WHAT THEY ARE DOING AT WOOLWICH.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 193, 26 August 1859, Page 3

WHAT THEY ARE DOING AT WOOLWICH.

■' . . ( From the Times.) At Woolwich, the great manufacturing centre for destructive weapons and warlike, material of _11 kinds, works in every department have been suddenly urged forward, and with the exception that the men are not yet engaged day and night —a continuance of labor which would add very little to the amount of production—the same activity is observable as during the very height of the Crimean war. Woolwich arsenal is the greatest depot and manufactory of warlike stores, not only in this country, but of its kind in the world, and the activity that is visible liei© is a fair sample of what is going forward at all the naval and military stations throughout the kingdom. The new gun factory at Woolwich is not, at present, contributing its quota to the general din of preparation. About a fortnight or three weeks ago, sudden orders came down to construct two additional furnaces, which have accordingly been erected, and working easily with these the fouudry can now turn out ten 68-pounders a week; but in case of emergenoy, and working overtime, this number can at any moment be doubled. Under the old contract system, all the shot and shell used in our wars were made by private firms at an average price of about £12 per ton. During the Crimean war the enormous expenditure for material of this kind alone at last directed attention to the subject, and a foundry was erected at the Arsenal for the special manufacture *of shot and shell. Tbe success which attended this plan led to its gradual extension ; till now all the shot and shell we are ever likely to use in wars of the greatest magnitude could be supplied witli ease by the every'-day working of the Arsenal foundry, and this, too, at a saving to the nation of no less than ,£6 per ton. Just now this department is unusually active, and is turning out shot and shell at the rate of 26,000 rounds per week. Working overtime and during the night, the weekly total can be raised to nearly 40,000 rounds. Close by the new gun factory at Woolwich, a newer one still is about to be erected for the manufacture of Sir William Armstrong's breech-loaders., The intended edifice will not be a very large building, as the large range of foundries, erected at a cost of some .£250,000 sterling for the manufacture of the worthless Lancaster guns and shot, are now to be given over, with all their plant, to assibt in making Armstrong's artillery. The Lancaster factory machinery, containing 13 large furnaces and 9 steam hammers, will now at last be put to some good use, and before this time twelve months, Woolwich ought to be able to turn out, at the very least, 300 of these splendid guns per annum. We, of course, could not thiuk of saying that the military authorities of this country ever seora ridiculous, but if there is one occasion more than another when they go very near to assuming tbat undignified appearance, it is when they make a great parade of possessing a secret invention which is never to be divulged. Thus it has been with the Armstrong cannon, which has been watched, bidden, and guarded, a3 if every lounging civilian who cast his eye on it was certain at once not only to divine the whole process of its most intricate manufacture, but ins antly therefrom to be able himself to make any number offhand for foreign potentates. With Armstrong's gun there is literally no secret worth preserving at all, save that great one which can neither be sold or divulged—our manufacturing superiority.. If an Armstrong's gun was presented to-each arsenals in' Europe, their engineers might and would undoubtedly . try to make them, but their efforts would only result in long delay, immense expenditure,.and lin their sending over to have them made here

after all. It is a popular, but, nevertheless, a very great error to suppose that the weapons which are made here, if seen, can at once be made to any extent in the arsenals of France, Russia, Austria, or Prussia. As a proof of this," we have only to look at the Miriie rifle, which, long as its paramount advantages have been known, is, nevertheless, used entirely by no army in the world but our own. Our readers may be surprised, but it is still strictly true, that the armies of France, Russia, Prussia, and Austria, with the exception of about five per cent., of their entire numbers, who are armed as sharpshooters, have no better weapon ■ than' the discarded Brown Bess. Nine-tenths of the small proportion of rifles to. be found in tbe Austrian, Russian, and Prussian armies are made at. Liege, where they can be manufactured at the rate of about 500 a week. The French make their own, but very slowly, and a heavier or more awkward weapon to use, than" their Chasseurs possess it would be hard to devise as a firearm, though in range and accuracy it is nearly equal to the Minie. These facts at least shew that there is no fear either of the eagerness of foreign Powers to secure, improvements for their armies,, or of their capacity of adopting them even when their value is. well and widely known. The Emperor of the French made a great mystery ,pf his rifled field pieces, yet, great as are his means of securing secrecy, our Government; have information of every guv he has: mide.^iKe ,LbeUeve that we are right in stating that nbt-i00: have yet been constructed, and these are only very light guns, rifled in four grooves, and made to fire cylindrical shots cased with lead to fit the rifling. This is certainly an improvement on the ordinary field piece, but as inferior to Armstrong's gun as a pocket pistol is to the Enfield rifln. But, to return to the Armstrong weapon The principle on which it is made and its mode of manufacture are well known in the neighborhood of Sir William's works at Newcastle, and, if we are not much mistaken, good working drawings of the invention are already at Paris and St. Petersburg, though they might as well be here for all the practical use that is likely to be made of them just now in those countries. 200 guos are to be made this year by Sir William Armstrong—all of them nine, twelve, and e'ghteen pounder field guns,, a number quite sufficient to supply all our field artillery batteries. Before long, however,, we hope to see guns of 50 cwt., which will throw a 90 or 100 pound ball a distance of five miles. Each gun is made in about three feet lengths, and on much the same principle as the twisted gun barrels. Thin bar 9of the .best wrought iron, about two inches broad, are heated to a white heat, and in this state twisted and welded together in spiral rolls round a steel bar or core, smaller in diameter than the bore of tbe gun. Over this, when cold, another twist of the same kind is made with the spiral running in a contrary direction, and so, until three or four layers have been put on, according to the calibre of the gun and the thickness required. The whole is then re-heated and welded together for the last time under the steam hammer. The edges of the three feet lengths are next planed down so as to admit their joining and lapping over, -and over these edges are forced on thick wrought iron rings, wh:ch, being wolded down at a white heat, of course contract so as to make the joint almost stronger than if made in one piece. In the breech an opening is cut down into the chamber; but the breech itself is separate from.the- gun, and is worked backwards by : apower'ful .■screw.-1 When the gun is to be loaded, the breech v worked back and a wedge-shaped piece, fitting into the opening of the gun, lifted out, but n**t to admit the introduction of the charge, which ia pushed forward with a ramrod at the back, working through the large screw in which the breech turns into the chamber, where the rifling begins. The wedge is then replaced, the breech screwed close by a single turn of a lever handle, and the gun fired. The ope.ation of loading and firing can be performed, we believe, three times in one minute. Apart from the simple but effective mechanism of the breach the great merit of this gun consists in the manner in wbich it is formed in spirals of metal bund?, which giv< s it such an ehorra ws iicrease of strength that one half the thickness of iron can be dispensed with. Thus, an ordi n:iry long 32-pouuder weighs 57 cwt., and requires 10 lb. of powder to throw a ball to its utmost effective range, 3000 yards. Sir W. Armstrong's 32-pounder only weighs 26 cwt, and a charge of 5 lb. of powder throws its shot 5| miles, or nearly 10,000 yards. In a 32----pounder of this latter kind there are no less than 44 rifle grooves', having one pitch in 10 feet, or making one complete twist round the inside of a gun of that length. A greater pitch would no doubt give greater impetus to the shot, but the risk of "stripping" the lead was so great that it could not be attempted. The si ot used are iron and cylindrical, and at first were completely covered over with lead; but this plan has just been altered, and the shot have now only 2 rings of lead | inch thick, and 1^ inch broad, one 6t the shoulder and one at the base of the cone. Both these rings are dovetailed, so^ to speak, into the iron shot, so as to leave about one tenth of an inch to fit the rifling. Thus, when the cartridge is ignited, the ball is forced forward from the chamber into the narrow bore, which it fills so closely, being actually too large for it, that there i_» no windage* whatever, and every .portion of the explosive force is applied'to piqje'eting the ball. The gun oh which the Government experimented for months at Shcebiiryness, before adopting it, was actually fired^3soo times, and yet it is as serviceable as the fday it left the foundry. So perfect is the weapon as to accuracy that it is said that at 4000 yards a target 30 feet square could be hit 90 times out of 100 by a good artilleryman. On the whole, even from this br'e* summary f thepreparati n at Woolwich, our readers will be able to see that they are on a somewhat extensive scale, and, if only intended for defensive purposes, are of a nature well calculated to make even the most timid sleep securely. But whether meant for defensive or offensive operations, it is rather a comfort as well as a novelty to know that this time we are well prepared f>r whatever eventualities may arise, and that if unfortunately England be compelled to take part in the war, it will be with such power and resources at command as will astound the world. The Crimea has been a severe and bitter lesson; but costly as its experience has proved, it has been invaluable of its kind.