Arsenal. 

 Nearly two pages of the paper are taken up with a 

 description of the process invented by Dr. Siemens, 

 which is described in detail without any reference to that 

 distinguished engineer, so much so that any uninitiated 

 person reading the paper would have inferred that the 

 process was peculiar to the Royal Arsenal. It is true 

 that in the discussion which followed Col. Maitland dis- 

 claimed any originality for the Royal Arsenal, but it 

 seems, to say the least of it, curious that he should have 

 occupied so much space in describing a process which 

 was perfectly familiar to everybody in the audience, had 

 he been aware that it was in use in every civilised steel- 

 producing country in the world. Of couise this line of 

 conduct compelled Dr. Siemens to speak in his own 

 defence, and the stories which he told of the conduct of 

 the Royal Arsenal authorities towards himself ought to 

 have been sufficient to make Col. Maitland ashamed of 

 some of his own predecessors in office, or of their imme- 

 diate superiors in Pall Mall. Not only has the Siemens 

 open hearth process of steel manufacture been appro- 

 priated without thanks or even acknowledgment, but on 



a former occasion they endeavoured to imitate his re- 

 generative furnace without his cognisance, by employing 

 a former draughtsman in his office. The furnace failed, 

 having co^t the country some thousands of pounds, and 

 then, and not till then, was Dr. Siemens' help called in. 

 It is really time that the Government claim to appropriate 

 all patents without consulting or rewarding the owners 

 should be inquired into, for the present policy cannot 

 even be commended on the score of economy, for in the 

 case in point the blundering of inexperienced engineers 

 cost the country far more than the few hundred pounds of 

 royalty which would have been due to Dr. Siemens. 



We are glad to infer from this paper that there is some 

 hope that wrought iron will shortly be entirely superseded 

 by steel in the manufacture of ordnance. Really the 

 caution in this matter which has been hitherto observed 

 at Woulwich exceeds the bounds of prudence and sense. 

 For years past the most eminent metallurgists and users 

 of steel in every branch of manufacture have over and 

 over a'_;ain declared publicly that steel is in every respect, 

 including ductility and toughness, vastly superior to iron, 

 but we still find at Woolwich Arsenal that wrought iron 

 is used for ah the coils of a gun. All that Col. Maitland 

 can bring himself to say on this point is, " but now that 

 the pressures" (of the powder) "are longer sustained, it 

 becomes advantageous to thicken the inner tube of steel, 

 and it will most likely be found beneficial to support it 

 with steel in place of wrought iron." We welcome the 

 conclusion, though we fail altogether to appreciate the 

 soundness of the reasoning which has led up to it ; for if 

 it is advantageous now when pressures are weak to use 

 the stronger and tougher material, it must have been 

 doubly so when the internal strains generated by the 

 powder were greater than at piesent. The remainder of 

 this paper calls for no special comment. It is undoubtedly 

 intereating as an official statement, but in style it seems 

 to us to betray the fact that the author is dealing with 

 information which he has only recently acquired ; other- 

 wise how does he betray himself when addressing an 

 audience composed exclusively of technical men into 

 duelling with minuteness on su:h trivial details as, for 

 instance, the use of soap and water as a lubricant for 

 cutting tools, in place of oil .' Surely he ought to be 

 aware that the same practice obtains in nearly every 

 workshop in the country. 



Of the remaining papers read before the Institute, one 

 by the Assistant-Superintendent of the Enfield Small 

 Arms Factory was a mere chronicle of the various details 

 of the inanufacture and inspection of Martini-Henry 

 rifles and bayonets. Another, by Mr. Butter of the 

 Royal Arsenal, was a short accoimt of the application of 

 steel and iron to the manufacture of gun carriages and 

 slides. The last paper which we shall notice was by M. 

 Ferdinand Gautier of Paris, on the Application of Solid 

 Steel to the Manufacture of Ordnance and Small Arms. 

 M. Gautier had already communicated two papers to the 

 Institute on the remarkable Steel Castings of the Terre 

 Noire Company. The peculiarity of the cast'ngs of this 

 Company is their freedom from blow-holes, which is 

 attributed to the rather considerable percentage of 

 siU:ate of manganese used in the manufacture. 



At Bofors, in Sweden, the same process is used with 

 perfect success in the production of steel barrels for 

 artillery. 



The following analysis is given of the material 

 produced : — 



C.irbon Silicon Manjanese Sulphur Phosph. 



0'45 ... 0-351 ... 0'54O ... Traces ... 0-042 



0'40 ... 0-322 ... 0-612 ... 0-02 ... 0-045 



050 ... 0-183 ... 0-360 ... 0-02 ... 0-040 



The tests of this steel, both ordinary tensile tests and 

 in guns, when fired with heavy proof charges, are stated 

 to have given most satisfactory results. 



