[Illustration: THE PROOF HOUSE.]
By guns, only muskets, rifles, and fowling-pieces are here meant, since
the manufacture of cannons, to which the term guns is now commonly
applied, is an entirely different business to that of making what are
called “small arms;” the latter including, in fact, swords, pistols,
bayonets, muskets, rifles, and some other implements of war. There are
so many varieties of fire arms, and they are sold at prices varying
so greatly, that it would be almost impossible to give any detailed
description of each kind of piece. The finely-finished rifle or sporting
gun, fitted with the last improvements, breech-loading or otherwise, and
finished with marvellous perfection and accuracy, is worth four times as
many pounds as the common muskets, made for exportation to Africa for
the use of the natives, are worth shillings. We may, therefore, describe
some of the ordinary processes of the gunmaker’s trade, and the various
improvements will then be better understood when the reader has an
opportunity of seeing finished guns, in which such improvements may be
pointed out to him.
The barrels of guns are either plain or twisted; twisted barrels are made
of long and very narrow strips of iron, one of which, being moderately
heated to increase pliancy, is wrapped spirally round a cylindrical
mandril in such a way as to form a tube, which may be slipped off the
mandril at pleasure. As the rods are not usually made of sufficient
length for one to form a barrel, several are usually joined end to end,
those which form the breech being thicker than those at the muzzle end.
By heating and hammering these pieces are welded into a continuous and
very strong and tough tube.
Partially worn iron, called “scrap iron,” is best for these purposes.
The twisted barrels which are known as “wire twist” are formed of narrow
rods of iron and steel forged together, and then rolled out to the proper
thinness.
Damascus barrels are composed of similar metal, but the rods are twisted
on their own centres until the fibres which they contain have from twelve
to fourteen turns in an inch by which the rods are doubled in thickness
and proportionately reduced in length. Two such rods are welded together
side by side, their respective twists being reversed. There are many
modes of making twisted barrels, but these are the most common.
After being welded, the barrels are carefully examined, and, if needful,
straightened by a few blows of the hammer. They are then bored in a
machine with an angular plug of tempered steel, which is caused to
revolve rapidly within the barrel, while a stream of water is directed
upon the outside to check the heat caused by the tremendous friction.
The outside is brought to a smooth surface either by grinding on a large
grindstone, or turning in a lathe. The breech end of the barrel is bored
with a screw-thread, to receive the breech plug, which closes it at that
end.
[Illustration: Mandril, with Damascus Barrel in progress. Tool for boring
Barrel. Testing Barrel.]
The barrels are then proved by being fired at the _proof-house_, a
large building where they are loaded with a charge five times as great
as they will have to bear when in use. A great number of barrels are
fired at once by laying them upon a strong framework of wood with their
touch-holes downwards, and connected with a train of gunpowder which
is ignited outside the building. A heap of sand is piled inside the
building, opposite the muzzles of the barrels to receive the bullets.
Those which bear this test without injury are marked as perfect.
Guns used in field sports are often made with two barrels fixed side by
side upon one stock. The barrels are made separately, and each with one
flat side, that they may lie close together. They are secured together by
ribs running between them from end to end.
The wooden stock upon which the barrel is fixed is generally made of
walnut-tree wood. It is first shaped, and afterwards shod with brass or
steel; the trigger guard and other fittings are let into the wood, and
every part is furnished with the proper screws and fastenings.
With regard to the manufacture of rifles and other small arms in general,
the author of the present work some time ago wrote a description of a
visit to the factory at Birmingham known as the Toledo Works, and it may
be useful to give an extract from that account of what he saw there.
The steel from which the swords are made is supplied in long pieces
somewhat tapering at the ends, and having a square portion in the
middle, which, being cut through, leaves material for two blades, the
bisection of the square leaving a shoulder at one end to receive the
iron “tang” by which the blade is afterwards fixed into the handle. The
manufacture of these blades is almost entirely effected by the forgers,
who hammer them into the required shape upon the anvil, a mould running
down the centre of which secures the hollow which in swords extends for
about two-thirds of the length from hilt to point. In a little street
of smithies the musical clink is being sounded by a score of stalwart
arms, either forging the rough steel into form, or hammering the formed
blade into perfect shape and symmetry, an operation which requires it to
be kept at a certain heat, lest the embryo blade should be injured in
the process. Once perfected as to proportion, the hardening commences,
and the blade is thrust backwards and forwards into the furnace until
it has acquired a proper and uniform heat, at which point it is removed
and instantly plunged into cold water. This process, which has obviously
suggested the Turkish bath, renders it hard indeed, but at the same
time so extremely brittle that we whisperingly suggest the propriety
of contracting to supply our enemies with weapons, and neglecting to
carry them beyond that particular stage of preparation, when they may
be snapped with the fingers. Carefully supported, however, the blade is
again subjected to the fiery ordeal until it attains a slaty blue colour,
and a beautiful and elastic temper, which has been partially secured by
the previous hammering. By the process of forging it has become about
six inches longer than the pristine steel shape, and by the tempering it
has attained a springy strength which enables it to be bent in a curve
sufficient to bring the hand five inches nearer to the point than when
the blade is straight.
Many of the best bayonets are forged in the same way as the sword-blades,
and, as in almost every manufacturing process, human intelligence has
an unmistakable advantage over mere mechanical force, these possess
some superior qualities. The greater number of bayonets, however,
are made from a square bar of drawn steel, five inches and a half
long by nine-sixteenths square. This bar is passed between a series
of about sixteen pairs of rollers, which are worked by steam power,
and so grooved as gradually to mould the blade to the required shape.
Sixteen times the short steel bar undergoes the merciless pressure of a
progressively-increased power, until its length is increased from five
and a half to twenty-six inches, when some portion is cut off from the
point to leave it the regulation length.
The matchets, which are made from bevel-edged steel, passed twice through
the rollers, are cut into the requisite shape by means of powerful shears.
[Illustration: Steam Hammer.]
These operations are conducted in a large shed, where the rollers stand
like awful combinations of infernal machines and patent mangles; where
a boding and vengeful tilt-hammer, worked by steam, is tended by a man,
who sits like a calm fate beside its crushing bulk, and supplies it with
fresh victims; where the awful boom seems to shatter the very atmosphere,
and deafness reigns triumphant. In obedience to a signal, however, the
monster is suddenly stopped, and we are enabled to hear that the great
two-pot furnace on our left is used for making the steel from those long
laths of bevel-edged iron stacked against the wall; that the furnace is
constructed with wide flues on each side and under the bottom, while
the fire-grate occupies the centre between the two pots; that the pots
themselves are some four feet deep, and two feet and a half wide, are
airtight, contain layers of charcoal and iron covered with loam sand,
will remain seven days and nights in the furnace, until their contents
are white hot, and that at the end of that time the iron will have been
converted into steel of a slaty-blue colour. The inexorable hammer
resuming its work at this point, we follow the bayonet to its completion,
and once more visit the forges, to witness the “shutting on” or welding
the blade to a piece of iron, which ultimately forms the socket by which
the bayonet itself is fixed on to the barrel of the rifle or musket.
There is yet another operation before the blades are taken to the
finishing shop, one of the most important, too, since it is no other than
grinding, a process which secures an exact and uniform thickness and
increases their elasticity.
We are standing at the open end of a long, vast, and gloomy shed-like
building, supported by iron pillars. On each side through the entire
length a series of enormous grindstones spin round amidst sand and water,
and the mud from both. Seated astride the bodies of wooden horses, whose
heads seem to have been transformed into these wheels, the grinders
seize upon the blades, and each fearless rider rising in his stirrups,
or, what looks much the same, standing tiptoe till he no longer touches
his saddle, throws himself forward, and presses the sword, matchet, or
bayonet on the wheel, at the same time guiding it deftly with its left
hand, till its whole surface has been smoothly ground.
Along the whole line of whirling stones fly the lurid red sparks, and the
grinders, with squared elbows, seem to curb the struggling and impetuous
wheels.
After polishing, which is completed by wooden wheels bearing a coating
of leather covered with emery, the swords and matchets go to receive
handles, and the bayonets locking rings. The handles of swords are made
of walnut-wood covered with the skin of the dogfish, while the hilt and
guard are formed from a plain flat sheet of steel, in shape not unlike
one side of a pair of bellows.
The solid socket of the bayonet is hammered into form, and afterwards
stamped into shape with the rim complete, from which process it is
conveyed to a shop where it is drilled by steam power. It then only
remains to secure a smooth surface, by means of a revolving barrel,
containing an instrument with a number of flanged blades, against which
the socket of the bayonet is pressed. It is not a little remarkable to
see the solid steel pared and shaved like wax, and no less wonderful to
notice the simple machinery by which it is accomplished. The locking
rings are stamped out by a lever and die, pierced by a punch, and
afterwards “bored,” “faced,” and their shapes secured by a triple
circular saw, worked by a lathe.
[Illustration: Mandril, with Common Musket Barrel in progress. Welding by
Hand. Forging Hammer.]
The most important manufacture in the Toledo Works, however, is assuredly
rifles, and, with the intention of following it through its principal
processes, we return to the vicinity of the still inveterate hammer,
where we are shown a rudimentary barrel in the shape of a slab of best
wrought iron, twelve inches long, and weighing nine pounds and a quarter.
This uninviting slab is heated in a furnace, and roughly bent into the
tubular shape by means of our enemy the tilt-hammer, after which it is
once more placed in a furnace of an enormously high temperature, with a
small trap-opening. When sufficiently heated, the short rudimentary tube
is taken out on a long round iron rod, fitted with a hand-guard, and
looking like a huge burlesque rapier. This rod approximates to the size
of the intended bore of the barrel, and is inserted, with the rough tube
upon it, between two steam rollers, each of which is furnished with a
series of corresponding grooves or cuts. The barrel, which is taken up
at one end by a rod, is placed between the first pair of grooves, and,
as the rollers revolve, is drawn out at the other side, a long, hollow,
welded tube. This much more graceful and better formed tube is then
consigned to another rod of smaller diameter, and to a corresponding pair
of grooves; until, after the eighth repetition of the same process, the
barrel has attained its proper dimensions. The next operation, which is
called “lumping,” consists of welding a piece of wrought iron on to the
breech end of the barrel, for the purpose of forming the percussion-lump,
and is succeeded by “rough-boring.” This is accomplished by a long,
sharp-ended bit, which, being placed in the end of the barrel, revolves
at the rate of, perhaps, a thousand turns a minute by means of a pulley
and fly-wheel, while the barrel is pushed on by a lever, and kept cool by
means of water thrown upon its surface.
The “setting” of the barrel is next effected by means of hammer and
anvil, the setting meaning simply rectifying any bend which it may have
received during the previous operation. We are not a little interested in
the setting, since the first intimation of it on entering the shop is the
sudden discovery of a number of workmen gazing resolutely at an opposite
window, through what look like attenuated telescopes. They are engaged,
however, in one of the processes which require the greatest experience,
as each of them is expected to detect the most trifling bias in the
barrel. The “spilling-up,” or cutting the inside of the barrel to the
proper bore, is similar to the rough-boring, except that only one edge
of the bit is allowed to operate, the others being sheathed by a half
cylinder of wood, called a _spill_; this ensures a smooth surface, and
prepares for the “fine-boring,” which is six times repeated, the final
surface being insured by keeping one edge of the bit perfectly smooth,
by which means the particles of steel drop in a fine and almost soft
powder.
The outside of the barrel is next turned in a long lathe, which not only
reduces the roughness, but, by a beautiful arrangement of cutting tools,
gives it the required substance or “pattern,” for a light or heavy rifle.
The grinding of the barrels is effected by means of stones, larger
than those used for the sword blades, but in a similar manner, and is
preliminary to “filing,” which carries the barrel to the shop, where it
is prepared for the lock.
[Illustration: Grinding Gun Barrels.]
These preparations consist of “chambering,” or making the chamber
which holds the pin; “breeching,” or cutting the worm intended for the
breech-pin, that helps to hold the barrel to the stock by means of a
breech-nail; cutting out the little slice into which the “sight” is to
be dovetailed; machining the lump; filing the tail-pin, and making the
square lump the proper shape for receiving the lock and stock.
We are not a little surprised to learn that every part of the lock is
finished by hand, the cock being cut with a die worked by a heavy weight,
and the smaller pieces being wrought with forge, hammer, and file.
[Illustration: Section of Breech. Section of Lock, &c. Bullet Mould.
Nipple Key.]
The great art in lock-making is to obtain a perfect spring, and those
properly tempered are so elastic that, although when fitted in the lock,
the two sides are so close as almost to touch, they will, when released,
spread to two inches below the edge of the lock-plate. The lock and
barrel are now ready for the stock, which awaits them in another shop,
where it has been sawn out of walnut wood, and finished by carpenters’
tools. The barrel let into its groove, and the lock properly in its
place, the stock is more perfectly shaped and rounded before “screwing
together,” or the addition of the different parts of the “furniture,”
heel-plate, trigger-plate and guard, trigger, nose-cap, rod, and bayonet.
We are now told that the rifle is “finished,” by which, understanding
_completion_, we are not quite prepared to learn that it is to be taken
to pieces.
We suddenly remember, however, that it is not yet a rifle at all,
inasmuch as it has not been rifled. Everything is made perfect before
this delicate operation is attempted, in order that no injury may be
sustained by the barrel when the complete rifle is again put together.
The process of rifling is similar to that of boring, except that a spiral
cutter is substituted for the bit. Previous to the reunion of the barrel,
the whole work is polished, and the stock stained and finished ready for
completion.
[Illustration: “Finishing.”]
The pistol barrels undergo the same processes as that of the rifle,
except that, after being drilled, they are planed, by machines which
carry them along a sort of bed under tools that cut them perfectly
smooth, and accurately shape the octagonal barrels. These chisels move
by means of screws over the entire surface as it is drawn backwards and
forwards on the slide.
The revolver chambers are drilled out of solid iron, by a drilling
machine or lathe, with a centrebit and an eccentric motion, which causes
each barrel of the chamber-nest to become the centre in succession;
while, by means of a slide, the motion can be made to suit either a large
or small chamber. The recesses communicating with the lock and trigger
are cut by reversing the chamber in the eccentric “chuck,” and using a
different cutting-tool, while another alteration effects the drilling of
the nipple holes.