WILKINSON ON ENGINES OF WAR.
Ma. WILKINSON, we believe, is a member of the firm so celebrated for its fire-arms ; and his attention having been of necessity directed to this class of weapons as a manufacturer, a liberal curiosity impelled him to investigate the history of warlike engines in all ages, the materials of which they were composed, and the philoso- phical principles on which they played their respective parts in destruction. Some years ago a portion of his inquiries were given to the world in a lecture at the Royal Institution " on the Warlike Machines of the Ancients," and he appears to have communicated some isolated views to scientific publications. The volume before us, however, contains the pith of his previous writing, reading, and experiments.
Engines of War consists of three parts. The first is historical, being a sketch of the origin and use of the various implements of various nations, from the club and the bow up to the death-bearing tube ; the second part is descriptive, containing an account of the methods of manufacturing swords, guns, and gunpowder ; the third is disquisitional, involving an inquiry, illustrated by experiments, into the strength of bronze—which alone appears to have been used by the ancients for many ages, both for tools and weapons ; the cause of the beauty of Damascus blades, &c. Of these three sections, the first is rapid and clear ; but it is only a compilation, not merely wanting in the raciness and fulness which result front original observation, but in that speculation upon the comparative merits of different arms, which a philosophical soldier, who "had set a squadron in the field," would have been able to have indulged in. The other sections may not be so popularly attractive, but they are much more curious and valuable. The experiments will afford useful guides to the manufacturer, or improvable hints to the speculator ; whilst many of the facts are curious in themselves, and strikingly illustrate some social or general truths. In the historical section we have the cream of an able man's reading on a subject in which he takes an interest ; in the descriptive or disquisitional parts we have the original observations of the same mind employed upon matters of which it has a practical know- ledge and in which it takes a direct interest.
One point very strongly brought out by one of the manufacturing narratives, is the utility existent in things apparently worthless, when knowledge and circumstances enable them to be turned to account ; the time and repeated touchings requisite to produce
.:
**" 11•:^b, - • anti the commerce that civilization and CILLGILVAICV MA M 1.44Au manufactures tend to create, even in such a thing as old nails. The best material for fowling-piece barrels is stub-iron ; which is thus manufactured- " In order to make stub-iron, old horse-shoe nails, called stubs, are collected, then packed closely together and bound with an iron hoop, so as to form a ball about ten or twelve inches in circumference; which, being put into a fur- nace or forge-fire, and raised to a welding heat, is united by hammering, and drawn out into bars of convenient lengths for the purposes intended. This method is adopted for the locks, furniture, and breechings of all best guns, and is to a certain extent practised for barrels, though not so much as formerly, more expeditious methods being employed on a large scale ; and the quantity that can be obtained in this country being not only inadequate to the demand, but inferior in quality, immense numbers of horse-shoe nails are imported from France, Holland, Sweden, and other parts of the Continent, in casks containing from sixteen to eighteen hundredweight each. The most approved modern method of converting them into gun-barrels, (after carefully sorting and pick- ing them, to see that no cast-iron or impurities are mixed with them,) is first to put about half a hundredweight into a large cast-iron drum or cylinder, crossed internally with iron bars, through the centre of which a shaft passes, which is connected by a strap with the steam-engine, and the revolution of thm drum actually polishes the nails by their friction against each other ; they are then sifted, by which every particle of dust is removed. The steel intended to be mixed with them is clipped by means of large shears worked by the engine, into small pieces, corresponding in size to the stubs, and afterwards cleansed by a similar process. About forty pounds are thrown on to the inclined hearth of an air-furnace, where they are puddled or mixed together with a long iron rod, and withdrawn in a mass called a bloom, almost in a state of fusion, to be welded under a hammer of three tons weight, by which it is formed into a long square block : this being put in at another door of the same air-furnace, is raised to a bright red heat, and drawn out under a tilt-hammer of a ton and a half weight, into bars of a proper size to pass the rollers, by means of which it is reduced to rods of the required size. The air-furnace having two doors, pre- vents any loss of time, as the moment one ball of stubs is withdrawn another char,,oe is put in, and the two operations go on together, keeping both hammers employed. The iron thus produced is very tough, and free from specks or greys; but stubs are hardly ever used alone, as they were formerly, being too soft ; therefore a portion ot steel is mixed with them, which varies from one- eighth to one-half of the whole mass. It need hardly be remarked, that the advantage to be derived from the use of horse-shoe-nails does not arise from any virtue in the horse's hoof, as some have imagined, but simply because good iron is, or ought to be, originally employed for the purpose, otherwise the nails will not drive into the hoof; and the iron being worked much more, IS freed from its impurities, which can only be effected by repeated workings." But, alas ! the rage for cheapness is driving out stub-barrels, and Birmingham has grown big by means of mediocrity or worse. "The object of preparing iron from small pieces, is to cross an interweave the fibres in every possible direction, and thus greatly to increase its tenacity. Very few plain stub barrels are now made, as iron of inferior quality, when twisted, finds a more ready sale in the Birmingham market than good old- fashioned stubs, which are nearly extinct, in consequence of the mania for cheapness in every branch of manufacture. • • * The fineness of the Da- mascus depends on the number and thickness of the alternations; and the figure of the riband when brought out by acids resembles that of a curled ostrich- feather ; but when wound into a spiral form, and united on its edges by jumpulfr the edges bend round and the figure is completed. The French Damascus us usually finer than ours, and they sometimes veneer it on common iron ; but this is constantly done in Birmingham, where every species of deception is practised on a large scale, and they often wind a thin riband of Damascus, or superior iron, round iron of the worst quality : even gas-tubing is coosidered good enough, when coated in this manner, to form gun-barrels of a very low price with a high-priced appearance."
The beauty and excellence of the old Damascus blades have long been the theme of praise, and their manufacture has ranked among the lost arts. Mr. WILKINSON investigates the subject with the skill of a craftsman and the acumen of a philosopher. lifis facts and arguments will not bear abridgment, and are too long to quote; but the results may be stated. The mere metallic excel- lence of the blade has been and can be equalled by modern manufacturers, if people will only pay for it. The beauty of the 'figured steel is not a merit of the maker, but an accident arising from the mode in which the best Indian steel is manufactured,— that accident, in reality, springing from the limited extent of the demand and the inferior implements with which the process of manufacture is carried on ; one circumstance causing a chemical . action to take place in the furnace, which forms a pattern, and the smallness of the bars giving great variety to the patterns so -formed.
We will close our notice of Engines of War with a few germane extracts of a miscellaneous kind.
PRINCIPLES OF DESTRUCTION.
The projectile force of gunpowder depends on the instantaneous conversion of the solid materials into a permanently elastic fluid, which is at the same time greatly increased in volume by the intensity of heat, (which I have ex- perimentally found, even on a very small scale, sufficient to melt copper in- stantly.) Now it has beefi ascertained that one cubic inch of gunpowder is converted into 256 cubic inches of permanent gases when cooled down to the temperature of the atmosphere; and Dr. Hutton has calculated that the in- crease of volume at the moment of ignition cannot be less than eight times : therefore a cubic inch of gunpowder at the time of explosion, if confined, exerts a pressure of at least 2,000 pounds on the square inch in every direction, which may at once account for its extraordinary power.
A CLLNCHER ON ARMOUR.
Philip de Comines has recorded, that at the battle of Fournoue, under Charles the Eighth, a number of Italian knights, who were overthrown and unable to rise on account of the weight of their armour, could not be killed until they were broken up like huge lobsters, with wood-cutters' axes, by the servants and followers of the army; which fully justified the observation of James the First, who, speaking in praise of armour, said, "That it not only protected the wearer, lint prevented him from doing any injury to others." In fact, we find in se- veral battles about the time referred to, that not a single knight was slain. An anecdote in point is also related of George the Fourth. After the battle of Wa- terloo. it was proposed to make some change in the dress of the Life Guards : the King ordered one of the soldiers to be sent for, who had greatly distinguished himself, and was said to have slain six or seven French Cuirassiers in single combat. He was asked a variety of questions, to each of which he assented ; until the King, perceiving that his opinion was biassed by the presence of royalty and his own officers, said to him, "Well, if you were going to have such another day's work as you had at 'Waterloo, bow would you like to be dressed?" "Please your Majesty," he replied, "in that case I had rather be in my shirt-sleeves."
AN IRON AGE.
Iron has been applied to numerous useful purposes by every civilized nation, for thousands of years ; but never has it been so extensively employed as at the present period. We have iron roads and iron carriages ; the "wooden walls of old England" will probably be made of iron in another century ; nu- merous steam-boats are already constructed of that material ; the cushions of -our chairs are stuffed with iron in place of horsehair ; and not only our bed- steads, but even our feather-beds (to use an Hibernicism) are made of iron. DIVISION OF LABOUR IN A GUN.
Every best-finished gun usually passes through fifteen or sixteen hands, each of which constitutes almost a distinct trade ; although two or three branches are often combined or subdivided, according to the extent of business. They may be arranged in the following order: 1. Barrel-forger; 2. lock and furni- ture forger; 3. barrel barer and filer; 4. lock-filer : 5. furniture-filer; 6. ribber and breecher; 7. stocker; 8. screwer-together; 9. detonator ; 10. maker-off; 11. stripper and finisher ; 12. lock-finisher; 13. polisher and hardener; 14. engraver; 15. browner; 16. stock-polisher. The barrel-making being also divided into several branches.
Previous page
