Discoveries and Inventions of the Nineteenth Century

kind of guns. Thus at Elswick a 6 in. quick firing gun, upon which men are employed night and day, cannot be completed in less than five months, and sixteen months are required for making a 67–ton gun. We may take as an illustration of the progress of modern artillery one of the products of the Elswick factory which has just been referred to, and for which the demand from all quarters has been unprecedentedly great, namely, the 4·7 inch gun. This weapon is mounted in various manners according to the position it has to occupy, whether for a land defence, or on ship-board between decks, or on the upper deck. The arrangement shown in Fig. 99, which is reproduced from Messrs. Lloyd & Hadcock’s work, is known as the centre pivot mounting, and is suitable for such a position as the upper deck of a ship. The reader should compare the proportions and mounting of this weapon with those of the old 32–pounder sketched in Fig. 90, observing the very much greater comparative length of the modern weapon, and the mechanism for elevating and training it (which, however, the scale of the drawing crowds into too small a space to show as it deserves). C is a projection from the breech, to which is attached the piston of the recoil press; at T is the handle for training, which actuates a worm at V; the elevation is regulated by the turning of the four-armed wheel. The long chase of the gun projects in front; but the mounting and the breech machinery are protected by shields of thick steel, of which the sections of two plates are denoted by the dark upright parts in front. These are fixed; but a movable plate above the gun can be raised or lowered into an inclined position, for better taking sights. In the figure this is shown as open and in a horizontal position. This gun is provided with sights by which it can be aimed at night; that is, the sights can be illuminated by small electric lamps suitably placed; the wires connecting these with voltaic battery cells carried on the mounting are indicated. The figure represents the gun as constructed about 1893, but the improvements that are continually being made have brought about some modifications in the details. Fig. 99.—Elswick 4·7 inch Q. F. Gun on Pivot Mounting. Very notable among the productions of the great Elswick factory are the quick firing guns. These were at first confined to guns of small calibre, such as the 6–pounders. They are, of course, all breech-loaders, and the powder and shot are both contained in a single metallic cartridge 208case. A more formidable weapon of the same class is the 45–pounder rapid firing gun, which, like the rest, is constructed entirely of steel, with a total length of 16 ft. 2½ in., a calibre of 4·724 in., and a length of bore equal to 40 diameters. The weight of this gun is 41 cwt., and it throws a shell of 45 lbs. weight with a 12–lb. charge of gunpowder. Quick firing guns having a calibre of 6 in. are now also made in great numbers for arming our ironclads. The breech block in the quick firing guns turns aside on a hinge, and after the introduction of the cartridge it is closed and screwed up to its place by a slight turn of a handle. The piece is then pointed and trained by aid of mechanical gearing as in the case of the heavier guns. But Mr. Hotchkiss has introduced a simpler method of elevating and training his 3–pounder and 6–pounder quick firing guns, by attaching to the rear, and unaffected by the recoil, a shoulder piece against which the marksman can lean, and move the weapon as he takes his aim. Though these guns weigh respectively 4½ cwt. and 7 cwt., they can thus be pointed with the greatest ease. The firing is done by pulling a trigger in what seems like the stock of a pistol. The empty cartridge case is automatically extracted from the firing chamber by the act of opening the breech, and it drops to the ground. Ten or twelve rounds per minute can be fired from these guns, and Lord Armstrong has advocated the use of a number of them for naval armament in preference to that of a few ordinary breech-loaders of more unwieldy dimensions. He has calculated that in a given time a far greater weight of metal can be projected from a vessel armed with quick firing guns than from one provided only with the heavier class of cannons. The breech pieces in the Elswick guns are closed on the “interrupted screw” system—that is, a very large screw thread of V-shaped section is cut in the barrel at the breech end, and a corresponding thread on the principal part of the breech block, which is, of course, capable of rotating about the axis. The screw threads, however, are not continuous, segments parallel to the axis being cut away, the spaces in the outer thread corresponding with the projecting parts in the inner, and vice versâ, so that when the block is pushed home, one very small part of a turn suffices to engage all the threads. The screw is also made conical, and is so cut into steps, as it were, that great resisting power is brought into play. The Elswick guns are provided with hydraulic buffers for checking the recoil, and the principle is applied in various modified forms. In some cases the pistons allow for the water a passage, which towards the end gradually diminishes. This is the arrangement for the 3–pounder rapid firing Hotchkiss gun, and the force of the recoil is made at the same time to compress two springs, which serve to return the gun to the firing position. This very handy gun is said to be able to fire twenty rounds per minute. In Mr. Vavasseur’s plan of mounting, the recoil is checked by ports, or openings, in the piston of a hydraulic cylinder being gradually closed, which is easily arranged by making a spiral groove within the cylinder, which gives a small axial motion to part of the piston. Fig. 100.—The Moncrieff Gun raised and ready for firing. Fig. 101.—Moncrieff Gun lowered for loading. An extremely effective plan for the defence of coasts and harbours was originated by Colonel Moncrieff, when about 1863 he contrived a method of mounting large guns on the disappearing system, by which almost complete protection against hostile fire is given to both gun and gunners. He utilizes the recoil as a means of bringing the gun down into a protected position the moment it has been fired, and retains this energy by a simple arrangement until the piece has been reloaded, when it is 209allowed to expend itself by again raising the gun above the parapet into the original firing position. The configuration and action of Colonel Moncrieff’s gun-carriage will be understood by an inspection of the annexed illustrations, where in Fig. 100 is shown the gun raised above 210the parapet and ready for firing. When the discharge takes place, the gun, if free, would move backwards with a certain speed, but the disposition of the mounting is such that this initial velocity receives no sudden check, the force being expended in raising a heavy counterpoise, and at the same time the gun is permitted to descend, while maintaining a direction parallel to its firing position. At the end of the descent, which, it must be understood, is caused by the force of the recoil, and not by the counterpoise, for this more than balances the weight of the gun, the latter is retained as shown in Fig. 101 until it has been reloaded; and when it has again to be fired, it is released so as to allow the descent of the counterpoise to raise it once more into position. The great advantage of this invention is the protection afforded to the artillerymen and gun while loading; and even the aiming can be accomplished by mirrors, so that the men are exposed to no danger, except from “vertical fire,” which involves but little risk. Colonel Moncrieff took out a patent for his invention in 1864, but committed the practical working out of his idea to the firm of Sir W. G. Armstrong & Co., in whose hands the design was ultimately transformed from the original somewhat cumbersome arrangement of the mounting into the compact and manageable form shown in Fig. 102, which represents a 13·9 inch 68–ton breech-loading disappearing gun on the Elswick hydro-pneumatic mounting. The principle of hydraulic power is fully explained in our article on that subject, and an example of its application to cranes as devised by Sir W. Armstrong is there described. When guns began to be made very large, and projectiles weighing several cwts. had to be dealt with, the application of power in some form became essential for loading, running out, elevating, training, etc.; and though steam-power naturally was first used, hydraulic power was adopted at Elswick, and has been there applied to the mountings of large guns with the greatest success by Mr. G. W. Rendel. To mention the various arrangements in which this power is applied, or to attempt any description of the elaborate machinery by which it is regulated, would carry us far beyond our limits. But the powerful weapon depicted in Fig. 102 is designed to be worked only by the manual effort of a few men. In this mounting the pressure of condensed air sustains the gun in the firing position; that pressure, acting upon the water in the recoil presses, having previously forced up their rams so as to turn into a nearly vertical position the strong brackets or beams on which the trunnions are supported. The recoil is checked in the usual way by the forcing of the water through small ports or valves as the ram descends, but these valves are so arranged that the water is in part forced back into the air chamber, and there recompresses the air, to restore the power for again raising the gun. The pressure in the air chamber when the gun is down may be about 1,400 lbs. per square inch; when it is up this will be reduced to perhaps one half by the expansion of the air in doing work. We have here the reaction of compressed air taking the place of the gravity of the counterpoise originally designed. There are in this hydro-pneumatic mounting a number of adjusting appliances, such as forcing pumps, brakes, etc., for regulating the pressures, or quantity of liquid, as, for instance, when lowering the gun without any recoil action in operation. Then again, with any change in the weight of projectile or in the powder charge, there would be a corresponding change in the power of the recoil, and therefore the necessity for compensatory adjustments, which are made 212with great readiness. The nicety with which the parts are adapted to each other in this mounting must be obvious, when we observe the magnitude of the mass to be moved with the least delay, and brought to rest, quite gently and exactly, in a new position. Details cannot here be given even of the method by which the valves in the recoil cylinders are automatically controlled for this purpose. Means are also supplied for setting the gun, while still in its protected position, to the required angle of elevation or depression. The adjustment is made by the long rods attached near the breech and set at their lower ends to the position giving the intended angle to the raised gun. The varied and powerful strains to which the parts of this mechanism are subject, and which have had to be calculated and provided for, may be inferred from the enormous recoil energy of the gun, which under ordinary conditions amounts to no less than 730 foot-tons. The gun is provided with ordinary, and also with reflecting, sights, so that no one need be exposed to the enemy’s fire. Protective armour above the gun