Chapter 1

Produced by Olaf Voss, Don Kretz, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the Distributed Proofreaders Team

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 324

NEW YORK, MARCH 18, 1882

Scientific American Supplement. Vol. XIII, No. 324.

Scientific American established 1845

Scientific American Supplement, $5 a year.

Scientific American and Supplement, $7 a year.

* * * * *

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

I. ENGINEERING AND MECHANICS--Machine Tools for Boiler Makers. 2 figures.--Improved boiler plate radial drill.--Improved boiler plate bending roller.

Modern Ordnance. By COLONEL MAITLAND.--Rifled cannon.--Built guns.--Steel castings.--Breech loading.--Long guns.--Slow burning of powder.--Breech closers.--Projectiles.--Destructive power of guns.

Oscillating Cylinder Locomotive. 2 figures.--Shaw's oscillating cylinder locomotive.

Gas Motors and Producers. By C. W. SIEMENS--2 figures.

The Bazin System of Dredging. By A. A. LANGLEY.--3 figures.

II. CHEMISTRY.--On the Mydriatic Alkaloids. By ALBERT LADENBERG. --I. Atropine.--II. The Atropine of Datura Stramonium. --III. Hyoscyamine from Hyoscyamus.

Detection of Small Quantities of Morphia. By A. JORISSEN.

The Estimation of Manganese by Titration. By C. G. SARNSTROM.

On the Estimation and Separation of Manganese. By NELSON H. DARTON.

Delicate Test for Oxygen.

Determination of Small Quantities of Arsenic in Sulphur. By H. SCHAEPPI.

III. BIOLOGY, ETC.--Researches on Animals Containing Chlorophyl. --Abstract of a long and valuable paper "On the Nature and Functions of the Yellow Cells of Radiolarians and Coelenterates," read to the Royal Society of Edinburgh. By PATRICK GEDDES.

The Hibernation of Animals, An interesting review of the winter habits of some of our familiar animals, insects, etc.

IV. HORTICULTURE, SILK CULTURE, ETC.--How to Plant Trees. By N. ROBERTSON.

The Growth of Palms.

The Future of Silk Culture in the United States. Report of United States Consul Peixotto, of Lyons. A valuable and encouraging summary of the conditions and prospects of silk culture in the United States.

V. TECHNOLOGY, ETC.--Compressed Oil Gas for Lighting Cars, Steamboats, and Buoys. An elaborate description of the apparatus and appliances of the Pintsch system of illumination. 14 figures. Elevation and plan of works.--Cars.--Locomotive and car lamps.--Buoys.--Regulations, etc.

VI. ART, ARCHITECTURE, ETC.--Cast Iron in Architecture.

VII. ELECTRICITY, MAGNETISM, ETC.--On the Mechanical Production of Electric Currents. 12 figures.

Rousse's Secondary Battery.

VIII. MISCELLANEOUS.--Dangers from Lightning in Blasting.

The Tincal Trade of Asia.

Sir W. Palliser. Obituary and summary of his inventions.

The Tides. Influence of the tides upon the history of the earth.

Drilling Glass.

* * * * *

MACHINE TOOLS FOR BOILER-MAKERS.

We give this week an engraving of a radial drilling machine designed especially for the use of boiler-makers, this machine, together with the plate bending rolls, forming portion of a plant constructed for Messrs. Beesley and Sons, boiler makers, of Barrow-in-Furness.

This radial drill, which is a tool of substantial proportions, is adapted not only for ordinary drilling work, but also for turning the ends of boiler shells, for cutting out of flue holes tube boring, etc. As will be seen from our engraving, the pillar which supports the radial arm is mounted on a massive baseplate, which also carries a circular table 6 ft. in diameter, this table having a worm-wheel cast on it as shown. This table is driven by a worm gearing into the wheel just mentioned. On this table boiler ends up to 8 ft. in diameter can be turned up, the turning tool being carried by a slide rest, which is mounted on the main baseplate, as shown, and which is adjustable vertically and radially.

For cutting out flue holes a steel boring head is employed, this head having a round end which fits into the center of the table. When this work is being done the radial arm is brought into the lowest position. Flue holes 40 in. in diameter can thus be cut out.

The machine has a 4 in. steel spindle with self-acting variable feed motion through a range of 10 in., and the radial arm is raised or lowered by power through a range of 2 ft. 8 in. When the arm is in its highest position there is room for a piece of work 4 ft. high between the circular table and the lower end of the spindle. The circular table serves as a compound table for ordinary work, and the machine is altogether a very useful one for boiler-makers.

The plate-bending rolls, which are illustrated on first page, are 10 ft. long, and are made of wrought iron, the top roll being 12 in. and the two bottom rolls 10 in. in diameter. Each of the bottom rolls carries at its end a large spur-wheel, these spur-wheels, which are on opposite sides of the machine, each gearing into a pinion on a shaft which runs from end to end below the rolls, and which is itself geared to the shaft carrying the belt pulleys, as shown. This is a very simple and direct mode of driving, and avoids the necessity for small wheels on the rolls. There is no swing frame, but the top roll is arranged to draw through between the arms of the spur-wheels, a very substantially framed machine being thus obtained.

The chief novelty in the machine is the additional roll provided under the ordinary bottom rolls. This extra roll, which is used for straightening old plates and for bending small tubes, pipes, etc., is made of steel, and is 7 in. in diameter by 5 ft. long. It is provided with a swing frame at one end to allow of taking-off pipes when bent, etc., and it is altogether a very useful addition.

The machine we illustrate weighs 11 tons, and is all self-contained, the standards being mounted on a strong bedplate, which also carries the bearings for the shaft with fast and loose pulleys, belt gear, etc. Thus no foundation is required.--_Engineering_.

* * * * *

MODERN ORDNANCE.

[Footnote: A paper read Feb. 8, 1882, before the Society of Arts, London.]

By COLONEL MAITLAND.

A great change has lately been taking place throughout Europe in the matter of armaments. Artillery knowledge has been advancing "by leaps and bounds;" and all the chief nations are vying with each other in the perfection of their _matériel_ of war. As a readiness to fight is the best insurance for peace, it behooves us to see from time to time how we stand, and the present moment is a peculiarly suitable one for taking stock of our powers and capabilities. I propose, therefore, to give you, this evening, a brief sketch of the principles of manufacture of modern guns, at home and abroad, concluding with a few words on their employment and power.

The introduction of rifled cannon into practical use, about twenty years ago, caused a complete revolution in the art of gun-making. Cast iron and bronze were found no longer suitable for the purpose. Cast iron was too brittle to sustain the pressure of the powder gas, when its duration was increased by the use of elongated projectiles; while the softness of bronze was ill adapted to retain the nicety of form required by accurate rifling.

From among a cloud of proposals, experiments, and inventions, two great systems at length disentangled themselves. They were the English construction of built-up wrought iron coils, and the Prussian construction of solid steel castings.

Wrought-iron, as you are all aware, is nearly pure iron, containing but a trace of carbon. Steel, as used for guns, contains from 0.3 to 0.5 per cent of carbon; the larger the quantity of carbon, the harder the steel. Since the early days of which I am now speaking, great improvement has taken place in the qualities of both materials, but more especially in that of steel. Still the same general characteristics were to be noted, and it may be broadly stated, that England chose confessedly the weaker material, as being more under control, cheaper, and safer to intrust with the lives of men; while Prussia selected the stronger but less manageable substance, in the hope of improving its uniformity, and rendering it thoroughly trustworthy. The difference in strength, when both are sound, is great. Roughly, gun steel is about twice as strong as wrought iron.

I must now say a few words on the nature of the strains to which a piece of ordnance is subjected when fired. Gunpowder is commonly termed an explosive, but this hardly represents its qualities accurately. With a true explosive, such as gun-cotton, nitro glycerine and its compounds, detonation and conversion of the whole into gas are practically instantaneous, whatever the size of the mass; while, with gunpowder, only the exterior of the grain or lump burns and gives off gas, so that the larger the grain the slower the combustion. The products consist of liquids and gases. The gas, when cooled down to ordinary temperature, occupies about 280 times the volume of the powder. At the moment of combustion, it is enormously expanded by heat, and its volume is probably somewhat about 6,000 times that of the powder. I have here a few specimens of the powders used for different sizes of guns, rising from the fine grain of the mountain gun to the large prisms and cylinders fired in our heavy ordnance. You will readily perceive that, with the fine-grained powders, the rapid combustion turned the whole charge into gas before the projectile could move far away from its seat, setting up a high pressure which acted violently on both gun and shot, so that a short, sharp strain, approximating to a blow, had to be guarded against.

With the large slow-bursting powders now used, long heavy shells move quietly off under the impulse of a gradual evolution of gas, the presence of which continues to increase till the projectile has moved a foot or more; then ensues a contest between the increasing volume of the 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 toward the great desideratum, a low maximum pressure long sustained.

When quick burning powder was used for ordnance, the pressures were short and sharp; the metal in immediate proximity to the charge was called upon to undergo severe strains, which had scarcely time to reach the more distant portions of the gun at all; the exterior was not nearly so much strained as the interior. In order to obviate this defect, and to bring the exterior of the gun into play, the system of building up guns of successive tubes was introduced. These tubes were put one over the other in a state of tension produced by "shrinkage." This term is applied to the process of expanding a tube by the application of heat, and in that condition fitting it over a tube larger than the inner diameter of the outer tube when cold. When the outer tube cools it contracts on the inner tube and clutches it fast. The wrought-iron guns of England have all been put together in this manner.

Prussia at first relied on the superior strength of solid castings of steel to withstand the explosive strain, but at length found the necessity for re-enforcing them with hoops of the same material, shrunk on the body of the piece.

The grand principle of shrinkage enables the gunmaker to bring into play the strength of the exterior of the gun, even with quick powders, and to a still greater extent as the duration of the strain increases with the progress of powder manufacture. Thus, taking our largest muzzle-loaders designed a few years ago, the thin steel lining tube, which forms an excellent surface, is compressed considerably by the wrought-iron breech coil holding it, which, in its turn, is compressed by the massive exterior coil. When the gun is fired, the strain is transmitted at once, or nearly at once, to the breech coil, and thence more slowly to the outer one. Now, as the duration of the pressure increases, owing to the use of larger charges of slower burning powder, it is evident that the more complete and effective will be the transmission of the strain to the exterior, and, consequently, the further into the body of the gun, starting from the bore, and traveling outward, does it become advantageous to employ the stronger material. Hence, in England, we had reason to congratulate ourselves on the certainty and cheapness of manufacture of wrought iron coils, as long as moderate charges of comparatively quick burning powder were employed, and as long as adherence to a muzzle-loading system permitted the projectiles to move away at an early period of the combustion of the charge. Then the pressures, though sharp, were of short duration, and were not thoroughly transmitted through the body of the gun, so that the solidity, mass, and compression of the surrounding coils proved usually sufficient to support the interior lining. Now that breech-loading and slow powders have been introduced, these conditions have been changed. The strains, though less severe, and less tending to explosive rupture, last longer, and are more fully transmitted through the body of the gun. Sheer strength of material now tells more, and signs have not been wanting that coils of wrought iron afford insufficient support to the lining. It becomes, therefore, advantageous to thicken the inner tube, and to support it with a steel breech piece. Carrying this principle further, we shall be led to substitute the stronger for the weaker metal throughout the piece. This has been done by the Germans in the first instance, and recently by the French also. It is probable that we shall follow the same course. When I say "probable," I intentionally guard myself against uttering a prediction. It is never safe to prophesy, unless you know, as the American humorist puts it. And in this case we do not know, for a very dangerous rival, once defeated, but now full of renewed vigor, has entered the lists against forged steel as a material for ordnance. This rival's name is _wire_. Tempered steel wires can be made of extraordinary strength. A piece of round section, only one thirty-fifth of an inch in diameter, will just sustain a heavy man.

If, now, a steel tube, suitable for the lining of a gun, be prepared by having wire wound round it very tightly, layer over layer, it will be compressed as the winding proceeds, and the tension of the wire will act as shrinkage. You will readily understand that a gun can be thus formed, having enormous strength to resist bursting. Unfortunately, the wires have no cohesion with one another, and the great difficulty with construction of this kind is to obtain what gun-makers call end strength. It is of but little use to make your walls strong enough, if the first round blows the breech out. In the early days of wire this was what happened, and Mr. Longridge, who invented the system, was compelled to abandon it.

Lately, methods have been devised in France, by M. Schultz; at Elswick, by Sir W.G. Armstrong & Co.; and at Woolwich, by ourselves, for getting end strength with wire guns. They are all in the experimental stage; they may prove successful; but I prefer not to prophesy at present.

The diagrams on the wall show the general construction of the modern German, French, and English heavy breech-loading guns. The Germans have a tube, a jacket, and hoops. The French, a thick tube or body, and hoops. The English, a tube, a jacket, and an overcoat, as it may be called. In each system of construction, the whole of the wall of the gun comes into play to resist the transverse bursting strain of the charge.

The longitudinal or end strength varies: thus, in the German guns, the tube and hoops do nothing--the jacket is considered sufficient. The French construction relies entirely on the thick body, while the English method aims at utilizing the whole section of the gun, both ways. Of course, if the others are strong enough, there is no particular advantage in this; and it is by no means improbable that eventually we shall find it cheaper, and equally good, to substitute hoops for the "overcoat."

I fear I have detained you a long time over construction, but it is both instructive and interesting to note that certain well defined points of contact now exist between all the great systems. Thus, a surface of steel inside the bore is common to all, and the general use of steel is spreading fast. Shrinkage, again, is now everywhere employed, and such differences as still exist are matters rather of detail than of principle, as far as systems of construction are concerned.

We now come to a part of the question which has long been hotly debated in this country, and about which an immense quantity of matter has been both spoken and written on opposite sides--I mean muzzle loading and breech-loading. The controversy has been a remarkable one, and, perhaps, the most remarkable part of it has been the circumstance that while there is now little doubt that the advocates of breech-loading were on the right side, their reasons were for the most part fallacious. Thus, they commonly stated that a gun loaded at the breech could be more rapidly fired than one loaded at the muzzle. Now, this was certainly not the case, at any rate, with the comparatively short guns which were made on both systems a few years ago. The public were acquainted with breech-loaders only in the form of sporting guns and rifles, and argued from them. The muzzle-loading thirty eight ton guns were fired in a casemate at Shoeburyness repeatedly in less than twenty minutes for ten rounds, with careful aiming. No breech-loader of corresponding size has, I think, ever beaten that rate. With field-guns in the open, the No. 1 of the detachment can aim his muzzle loader while it is being loaded, while he must wait to do so till loading at the breech is completed. Again, it was freely stated that, with breech-loaders greater protection was afforded to the gunners than with the muzzle-loaders. This entirely depends on how the guns are mounted. If in siege works or _en barbette_, it is much easier to load a muzzle loader under cover than a breech-loader. But I need not traverse the old ground all over again. It is sufficient for me to say here, that the real cause which has rendered breech-loading an absolute necessity is the improvement which has been made in the powder. You witnessed a few minutes ago the change which took place in the action of fired gunpowder when the grains were enlarged. You will readily understand that nearly the whole of a quick burning charge was converted into gas before the shot had time to start; suppose for the moment that the combustion was really instantaneous. Then we have a bore, say sixteen diameters long, with the cartridge occupying a length of, say, two diameters.

The pressure of the gas causes the shot to move. The greater the pressure, the greater the impulse given. As the shot advances, the pressure lessens; and it lessens in proportion to the distance the shot proceeds. Thus, when the shot has proceeded a distance equal to the length of the cartridge, the space occupied by the gas is doubled, and its original pressure is halved. As the shot travels another cartridge length, the space occupied by the gas is trebled, and its pressure will be but one-third of the original amount. When the shot arrives at the muzzle--that is, at eight times the length of the cartridge from the breech--the pressure will be but one ninth of that originally set up. Remember, this is on the supposition that the powder has been entirely converted into gas before the shot begins to move.

Now, suppose the powder to be of a slow-burning kind, and assume that only one-third of it has been converted into gas before the shot starts, then the remaining two-thirds will be giving off additional gas as the shot travels through the bore. Instead, therefore, of the pressure falling rapidly, as the shot approaches the muzzle, the increasing quantity of gas tends to make up for the increasing space holding it. You will at once perceive that the slower the combustion of the powder the less difference there will be in the pressure exerted by the gas at the breech and at the muzzle, and the greater will be the advantage, in point of velocity, of lengthening the bore, and so keeping the shot under the influence of the pressure. Hence, all recent improvement has tended toward larger charges of slower burning powder, and increased length of bore. And it is evident that the longer the bore of the gun, the greater is the convenience of putting the charge in behind, instead of having to ram it home from the front. I may here remark, that the increased length of gun necessary to produce the best effect is causing even those who have possessed breech-loaders for many years to rearm, just as completely as we are now beginning to do. All the old short breech loading guns are becoming obsolete. Another great advantage of breech-loading is the facility afforded for enlarging the powder chamber of the gun, so that a comparatively short, thick cartridge may be I employed, without any definite restriction due to the size of the bore.

There is yet one more point in which breech-loading has recently been found, in the Royal Gun Factory, to possess a great advantage over muzzle-loading as regards ballistic effect. With a shot loaded from the front, it is clear that it must be smaller all over than the bore, or it would not pass down to its seat. A shot thrust in from behind, on the contrary, may be furnished with a band or sheath of comparatively soft metal larger than the bore; the gas then acting on the base of the projectile, forces the band through the grooves, sealing the escape, entering the projectile, and, to a great extent, mitigating the erosion of surface. This is, of course, universally known. It is also pretty generally known among artillerists that the effect of the resistance offered by the band or sheathing on the powder is to cause more complete combustion of the charge before the shot moves, and therefore to raise the velocity and the pressure. But I believe it escaped notice, till observed in May, 1880, in the Royal Gun Factory, that this circumstance affords a most steady and convenient mode of regulating the consumption of the charge, so as to obtain the best results with the powder employed.