Chapter XIV: Part 14

These pieces are prepared with the utmost care to prevent any defective material entering into the make-up of the gun. After the parts are put together a thorough forging follows, either by use of hammer or press, the latter being now used in preference. The usual practice in forging is to continue it until the ingot is decreased to one-half its original thickness and is within two inches of the desired diameter of the finished work. It is then annealed with great care to relieve the strains set up in the metal by the forging and next goes to the machine shop to be rough bored and turned. The final boring takes place after a second annealing. The above is only a rapid sketch of the total process, in which elaborate care is taken to prevent imperfection of any kind.

View showing smoke cone occurring during the proof firing of a twelve-inch gun with brown powder.

_Courtesy of the Bethlehem Steel Co._]

In a wire-wound gun an inner tube of steel is thoroughly wrapped by successive layers of ribbon wire, each layer being wound with wire at a different tension. This type of gun is preferred by foreign manufacturers, but within the United States the built-up system is in higher favor and is almost exclusively employed. The makers of the wire-wound cannon claim for it a positive soundness of material impossible to secure in a built-up gun, and that it has greater firmness of material and superior tangential strength. But with this come certain disadvantages, a notable one being a lack of rigidity in the longitudinal direction, this tending to increase the “droop” of the muzzle and give a certain “whip” to the piece when fired that reduces accuracy. This and other disadvantages have given the built-up guns general preference in this country, they being found strong enough to bear any pressure desirable in service. In addition they are much cheaper to build than the wire-wound guns.

Modern heavy guns are made of medium open-hearth carbon steel, forged as stated. The liner and tube are then placed upright in an assembling pit, the jacket and hoops shrunk on, and the finishing work done, as above said, the breech mechanism being finally fitted. Within recent years there has been a steady increase in the size and range of cannon, until an immense size and weight have been attained. For naval purposes the 14-inch gun is the largest now used in American battleships, but in the United States coast defense forts, 16-inch guns are installed. England has equipped several of her latest battleships with 15-inch guns and other nations are following in the same direction. In recent great battleships four turrets are used, each carrying three of these great guns, giving a broadside of twelve of these monster weapons of war. Of the three guns, the middle one is raised above the line of the others. A battleship thus armed is able to fire six guns ahead and six astern by raising the second and third turrets so as to fire over the others.

Extraction of cartridge case by opening of breech mechanism. Weight of gun, 6,170 pounds. Length of gun, 205 inches (51.2 calibers). Weight of projectile, 33 pounds. Travel of projectile in bore, 165.6 inches (41.4 calibers). Weight of charge, 15 pounds of smokeless powder. Muzzle velocity, 2,900-foot seconds. Muzzle energy, 1,928-foot tons. Weight of mount with shield, 9,470 pounds. Thickness of shield, 2 inches of nickel steel. Gun equipped with telescopic and night sights and with electric and percussion pull-off firing gear.

_Courtesy of the Bethlehem Steel Co._]

Military cannon are divided into three classes, based upon the length of caliber, and technically known as guns, mortars and howitzers. In guns the length is relatively great, in mortars relatively small, compared to their calibers. Howitzers form a class between guns and mortars in length. The field guns of the American army are the 3.6-inch breech-loading mortars, and the 3.6-inch heavy and 3.2-inch light guns. The siege guns in the service are the 5-inch siege guns, the 7-inch howitzer, and the 7-inch mortar. The coast defense artillery consists of the 8-, 10-, 12- and 16-inch guns and the 12-inch mortars. In the recent European war very heavy cannon were used for field service, pieces of the size usually placed in forts being drawn to the field by powerful tractors, set on concrete platforms and used in attacks on fortified cities. It was through the use of such ordnance that the German army so easily reduced the strongly fortified Belgian cities.

While still in a molten condition in the mold, the steel used in manufacturing guns and shafting is subjected to hydraulic pressure until the ingot has cooled, thus insuring the solidity of the metal. The upper head of the compressor weighs 125 tons, and the lower one, including the cylinder through which the hydraulic pressure is applied, 135 tons.

_Courtesy of the Bethlehem Steel Co._]

(See page 410.)]

(See page 410.)]

(See page 410.)]

(See page 410.)]

. (See page 410.)]

(See page 410.)]

(See page 410.)]

(See page 410.)]

The range of these giant cannon is enormous and their destructive power great, this being added to by the fact that the explosive shell has replaced the solid round shot of old-time gunnery. A 14-inch gun of 45 caliber can discharge a 1,400-pound projectile at a muzzle velocity of 2,600 feet per second. If we compare this with a locomotive going at the speed of sixty miles an hour, we have in the latter a speed of eighty-eight feet per second to compare with the 2,600 feet per second of the cannon ball. From this we can well conjecture the vast speed with which the latter moves, its enormous range and vast powers of destruction.

Length of gun, 85 inches (28 calibers). Weight of projectile, 12 pounds. Travel of projectile in bore, 74.65 inches (24.88 calibers). Weight of charge, 17.1 ounces of smokeless powder. Muzzle velocity, 1,750-foot seconds. Muzzle energy, 255-foot tons. Weight of gun, carriage and limber, containing 36 rounds of ammunition, 3,355 pounds. Ground clearance, 18 inches.

_Courtesy of the Bethlehem Steel Co._]

As facts are better than theories, it will be of interest to adduce a recent example of gunnery of a most illuminating type, but as regards distance and remarkable accuracy of aim. In September, 1916, the American battleship “Pennsylvania,” armed with a main battery of twelve 14-inch guns, fired these simultaneously at a target in the Chesapeake 22,000 yards, or more than twelve miles, away. The target was the sunken hulk of the “San Marcos,” formerly the battleship “Texas,” which for several years had been used for similar purposes. As the target was invisible to the gunners it was hardly to be expected that any of the shots should fall near the target. But the extraordinary result appeared that five of these twelve shots struck the hulk. As each of these projectiles weighed 1,400 pounds any battleship receiving such a broadside would probably have gone promptly to the bottom. The result, which has never before been equaled in accuracy, sufficiently attests the remarkable proficiency in range-finding that modern engineers have developed.

As for the penetrating powers of such huge shot we may take the 15-inch gun, the type of the largest guns in our fortifications and which is claimed to be able to pierce sixteen inches of armor at a range of 18,000 yards and ten inches at a range of 20,000 yards. A notable example of this took place on September 15, 1916, at the proving grounds at Indian Head, on the Potomac River, when a 16-inch, 2,100-pound, solid steel shell, said to be the first ever fired from a naval gun of that caliber, with a small charge of explosive, went through a plate of armor, penetrated a thick sand backing, and continued its course, striking the house of an employee of the proving grounds and plunging through the kitchen rending all before it. This was a naval gun, the largest yet made for naval purposes.

As applied to loading twelve-inch turret guns. The space occupied by this rammer in the rear of the gun is less than one foot, with a possible ramming stroke of fifteen feet. The rammer being attached to the gun’s cradle or slide, moves with the gun in elevation and depression. The ammunition car also moves with the gun. Loading can be performed while the gun is kept in motion following a moving target. This rammer is stiff in all directions when extended.

_Courtesy of the Bethlehem Steel Co._]

In the make-up of modern guns the breech-loading mechanism is of essential importance, it being necessary that the breech should be capable of rapid opening for the insertion of the charge into the loading chamber, as rapidly closed and firmly secured to prevent it being forced open by the reaction of the discharge. It also must fit with such tightness as to prevent any escape of the gas in that direction, and force it to exert all its impelling power upon the ball. Various methods are used for this purpose, with the result that loading and firing can be very quickly and effectively performed. In the case of guns in fortifications, the disappearing carriage is a highly important invention of recent date. By its aid the gun is quickly lifted to fire over the walls of the fort and is driven backward by the force of its discharge, sinking to a place of safety behind the walls. This saves the gun and its crew from injury by return fire.

We may say in conclusion that the great European war was notable for the use of artillery to an extent far surpassing its employment in any previous war. This great conflict, indeed, was very largely a contest of gun fire, in which the opposing fields of the battling armies were so swept with shells and other explosives as to render life impossible on the open land, trench digging being one of the main employments of the embattled hosts. Never before had the supreme value of gunnery in warfare been so fully demonstrated.

Diameter of wheel, 20 feet 9-1/2 inches; face, 43-1/2 inches; diameter of hub, 26 inches; number of teeth, 128; pitch, 6-1/8 inches; pitch diameter, 249.554 inches; shipping weight, 108,873 pounds.

_Courtesy of the Bethlehem Steel Co._]

Projectile was loaded with two pounds of black charcoal powder and fused with magazine fuse. Fired at six-inch Krupp hard-faced armor plate. Shell burst about eight feet to rear of plate after penetrating the same. Weight of largest fragment recovered 10-1/4 pounds. Average weight of fragments, 2-5/16 ounces. Total number of pieces recovered, 650.

_Courtesy of the Bethlehem Steel Co._]

AMMUNITION. (See page 402.)

Made-up ammunition, with brass cartridge cases, and cast-iron and forged steel shells and armor-piercing projectiles. The rounds shown are as follows: Rounds with forged steel shell for one-pounder gun, for three-pounder gun and for six-pounder gun respectively; round with cast-iron shell for three-inch field gun; round with capped armor-piercing shell for three-inch fifty-caliber rapid-fire gun; round with forged steel shell for four-inch forty caliber rapid-fire gun; round with capped armor-piercing projectiles for the four-inch and twelve-centimeter fifty-caliber rapid-fire guns respectively, and round with forged shell for six-inch gun.

TWO-HANDED ELEVATING GEAR. (See page 402.)

Method of obtaining a variable movement of a miniature target, corresponding to rolls of a vessel of from 1 to 10 degrees. A series of 25,000 shots were fired thus, by eight gun pointers, at targets corresponding to the size of a battleship as seen at ranges of 1,500, 3,000, 6,000 and 9,000 yards. Using a sub-caliber rifle rigidly attached to the muzzle of the gun and fired electrically by the firing gear of the big gun. The record shows that under circumstances of average difficulty at sea (say 5 degrees roll and range of 3,500 yards), the gain in accuracy (increase in hits with a given expenditure of ammunition) is about 25 per cent, and the gain in speed of hitting (number of hits in a given time) is 50 per cent, with the two-hand gear as compared with the usual one-hand gear.

RANGE FINDER AND PREDICTOR; HOME AND DISTANT STATION INSTRUMENTS. (See page 403.)

Continuous readings, by means of automatic indicators, of either the actual or the predicted ranges and azimuths of moving target at every instant and for any distance from 1,000 to 15,000 yards and through an azimuth of 160 degrees, are clearly presented at all times. The ranges are read in scales of 10-yard steps, and the azimuths for each .01 degree are traversed. The corrected ranges for the various guns served by the instruments, either actual or automatically predicted for any interval of time, are constantly communicated to the various guns whose fire is being directed by the observation instrument.

ARMOR-PIERCING PROJECTILES, CAPPED AND UNCAPPED. (See page 403.)

The projectiles shown are a three-inch capped, a four-inch capped, a five-inch and a six-inch uncapped, eight-inch uncapped and capped, ten-inch uncapped and capped and twelve-inch capped.

RANGE FINDER WITH CHART ATTACHMENT. (See page 404.)

The chart is drawn on the lower and ground side of a ground glass plate. A pencil point is secured to moving cross-head and marks position of target on ground glass, tracing movement of same thereon. The pillar mounting allows of ready removal of chart attachment when it is not desired to use the same.

EIGHTEEN-INCH, THIRTY-CALIBER TORPEDO GUN. (See page 404.)

Weight, 134,000 pounds. Length of gun, 528 inches. Weight of projectile, 2,000 pounds. Travel of projectile in bore, 432.4 inches (24.02 calibers). Weight of charge, 310 pounds of smokeless powder. Muzzle velocity, 2,000-foot seconds. Muzzle energy, 55,500-foot tons. Greatest diameter of gun, 45 inches. Its breech mechanism was opened and closed by one man in nine seconds. It was also opened without great effort by a boy twelve years of age.

FIRING GEAR FOR GUNS. (See page 405.)

External firing gear for guns using loose ammunition. The primer is inserted in the firing gear when the breech mechanism is open, but is held at an angle to the lighting vent until the final locking motion of the breech block, making it impossible to light the gun’s charge before the breech mechanism is safely closed, even if the primer should be prematurely exploded. The primer case is automatically ejected by the opening of the breech mechanism.

FUSES. (See page 405.)

The fuses shown from left to right are: minor caliber percussion fuse, minor caliber magazine percussion fuse, major caliber percussion fuse, major caliber magazine percussion fuse, triple, double and single train time fuses. The time fuses all contain a percussion element to insure their exploding on impact if not previously exploded. No special tool is required for setting these fuses. They are made up to 27 seconds burning time for guns of 2,600-foot seconds muzzle velocity, and up to 36 seconds for mortars and guns of 1400-foot seconds muzzle velocity.

* * * * *

What is a Deep-Sea Diver’s Dress Like?

There are now two general types of deep-sea diving equipment: an India rubber dress, covering the entire body, except the head, which is covered by a helmet, and another apparatus which is constructed entirely of metal.

The India rubber dress has a neck-piece or breast-plate, fitted with a segmental screw bayonet joint, to which the head-piece or helmet, the neck of which has a corresponding screw, can be attached or removed. The helmet has usually three eye-holes, covered with strong glass, and protected by guards. Air is supplied by means of a flexible tube which enters the helmet and communicates with an air pump above. To allow of the escape of the used air there is sometimes another flexible tube, which is led from the back part of the helmet to the surface of the water. But in the more improved forms of the dress, the breathed air escapes by a valve so constructed as to prevent water from getting in, though it lets the air out. Leaden weights are attached to the diver, and his shoes are weighted, that he may be able to descend a ladder, walk about below, etc.

A. Pipe by which air is supplied.
B. Valve by which it escapes.]

Communication can be carried on with those above by means of a cord running between the diver and the attendants; or he may converse with them through a speaking tube or a telephonic apparatus. One form of diving-dress makes the diver independent of any connection with persons above the water. It is elastic and hermetically closed. A reservoir containing highly compressed air is fixed on the diver’s back, which supplies him with air by a self-regulating apparatus at a pressure corresponding to his depth. When he wishes to ascend he simply inflates his dress from the reservoir.

Another form, known as the Fleuss dress, makes the diver also independent of exterior aid. The helmet contains a supply of compressed oxygen, and the exhaled breath is passed through a filter in the breast-piece which deprives it of its carbonic acid, while the nitrogen goes back into the helmet to be mixed with the oxygen, the supply of which is under the diver’s own control, and to be successively breathed. A diver has remained an hour and a half under thirty-five feet of water in this suit.

A considerable enlargement of the field of deep-sea diving is the result of the invention recently of a form of diving apparatus which is unaffected by the limitations hitherto imposed on work of this kind. A possible depth of 204 feet is recognized by the British Admiralty regulations under the conditions that obtain with the common form of diving suit. Yet this depth has probably never been reached. One hundred feet is the rare descent of the average diver and 150 feet his maximum. With the new apparatus a submergence of 212 feet has been obtained, and this might have been indefinitely extended had there been a greater depth of water at the place where the experiment took place--Long Island Sound during the latter part of 1914.

The new diving apparatus is constructed entirely of metal, is rigid and is made of such materials that it is strong enough to resist the great pressures found in the depths to which it can penetrate. The material used is an alloy of aluminum, and the diving case weighs complete about 500 pounds. When in the air, the man inclosed in it is incapable of imparting movement to it, but in the water, which counterbalances the dead weight of the apparatus, he can easily move the articulated sections as well as give himself motion through the water. The articulated portion consists of about fifty turning joints, fitted with leather packing, which swells and has an increased effectiveness under increased water pressure. To prevent the pressure-force of the deep sea from jamming the joints, roller bearings are so arranged about them that freedom of action is constantly maintained.

The diving case is not absolutely water-tight, nor is it desired that it should be so, as the slight leakage acts as a lubricant to the joints, and aids in their movements. The danger arising from the intake of water thus into the diving case is averted by the action of an ingenious pump appliance, which serves two purposes: that of pumping the water out and pumping the air in. The diver in this invention carries his pump with him and has air supplied to him at atmospheric pressure.

At the back of the diving case is a recess and in it is installed a compact but powerful pump, which sucks from the feet of the suit all leakage and forces it at once outward. This pump is worked by compressed air, and the air, after performing its mechanical part of driving the pump, is exhausted into the suit for the diver to breathe and then passes to the surface through the free space in an armored rubber tube, within which are led down to the diver the compressed air pipe for driving the pump, and the electrical connections for telephone and lamp. Thus the diving case receives a thorough ventilation, and it has been found that should the pump fail to work for a number of minutes there would still be enough air remaining in the diving case and the tube space to supply the diver’s needs for at least the length of time he is being hauled to the surface.

During the experiment in Long Island Sound the pump was stopped for ten minutes, while the diver was at a depth of 100 feet. He suffered no inconvenience, and when the compressor again was started he was lowered to a depth of 212 feet. If such a condition as failure of the pump to work for ten minutes had arisen during a descent in the old elastic diving dress the result must necessarily have been fatal. Nor is a delay necessary in hoisting the diver clad in the new diving apparatus to the surface. According to the British Admiralty regulations, should a diver go down to a depth of 204 feet, the time of his ascent must be not less than one hour and a half. In the Long Island Sound experiments the diver was hoisted to the surface in eighty-seven seconds. He was totally unaffected by the abrupt change in pressure, although the deepest he had ever been was ninety feet, and on that occasion he had suffered from bleeding at the nose and ears.

Why do We Smile when We are Pleased?

We smile to express our pleasure. When you meet a friend on the street you smile as you greet him. This is an indication of your pleasure at seeing him. This is often caused by an unconscious nervous action produced by the impression the occurrence creates on the brain. You do not have to think about smiling, but the muscles of your face contract and give you that pleased look without any effort on your part.

Why do Some of Us have Freckles?

Some people have freckles, when others do not, because all skins are not alike, just the same as eyes are not all of one color. People with certain kinds of skin freckle more quickly when the skin is exposed to the sun. The action of the sun on their skin causes small parts of the second layer of skin to give out a yellow or yellowish brown substance. Freckles are most common in persons of fair complexion and hair. In some cases freckles are permanent, but in most cases they disappear with the coming of cold weather.

Pictorial Story of the Steel Industry

(See page 415.)]

(See page 415.)]

(See page 415.)]

(See page 415.)]

MINING ORE, ISLAND OF CUBA. (See page 413.)

The immense veins of magnetic ore lie close to the surface and are mined or quarried by working along a series of benches or ledges.

LOADING ORE, ISLAND OF CUBA. (See page 413.)

The ore is loaded into small buggies at the mines and run down an inclined plane, where it is dumped into railroad cars for transportation to the shipping wharves, seventeen miles distant.

PIG IRON CASTING MACHINE. (See page 414.)

No. 1 casting machine has a capacity of 1,000 tons per day. There are 180 molds, each pig weighing about 125 pounds.

No. 2 machine has a capacity of 1,800 tons per day. It has 278 molds, each for 125-pound pig.

Product, low phosphorus, Bessemer and basic, or high phosphorus machine-cast pig iron.

OPEN-HEARTH FURNACE STOCK YARD. (See page 414.)

The raw materials for the open-hearth furnaces are received on elevated railroad tracks graded and piled preparatory to sending to the furnaces. Yard No. 1 is 950 feet long and 87 feet wide, and is served by three electric traveling cranes of twenty tons and sixty tons capacity. Yard No. 2 is 790 feet long and 84 feet wide, and is served by two ten-ton electric traveling cranes.

OPEN-HEARTH FURNACES. (See page 416.)

No. 1 open-hearth plant consists of twelve furnaces, two ten-ton, two twenty-ton, five forty-ton and two fifty-ton basic furnaces and one forty-ton acid furnace with gas producers. Length of floor, 623 feet.

No. 2 plant consists of ten fifty-ton furnaces with gas producers. Length of floor, 890 feet.

CHARGING FLOOR OF OPEN-HEARTH FURNACES. (See page 416.)

The stock is delivered to the charging floor in iron boxes loaded on narrow-gauge buggies, and is charged into the furnaces by electric charging machines. Length of floor of No. 1 open-hearth plant, 477 feet; width, 28 feet. Length of floor of No. 2 open-hearth plant, 890 feet; width, 50 feet.

BLAST FURNACE STORAGE PLANT. (See page 417.)

The coal, coke, ore, etc., is delivered direct by the railroad cars under a traveling cantilever crane running on tracks laid the length of a wharf and is dumped from the cars through chutes into buckets and piled until needed at the furnaces. The plant is capable of storing over 1,000,000 tons of material.

BLAST FURNACES. (See page 417.)

Showing stock house, blowing-engine house, etc. Plant consists of four furnaces 70 feet high, 18-foot boshet and 12-foot hearth. One furnace 90 feet high, 22-foot boshet and 11 feet 6 inches hearth. Blowing engines are of horizontal compound and horizontal vertical compound types, capable of blowing a pressure of 25 pounds of air. Four furnaces provided with fire-brick regenerator stoves 100 feet high and 18 feet in diameter. Large furnace has six stoves 100 feet high by 22 feet in diameter. Boilers fired with waste got from furnace.

(See page 415.)]

(See page 415.)]

(See page 415.)]

(See page 415.)]

In all respects this press is the largest and most powerful forging press in the world. Water is supplied to the two plungers under a pressure of 7,000 pounds per square inch, giving it a maximum capacity of 15,000 tons. The columns supporting the cross-head are 14 feet 6 inches apart, and the working height under cross-head is 17 feet 1-1/4 inches.

_Courtesy of the Bethlehem Steel Co._]

(See page 421.)]

(See page 421.)]

(See page 421.)]

(See page 421.)]

DROP FORGE DIE SHOP. (See page 419.)

This shop has a floor space of 20,400 square feet. With full equipment of most modern die sinking tools.

VIEW OF A SECTION OF PROJECTILE FORGE SHOP. (See page 419.)

This shop has a floor space of 22,000 square feet and is thoroughly equipped with the necessary hammers, presses, furnaces, etc., for the forging, punching, closing in, treating and tempering of all sizes of armor-piercing and explosive projectiles and shells.

FORGING HOLLOW HEAVY SHAFT. (See page 420.)

No. 22. The block has a hole bored through its center, and in this the mandrel is inserted, the tube being forged around it. The hydraulic pressure for this 5,000-ton press is furnished by Whitworth pumping engines. This department contains also a 2,500-ton press of similar design.

OIL-TEMPERING HEAVY SHAFT. (See page 420.)

Showing a shaft weighing about 33,000 pounds being taken from the vertical heating furnace and suspended over the oil-tank preparatory to being lowered for tempering. The heating furnace and oil tank are served by a sixty-ton traveling crane and forty-ton jib crane. The shrinking pit for assembling is situated between the heating furnace and oil tank.

ARMOR PLATE MACHINE SHOP. (See page 423.)

The varied and complex machining required on armor plate demands tools of enormous size and strength as well as varied capacity. The equipment of this shop consists of large saws, planers, etc., together with numerous portable drill presses, grinders, etc. In this shop the different groups of armor are assembled in the positions they will occupy on the vessel and are finally inspected before shipment.

FORGING ARMOR. (See page 423.)

After heating, the ingot is placed under a 14,000-ton hydraulic forging press and forged to the required dimensions. The press is served by two 200-ton cranes with hydraulic lift and pneumatic travel. Weight of the porter-bar and chuck which hold the plate for forging is 125,000 pounds, exclusive of counterweights used.

SPECIAL CAR BUILT FOR THE SHIPPING OF LARGE AND HEAVY MATERIAL. (See page 424.)

Length of car over couplers, 103 feet 10-1/2 inches; capacity, 300,000 pounds. Weight of car, 196,420 pounds. Shown here loaded with casting of large 5,000-ton flanging press. Weight of casting, 252,000 pounds.

THE LARGEST STEEL CASTING IN THE WORLD. (See page 424.)

Combining the product of five 40-ton open-hearth furnaces. Steel casting forming part of a 12,000-ton armor-plate hydraulic forging press. Weight of casting, 325,000 pounds (145 gross tons).

After being rough-forged to size and re-heated, the plate is sent to the bending press to be straightened or bent to shape. The one shown is a nickel steel side armor plate, 14 inches thick. The press exerts a hydraulic thrust of 7,000 tons, with two independently operated plungers, and is served by direct-fired furnaces with movable car bottoms and two seventy-five ton hydraulic cranes.

_Courtesy of the Bethlehem Steel Co._]

(See page 421.)]

(See page 421.)]

(See page 421.)]

(See page 421.)]

(See page 427.)]

(See page 427.)]

(See page 427.)]

(See page 427.)]

BATTLESHIP TURRET. (See page 425.)

Twelve-inch turret carrying two forty-five caliber twelve-inch guns for the U. S. Navy. These guns can be loaded at any angle of elevation or azimuth or while in motion. The turret is equipped with a broken or double hoist. The lower hoist supplying ammunition from the magazine to an upper handling room immediately below, and revolving with, the turret pan. This makes the upper or gun hoist shorter and increases the speed of ammunition service, besides interposing two fireproof bulkheads between the guns and the magazine handling room.

NICKEL STEEL FIELD RING FORGED WITHOUT WELD FOR A 5,000-HORSE-POWER DYNAMO. (See page 425.)

Forged dimensions: outside diameter, 141 inches; inside diameter, 131 inches; width, 51 inches. Rough machined dimensions: outside diameter, 139-3/8 inches; inside diameter, 130 inches; width, 50-3/4 inches; weight, 28,840 pounds. Average physical properties shown in United States Standard test bar taken from full-sized prolongation of end of forging: Elastic limit, 53,560 pounds per square inch. Elongation, 27.05 per cent.

TURRET FOR TWO TWELVE-INCH GUNS FOR UNITED STATES BATTLESHIP “ALABAMA.” (See page 426.)

Balanced type. Thickness of inclined plate, 14 inches; of side plates, 10 inches. Height of side plates, 7 feet. Largest diameter of turret, 393 inches. Weight of turret, 192.41 tons.

CONNING TOWER AND ENTRANCE SHIELD FOR UNITED STATES BATTLESHIP “MASSACHUSETTS.” (See page 426.)

Conning tower, one piece hollow forging, nickel steel, oil tempered. Thickness of walls, 10 inches. Inside diameter, 83 inches. Height, 82-1/2 inches. Top plate, nickel steel, oil-tempered, 1-1/2 inches thick. Shield, face-hardened nickel steel, 10 inches thick, 66 inches high.

Size, 42 feet 6 inches by 24 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 6 inches high; weight, 450 gross tons.

_Courtesy of the Bethlehem Steel Co._]

Thickness of front door plate, 12-1/2 inches; weight of door plate, 12,000 pounds.

_Courtesy of the Bethlehem Steel Co._]

CASTING PIG IRON

Molten iron from the blast furnace in the rear is allowed to flow out on this molding floor in which the shape of the “pig” is molded in the sand. After cooling, the pigs are broken apart and stored.]

OPEN-HEARTH FURNACES

Iron is converted into steel by the basic or open-hearth method in the furnaces shown here. The 100-ton ladles are in position at the tapping side of the furnaces to receive the molten steel.]

POURING STEEL INTO MOLDS

The great ladle in the upper portion of this picture is filled with steel at the furnace. A traveling crane then takes it to the train of flat cars on which the molds stand and the steel is poured. After cooling, the molds are removed and the steel in the form of a “billet” is taken to the next process in manufacture.]

A steel beam, red-hot, drawn out 90 feet long in a huge steel mill in Pittsburgh. Steel rolled here may find its place as part of a skyscraper in the Babel of New York, be builded into the framework of a vessel in the shipyards of San Francisco, or help to construct a railroad into the heart of China.

_Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y._]

The Bethlehem Steel Company installed this great hydraulic press to replace a 135-ton steam hammer, which was abandoned because the shock of its blow disturbed the alignment of the big machines in nearby shops. This press is the largest of its kind in the world, having a capacity of 15,000 tons, induced by pressure as much as 7,000 pounds per square inch in its two hydraulic cylinders of over 50-1/2 inches diameter.]

View of the armor plate machine shop at the Bethlehem Steel Company. The varied and complex machining required on armor plate demands tools of enormous size and strength as well as varied purpose. In this shop the different groups of armor are assembled in the position they will occupy on the vessel for which they are intended, and inspected before shipment.]

FORGING

One-piece, 90-degree, double-throw crank shaft for 5,400 H. P. gas engine. Diameter of shaft, 37 inches, with 10-inch hole. Length over all, 25 feet 5 inches. Crank webs, 16-3/8 inches thick, 6 feet 1-1/2 inches long, 4 feet 1 inch wide. Forged weight of shaft, 133,400 pounds. Finished weight, 83,855 pounds.]

* * * * *

We have always said “a white elephant” when we have meant something we didn’t know what to do with, since the King of Siam first sent a white elephant to a courtier whose fortune he wished to destroy.

What do We Mean by “Deviation of the Compass”?

When people speak of “deviation of the compass” they mean the difference of a ship’s compass from the magnetic meridian, caused by the near presence of iron. In iron ships the amount of deviation depends upon the direction, with regard to the magnetic meridian, in which the ship lay when being built. It is least when the ship has been built with her head south. Armor-plated ships should be plated with their head in a different direction from that in which they lay when built.

The mode now generally employed to correct deviation is by introducing on board ship masses of iron and magnets to neutralize the action of the ship’s magnetism so far as possible.

Compasses are sometimes carried on masts in iron vessels as a means of removing them from the disturbing influence of the iron of the hull. In this position they serve as standards of comparison for the binnacle compass.

Wooden ships are also affected, though in a far less degree, by the direction in which they lie when building.

The Story in the Making of a Pair of Shoes[46]

The covering and protection of the feet has been a necessity in all but the warm climates for very many centuries, various articles being used for this purpose. Leather is now very generally employed, though wood is often used in Holland and France and paper in China and Japan. The moccasin of the American Indian was made of untanned deer skin. The first historical mention of a shoe is in the Old Testament, where Abraham refused to take as much as a “shoe-latchet” from the King of Sodom. This probably meant a sandal, leather strapped to the foot, though the Jews wore shoes as well, and both shoes and sandals were worn in Greece and Rome. Both in ancient and modern times the styles of shoes worn have varied greatly, fashion taking hold of them. In the reigns of the English kings Henry I and Stephen, the people of the court wore shoes with long points stuffed with tow and made to coil like a ram’s horn, and by the time of Richard II the points had grown so long as to reach the knee, to which they were fastened by silver or gold chains. In the eighteenth century ladies wore shoes with absurdly high heels, a ridiculous fashion which has come back within our own times. An improvement which was adopted in the early nineteenth century was that of making shoes right and left. Boots, which have at times been much worn, are a variety of shoe lengthened to protect part of the legs.

Until within a recent period the trade of shoemaker was an active one, all boots and shoes being made by hand. At the present time, however, the old-time shoemaker, with his bench, lapstone, last and awls has almost gone out of business, except as a cobbler, mending instead of making having become his usual occupation. In his place has come the factory hand, nearly all footwear being now a product of machinery, and this of greatly varied and effective character. In this form shoemaking has become a thriving industry in New England and in some other parts of the United States. This method has greatly decreased the cost of shoes, invention having so hastened and cheapened all its processes that the number of shoes that it would take an old-time shoemaker a year to make can be turned out in a few hours by modern machinery.

Shoemaking by Machine.

The variety of inventions used in shoe factories is rather bewildering, every one of the many processes having a machine of its own, and each of these doing its work with admirable precision. We can name here only the more important of these implements.

First comes the clicking machine. This has a cutting board resembling that used by the hand workmen. Over this is a beam containing a cutting die under which the leather is passed. At every descent of the die a piece of leather is cut out of the skin of the size and shape needed for the upper leather of a shoe. Thus in an instant is done what was slowly done by a sharp knife moved around a pattern in the old method.

The piece of leather thus cut out is next passed under the skiving machine, which shaves down its edges to a bevel, the thinned edge being then folded, after which the toe caps are passed through a punching machine which cuts a series of ornamental perforations along the edge of the cap. The linings of the shoe are then prepared and put in place and the whole goes to the stitchers, by which all the parts of the upper are united. This is done by a range of machines, which perform the varied operations with wonderful rapidity and accuracy. The eyelets are next added by a machine which places them in both sides of the shoe at the same time and directly opposite each other, this operation finishing the upper part of the shoe.

The sole leather portions of the shoe pass through another series of machines, being cut from sides of sole leather by the dieing-out machine, cut to exact shape by the rounding machine and to exact thickness by the splitting machine, and then toughened by passing under a heavy rolling machine. These and other machines complete the soles and heels, which are finally sent to the making or bottoming room, where the completed shoe uppers await them.

The first process here is that of the ensign lacing machine, which puts a strong twine through the eyelets and ties it in an accurate manner. This is done very swiftly and exactly, its purpose being to hold the parts of the shoe in their normal position while the shoe is being completed. The last, made of wood, is now put in place and tacked fast by the insole tacking machine, when the upper is placed over it and fastened by two tacks to hold it in place. Then comes the pulling-over machine, the pincers of which draw the leather securely against the wood of the last, to which it is fastened by other tacks. These tacks in the upper are driven only part way in, so that they may be easily drawn out when no longer needed.

The welt lasting machine next takes the job in hand, it being almost human-like in the evenness and tightness with which it draws the leather around the last, other tacks being driven partly in to hold it in place. A second lasting machine of different kind, draws it around the toe and heel. Then comes the upper trimming machines, which cuts away the surplus parts of the leather, the Rex pounding machine, which hammers it around the heel, the tack pulling machine which removes the lasting tacks and puts in others to hold the new placed leather, and the upper stapling machine, which forms a little staple fastening from wire which securely holds the shoe upper to the channel lip of the insole.

The shoe is now ready to receive the welt, a narrow strip of prepared leather which is sewed along the edge of the shoe and holds all its parts firmly together. This used to be one of the most difficult tasks in hand-work, but is done rapidly and exactly by this machine. After this all protruding parts of the welt and upper are trimmed off by another machine, the insole tack pulling machine removes all the remaining temporary tacks, and the welt-beating and slashing machines beat the welt with little hammers till it stands out evenly from the side of the shoe.

It may seem as if the number of machines engaged in this work are almost beyond number, but there are nearly as many more to come. In fact, a factory shoe in many cases is not completed until 170 machines and 210 pairs of hands have taken part in putting it together and getting it into shape for the wearer, and each of these machines works with an accuracy which no hand-work can equal. We have so far witnessed the assembling of the several parts of the shoe into one connected whole. The remaining processes must be run over more rapidly.

There is a sole-laying machine, a rounding and channeling machine, a loose nailing machine (the latter driving nails into the heel at the rate of 350 per minute), a heel seat rounding machine, and various others, one sewing the welt to the shoe, a leveling machine, a second nailing machine, which does the final work of attaching the heel to the shoe, and so on somewhat indefinitely.

1. A last. 2. An upper. 3. An Insole. 4. Shoe lasted and ready to have welt sewed on. 5. Welt partly sewed on. 6. Welt entirely sewed on the shoe. 7. An outsole. 8. Shoe with outsole laid and rounded; channel lip turned up ready to be stitched. 9. Shoe with sole stitched on. 10. Shoe with heel in place. 11. Heel trimmed and shoe ready for finishing.]

The remaining machines have to do with the final finishing. They include trimmers, stitch separators, edge setters, buffers, finishers, cleaners, stampers, shoe treers, creasers, etc., each playing a part of some importance in giving a final finish to the shoe and making it presentable to the wearer. The whole operation, as will be seen, is a highly complicated one, and is remarkably effective in preparing an article that shall appeal to the salesman and purchaser and prove satisfactory when put into use.

Such is the complicated process of making a shoe by machinery. It would be hard to find any machine process that surpasses it in complexity and the number of separate machines involved. Poor old St. Crispin would certainly expire with envy if he could see his favorite thus taken out of the hands of his artisans and the shoe whirled rapidly through a host of odd but effective contrivances on the way to become made fit for wear.

* * * * *

What is “Standard Gold”?

Gold is one of the heaviest of the metals, and not being liable to be injured by exposure to the air, it is well fitted to be used as coin. Its ductility and malleability are very remarkable. It may be beaten into leaves so exceedingly thin that one grain in weight will cover fifty-six square inches, such leaves having the thickness of only 1/282000th part of an inch. It is also extremely ductile; a single grain may be drawn into a wire 500 feet long, and an ounce of gold covering a silver wire is capable of being extended upwards of 1,300 miles. It may also be melted and remelted with scarcely any diminution of its quantity. It is soluble in nitromuriatic acid and in a solution of chlorine. Its specific gravity is 19.3, so that it is about nineteen times heavier than water. The fineness of gold is estimated by carats, pure gold being twenty-four carats fine.

Jeweler’s gold is usually a mixture of gold and copper in the proportions of three-fourths of pure gold with one-fourth of copper. Gold is seldom used for any purpose in a state of perfect purity on account of its softness, but is combined with some other metal to render it harder. Standard gold, or the alloy used for the gold coinage of Britain, consists of twenty-two parts of gold and two of copper (being thus twenty-two carats fine).

Articles of jewelry in gold are made of every degree of fineness up to eighteen carats, _i. e._, eighteen parts of gold to six of alloy. The alloy of gold and silver is found already formed in nature, and is that most generally known. It is distinguishable from that of copper by possessing a paler yellow than pure gold, while the copper alloy has a color bordering upon reddish yellow. Palladium, rhodium and tellurium are also met with as alloys of gold.

Gold has been found in smaller or larger quantities in nearly all parts of the world. It is commonly found in reefs or veins among quartz, and in alluvial deposits; it is separated, in the former case, by quarrying, crushing, washing and treatment with mercury. The rock is crushed by machinery and then treated with mercury, which dissolves the gold, forming a liquid amalgam; after which the mercury is volatilized, and the gold left behind; or the crushed ore is fused with metallic lead, which dissolves out the gold, the lead being afterwards separated by the process of cupellation.

By the “cyanide process,” in which cyanide of potassium is used as a solvent for the gold, low-grade ores can be profitably worked. In alluvial deposits it is extracted by washing, in dust grains, laminæ or nuggets.

In modern times large supplies of gold were obtained after the discovery of America from Peru, Bolivia, and other parts of the New World. Till the discovery of gold in California, a chief source of the supply was the Ural Mountains in Russia. An immense increase in the total production of gold throughout the world was caused by the discovery of gold in California in 1848, and that of the equally rich gold fields of Australia in 1851. The yield from both sources has considerably decreased. Other sections of the United States have of late years proved prolific sources of gold, especially Colorado, which now surpasses California in yield, and Alaska, which equals it. Canada has gold fields in several localities, the richest being those of the Klondike.

The upper view shows the melting room in the United States Mint, Philadelphia. The man at the right is about to pour hot metal into the iron molds. The lower view is in the coining department, where the ingots such as are seen on the truck in foreground, are rolled into long strips of the thickness of the several coins, and then cut into blanks or planchets.]

At present the richest gold field in the world is that of South Africa, which yielded in 1910 a value of $175,000,000, somewhat exceeding the combined yield of the United States and Australia. Russia and Mexico followed these in yield. The total production throughout the world amounted to over $450,000,000, of which the United States produced $96,000,000.

What are Cyclones?

A cyclone is a circular or rotatory storm, or system of winds, varying from 50 to 500 miles in diameter, revolving around a center, which advances at a rate that may be as high as forty miles an hour, and towards which the winds tend.

Cyclones of greatest violence occur within the tropics, and they revolve in opposite directions in the two hemispheres--in the southern with, and in the northern against, the hands of a watch--in consequence of which, and the progression of the center, the strength of the storm in the northern hemisphere is greater on the south of the line of progression and smaller on the north than it would if the center were stationary, the case being reversed in the southern hemisphere.

An anti-cyclone is a storm of opposite character, the general tendency of the winds in it being away from the center, while it also shifts within comparatively small limits. Cyclones are preceded by a singular calm and a great fall of the barometer.

What Metals can be Drawn into Wire Best?

The wire-drawing of metals depends on the property of solid bodies, which renders them capable of being extended without any separation of their parts, while their thickness is diminished. This property is called “ductility.”

The following is nearly the order of ductility of the metals which possess the property in the highest degree, that of the first mentioned being the greatest: gold, silver, platinum, iron, copper, zinc, tin, lead, nickel, palladium, cadmium.

Dr. Wollaston succeeded in obtaining a wire of platinum only 1/30000th of an inch in diameter. The ductility of glass at high temperatures seems to be unlimited, while its flexibility increases in proportion to the fineness to which its threads are drawn.

How are Cocoanuts Used to Help Our Warships?

The fibrous husks of cocoanuts are prepared in such a way as to form “cellulose,” which is used for the protection of warships, preventing the inflow of water through shot holes.

The United States adopted the preparation for this purpose in 1892.

It is very light and compressible and when tightly packed between the steel plating and the side of the vessel will expand when wet and fill up the space through which a shot may have passed.

Another and cheaper product experimented with is the pith of the cornstalk, which is much lighter than the cocoanut fiber and serves the same purpose.

How did the Dollar Sign Originate?

The sign, $, used in this country to signify a dollar, is supposed to date from the time of the pillar dollar in Spain. This was known as the “Piece of Eight” (meaning eight reals), the curve being a partial representation of the figure 8. The two vertical strokes are thought to represent the Pillars of Hercules, which were stamped upon the coin itself.

Pictorial Story of Fire Apparatus

The 66-foot ladder of this truck is raised by the motor which drives the machine. A full equipment of scaling ladders and fire-fighting apparatus is carried.]

One of the latest fire-fighting units. A powerful gasoline engine supplies the motive power and drives the pump which has a capacity of 700 gallons per minute. The machine also acts as a hose cart and carries a full complement of firemen.]

This engine was manned by sixty trained men and under expert operation would throw a stream of 1.53 gallons per stroke more than 200 feet.]

]

]

Built in 1894, at which time it had a capacity of 900 gallons per minute. This steam engine was equipped with a LaFrance boiler. This particular engine was in service in Superior, Wis., and was in continuous service pumping water on a coal fire night and day from November 18, 1913, to February 18, 1914 (just exactly three months), during which time it was only shut down twice to replace burned-out grates and three times to replace broken springs. During all of this time this steamer was incased in snow and ice.]

Seventy horse-power, four-cylinder motor; speed, 35 miles per hour; locomotive bell and hand-operated siren horn; boiler, 36 x 66 inches; suction hose, 2 lengths, 4-1/2-inch diameter; lanterns, three, fire department standard; hydrant connections; carrying capacity, four men.]

Seventy horse-power, four-cylinder motor; speed, 60 miles per hour; hose capacity, 1,200 feet 2-1/2-inch hose; chemical cylinder, one 40-gallon capacity; chemical hose, 200 feet 3/4-inch chemical hose; acid receptacles, two; one 10-inch electric searchlight; locomotive bell and hand-operated siren horn; extinguishers, two 3-gallon Babcock, fire department standard; ladders, one 20-foot extension ladder, one 12-foot roof ladder with folding hooks; lanterns, four, fire department standard; axe, one, fire department standard; pike pole, one; crowbar, one of steel held by snaps; carrying capacity, seven men.]

Equipped with Junior Pump. This pump is intended to boost the pressure of the chemical tank and can also be used as an auxiliary pump. On this type of steamer the pump will deliver 250 gallons of water at 120 pounds pump pressure.

_Courtesy of American LaFrance Fire Engine Co._]

Equipped with hose reel instead of hose basket as in other types illustrated.

_Courtesy of American LaFrance Fire Engine Co._]

]

One hundred horse-power; six-cylinder motor; speed, 25 miles per hour; locomotive bell and hand-operated siren horn; extinguishers, two 3-gallon Babcock, fire department standard; lanterns, four, fire department standard; axes, four, fire department standard; wall picks, two; crowbars, two; shovels, two; wire cutter, one; door opener, one; tin roof cutter, one; pitchforks, two; battering ram, one; Manila rope, tackle and snatch block; pull-down hook with pole, chain and rope; rubber buckets, four; crotch poles, two; pike poles, six, assorted lengths; wire basket, one under frame; one 10-inch electric searchlight.]