1. It is the business of the gun-smith to manufacture fire-arms of the
smaller sorts; such as muskets, fowling-pieces, rifles, and pistols.
2. The principal parts of the instruments fabricated by this
artificer, are the barrel, the stock, and the lock. In performing the
operations connected with this business, great attention is paid to
the division of labor, especially in large establishments, such as
those belonging to the United States, at Springfield and Harper's
Ferry; for example, one set of workmen forge the barrels, ramrods, or
some part of the lock; others reduce some part of the forged material
to the exact form required, by means of files; and again another class
of operators perform some part of the work relating to the stock.
3. The barrel is formed by forging a bar of iron into a flat piece of
proper length and thickness, and by turning the plate round a
cylindrical rod of tempered steel, called a _mandril_, the diameter of
which is considerably less than the intended bore of the barrel. The
edges of the plate are made to overlap each other about half an inch,
and are welded together by heating the tube in lengths of two or three
inches at a time, and by hammering them with very brisk, but moderate
strokes, upon an anvil which has a number of semicircular furrows upon
it.
4. In constructing barrels of better workmanship, the iron is forged
in smaller pieces, eight or nine inches long, and welded together
laterally, as well as lengthwise. The barrel is now finished in the
usual way; or it is first made to undergo the additional operation of
_twisting_, a process employed upon those intended to be of superior
quality. The operation is performed by heating small portions of it at
a time, and twisting them successively, while one end is held fast.
5. The barrel is next bored with several bits, each a little larger
than the preceding one. The last bit is precisely the size of the
intended calibre. After the barrel has been polished, and the breech
closed with a screw, its strength and soundness are tested by means of
a ball of the proper size, and a charge of powder equal in weight to
the ball. Pistol-barrels, which are to go in pairs, are forged in one
piece, which is cut asunder, after it has been bored.
6. Barrels for rifles are much thicker than those for other small
arms; and, in addition to the boring in common barrels, they are
furrowed with a number of grooves or _rifles_, which extend from one
end of the cavity to the other, either in a straight or spiral
direction. These rifles are supposed to prevent the rolling of the
ball in its passage out, and to direct it more unerringly to the
object of aim.
7. The stocks are commonly manufactured from the wood of the
walnut-tree. These are first dressed in a rough manner, usually in the
country. After the wood has been properly seasoned, they are finished
by workmen, who commonly confine their attention to this particular
branch of the business. In each of the United States' armories, is
employed a machine with which the stocks are turned, and also one,
with which the place for the lock is made.
8. The several pieces composing the lock are forged on anvils, some of
which have indented surfaces, the more readily to give the proposed
form. They are reduced somewhat with the file, and polished with
substances usually employed for such purposes. The several pieces of
the lock having been put together, it is fastened to the stock with
screws. Other particulars in regard to the manufacture of small-arms
will be readily suggested by a careful inspection of the different
kinds, which are frequently met with.
9. The period at which, and the country where, gunpowder and fire-arms
were first invented, cannot be certainly determined. Some attribute
their invention to the Chinese; and, in confirmation of this opinion,
assert that there are now cannon in China, which were made in the
eightieth year of the Christian era. On this supposition, their use
was gradually extended to the West, until they were finally adopted in
Europe, in the fourteenth century.
10. Others, however, attribute the invention of gunpowder to Berthold
Schwartz, a monk, who lived at Mentz, between the years 1290 and 1320.
It is said, that in some of his alchemistic experiments, he put some
saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal, into a mortar, and having
accidentally dropped into it a spark of fire, the contents exploded,
and threw the pestle into the air. This circumstance suggested to his
mind the employment of the mixture for throwing projectiles. Some
traditions, however, attribute the invention to Constantine Antlitz,
of Cologne.
11. The fire-arms first used in Europe were cannon, and these were
originally made of wood, wrapped in numerous folds of linen, and well
secured with iron hoops. They were conical in shape, being widest at
the muzzle; but this form was soon changed for the cylindrical. At
length they were made of bars of iron, firmly bound together with
hoops of the same metal. In the second half of the fourteenth century,
a composition of copper and tin, which was brought to form by casting
in sand, came into use.
12. Cannon were formerly dignified with great names. Charles V. of
Spain had twelve, which he called after the _twelve apostles_. One at
Bois-le-Duc is called the _devil_; a sixty-pounder, at Dover Castle,
is called _Queen Elizabeth's pocket-pistol_; an eighty-pounder, at
Berlin, is called the _thunderer_; two sixty-pounders, at Bremen, the
_messengers of bad news_. But cannon are, at present, denominated from
the weight of the balls which they carry; as six-pounders,
eight-pounders, &c.
13. Fire-arms of a portable size were invented, about the beginning of
the sixteenth century. The musket was the first of this class of
instruments that appeared, and the Spanish nation, the first that
adopted its use as a military weapon. It was originally very heavy,
and could not be well supported in a horizontal position without a
_rest_. The soldiers, on their march, carried only the rest and
ammunition, while each was followed by a youth who bore the musket.
14. The powder was not ignited with a spark from a flint, but with a
match. Afterwards, a lighter match-lock musket was introduced, which
was carried by the soldiers themselves. The rest, however, maintained
its ground, until about the middle of the seventeenth century. The
troops throughout Europe were furnished with fire-locks, such as are
now used, a little before the beginning of the eighteenth century.
15. The bayonet was invented, about the year 1640, at Bayonne; but it
was not generally introduced, until the pike was entirely
discontinued, about sixty years afterwards. It was first carried by
the side, and was used as a dagger in close fight; but, in 1690, the
custom of fastening it to the muzzle of the fire-lock was commenced in
France, and the example was soon followed throughout Europe.
16. Gunpowder, on which the use of fire-arms depends, is a composition
of salt-petre, sulphur, and charcoal. The proportion of the
ingredients is varied considerably in different countries, and by
different manufacturers in the same country. But good gunpowder may be
made of seventy-six parts of salt-petre, fifteen of charcoal, and nine
of sulphur. These materials are first reduced to a fine powder
separately, and then formed into a homogeneous mass by moistening the
mixture with water, and pounding it for a considerable time in wooden
mortars.
17. After the paste has been suffered to dry a little, it is forced
through a kind of sieve. By this process it is divided into grains,
the size of which depends upon that of the holes through which they
have been passed. The powder is then dried in ovens, and afterwards
put into barrels, which are made to revolve on their axis. The
friction produced by this motion destroys the asperities of the
grains, and renders their surfaces smooth and capable of easy
ignition.
[Illustration: FARRIER.]