The United States Armory at Springfield, Massachusetts, is the largest,
best appointed, and altogether the most productive establishment for the
manufacture of small arms in the world,--those belonging to the Austrian
Government at Vienna, and to the British at Enfield, being greatly
inferior both in size and appointments; while the quality of the guns
manufactured here is very superior to that at either of those important
establishments. Indeed, the Springfield rifled musket is justly regarded
as the most perfect arm of its kind which has ever been produced. To
attain this desirable point of excellence has required the skill and
perseverance of the best mechanical minds which this country--always
prolific in inventive genius--has produced during a period of more than
half a century. It would be impossible to estimate the value of these
works during the existence of the present Rebellion; but some idea may
be formed of their usefulness from the fact that twenty-five thousand
rifled muskets of the most approved pattern are manufactured at this
establishment every month, and the number will soon be increased to
thirty thousand. There are at the present time one hundred and
seventy-five thousand of these muskets in the arsenal, awaiting the
orders of the War Department, and the works are daily turning out enough
to arm an entire regiment.
When the Rebels fired upon Fort Sumter, the armory was making about one
thousand muskets per month, and three months afterwards the increase
amounted only to three thousand, so little preparation had been made by
the Government of Mr. Buchanan to meet the great struggle which Southern
demagogues were precipitating upon us. Indeed, the number of muskets
manufactured during the last year of his administration was less by
several thousand than these works turned out during the year 1815;
while, during this same period, the residents of streets leading to the
railway-station witnessed the extraordinary spectacle of a daily
procession of wagons laden with boxes of Government arms on their way to
Southern arsenals!
Twenty-six hundred workmen are now constantly employed,--the
establishment being run day and night,--and none but the most expert and
industrious artisans are to be found among them.
The original site of this armory was occupied during the Revolution as a
military recruiting-post, afterwards as a depot for military stores, and
then as a place for repairing arms. The first shops were on Main Street,
and among them was a laboratory for cartridges and various kinds of
fireworks. The oldest record in the armory relates to the work done in
this laboratory during the month of April, 1778, showing that about
forty men were then engaged in the business. Not far from the date of
this document the works were removed to the hill, where, enlarged and
perfected, they are legitimately the object of admiration and pride. The
act establishing the armory was passed by Congress in April, 1794.
The arsenal, storehouse, offices, and principal manufacturing buildings
are situated on Springfield Hill, and overlook the Connecticut valley at
a commanding elevation. The heavier operations of the armory are carried
on in another part of the city, about a mile distant, in buildings known
as the water-shops. These are situated upon a small stream which flows
into the Connecticut River at this point.
The armory-grounds on the hill cover an area of seventy-two acres, and
are surrounded, with the exception of a small square detached from the
main grounds, by an ornamental iron fence, nine feet in height. These
grounds are exceedingly beautiful, and present every variety of
landscape. A beautiful slope to the south and west, covered with
luxuriant verdure, and crowned with groves of deciduous trees and
evergreens, affords the eye peculiar gratification. The grounds combine
also the useful with the ornamental, supplying hay enough to feed a
score of horses belonging to the establishment.
There are fifteen buildings used in the manufacture of muskets at the
works on the hill, and about the same number occupied as residences by
the various officers and head-clerks of the armory. Some of the
buildings are spacious and elegant in their construction, particularly
the quarters of the commanding officer, and the arsenal, and are
arranged in a picturesque and symmetrical manner within the square. The
grounds are shaded by ornamental trees, and the dwellings are adorned
with gardens and shrubbery. Broad and neatly kept walks, some gravelled
and others paved, bordered by finely clipped hedges, extend across the
green or along the line of the buildings, opening charming vistas in
every direction. Four venerable pieces of artillery, all betokening
great age, if not service, standing in the centre of the square, furnish
the only outward and visible show of the military character of this
immense establishment.
The principal building, as regards size and architectural beauty, is the
arsenal, which is two hundred feet long by seventy wide, and three
stories high,--each story being sufficiently capacious to contain one
hundred thousand muskets. The muskets, when stored in this arsenal, are
arranged in racks, set up for the purpose, along the immense halls,
where they stand upright in rows of glittering steel, and so closely
resemble the pipes of an organ that the propriety of Longfellow's simile
suggests itself at once to every observer:--
"This is the arsenal. From floor to ceiling,
Like a huge organ, rise the burnished arms;
But from their silent pipes no anthem pealing
Startles the villages with strange alarms."
Unhappily, the last two lines of this beautiful stanza no longer
appropriately describe the quiet and peaceful condition of these then
harmless arms,--one hundred and fifty thousand of them having been
literally stolen from this arsenal by Floyd during the last year of his
secretaryship at Washington, and sent South in anticipation and
furtherance of the Rebellion, and the remainder issued to the loyal
troops raised for the defence of the Union. Thus these grim messengers
of death, of whom the poet so sweetly sings, have forced
"The cries of agony, the endless groan,"
from Northern and Southern warriors alike, and rung the
"loud lament and dismal Miserere"
within the homes of every part of our once happy and peaceful land.
The arsenal has another charm for visitors besides the beauty of the
burnished arms within, in the magnificent panorama of the surrounding
country seen from the summit of the tower. This tower, which occupies
the middle of the front of the building, is about ninety feet high by
thirty square, affording space upon the top for a large party of
visitors. Nothing can be imagined more enchanting than the view
presented from this point during the spring and summer months. At your
feet are the beautiful armory-grounds, mingling with the treeskirted
streets of the city; while beyond, the broad and luxuriant valley of the
Connecticut is spread out to view, with its numerous villages, fields,
groves, bridges, and railways, and the whole landscape framed by blue
mountain-ranges, among which Mounts Tom and Holyoke rise in towering
majesty.
The arsenal is used for the storage of the muskets during the interval
that elapses from the finishing of them to the time when they are sent
away to the various permanent arsenals established by Government in
different parts of the country, or issued to the troops. This edifice
was constructed about a dozen years ago, and has, until recently, been
designated as the new arsenal, there being two or three other buildings
which were formerly used for the storage of finished muskets, called the
old arsenals, but which, since the Rebellion, have been relieved of
their contents and supplied with machinery for the manufacture of arms.
A portion of the new arsenal is now used for finishing barrels and
assembling muskets, and other parts for storing ordnance-supplies.
The storehouse, offices, and workshops are extensive buildings,--the
former being eight hundred feet long, and one of the latter six hundred
feet long and thirty-two feet wide.
In a description of the armory printed in 1817, the grounds are
described as a perfectly level, elevated plat, situated about half a
mile east of the village, from which there is a gradual ascent, flanked
on the north by a deep ravine and on the south by a less considerable
one, with an extensive plain spreading in the rear, the adjoining parts
being uncovered, fronting on the brow of the declivity, and commanding
an extensive and beautifully variegated landscape. At the present time,
the armory is not only in the city, but the streets at the north, south,
and east of the grounds are as thickly inhabited as any other portion of
the town. There has, however, been an increase in the population of
Springfield since 1817, from two to twenty-six thousand souls. A larger
number of workmen are employed within the armory-grounds at the present
time than the entire population of the place amounted to fifty years
ago.
The water-shops formerly occupied three different sites, being
denominated the upper, middle, and lower water-shops, on a stream called
Mill River, which exhibits, in a distance of less than half a mile, four
or five of the most charming waterfalls to be seen in the State. In 1817
these works comprised five workshops, twenty-eight forges, ten
trip-hammers, eighteen water-wheels, nine coal-houses, three stores, and
five dwellings.
These buildings were all constructed in the most substantial manner, of
stone and brick, and yet remain in an excellent state of preservation.
The trouble and expense attending the transportation of the various
parts of the musket from one series of shops to another, however,
rendered it desirable to assemble them all in one place, and the
location of the upper shops was decided upon as the most advantageous.
About eight years ago the work of constructing the new shops was begun.
Extensive excavations were made for a new dam, the bed of the stream was
changed, the sides being laid for a distance of half a mile with
freestone, and the basin raised five feet above its former level. Some
idea of the magnitude of these works may be formed from the fact that
over one million dollars was expended upon the foundations alone, before
a brick was laid in the superstructure.
A beautiful and extensive series of buildings has since been erected
upon these foundations, covering an area of about two acres, in which
the forging, boring, welding, rolling, grinding, swaging, and polishing
are done for the entire establishment. The buildings are, for the most
part, two stories high, and yet so immense are the operations carried on
here that numerous temporary sheds have been erected about the grounds,
in which machinery is placed in order to increase the facilities, which,
when the works were constructed, were supposed to be sufficient for all
time to come.
Since the construction of the new dam, the water has a fall of
thirty-four feet. Three immense turbine water-wheels, having a united
power equal to three hundred horse, were put in when the consolidated
works were first constructed here, which it was supposed would prove
amply sufficient for all emergencies; but, since the breaking out of the
Rebellion, and the marvellous enlargement of these works, it has been
found necessary to put in a steam-engine of two hundred horse-power, to
act in conjunction with the water-wheels.
Having thus given a general description of the exterior of the
establishment, let us now enter the works and witness the entire
operations of manufacturing the musket, _seriatim_.
The first operation is the formation of the barrel. Formerly these were
made from plates of iron called scalps, about two feet long and three
inches wide, which were heated to a white-heat and then rolled up over
an iron rod, and the edges being lapped were welded together, so as to
form a tube of the requisite dimensions,--the solid rod serving to
preserve the cavity within of the proper form. This welding was
performed by tilt-hammers, which were carried by the water-wheels.
Underneath the hammer was an anvil containing a die, the upper surface
of which, as well as the under surface of a similar die inserted in the
hammer, formed a semicylindrical groove, producing, when the two
surfaces came together, a complete cylindrical cavity of the proper size
to receive the barrel to be forged. The workman, after heating a small
portion of the barrel in his forge, placed it in its bed upon the anvil,
and set his hammer in motion, turning the barrel round and round
continually under the blows. Only a small portion of the seam is closed
by this process at one heat, eleven being required to complete the work.
To effect by this operation a perfect junction of the iron, so that it
should be continuous and homogeneous throughout, without the least flaw,
seam, or crevice, required unremitting attention, as well as great
experience and skill. The welders formerly received twelve cents for
each barrel welded by them, but if, in proving the barrels, any of them
burst, through the fault of the welders, they were charged one dollar
for each barrel which failed to stand the test. This method has now,
however, been abandoned, and a much more economical and rapid process
adopted in its place. Instead of plates of two feet in length, those of
one foot are now used. These are bent around an iron rod as before; but
in place of the anvil and tilt-hammer, they are run through
rolling-machines, analogous in some respects to those by which
railway-iron is made. The scalps are first heated, in the blaze of a
bituminous coal furnace, to a white-heat,--to a point just as near the
melting as can be attained without actually dropping apart,--and then
passed between three sets of rollers, each of which elongates the
barrel, reduces its diameter, and assists in forcing it to assume the
proper size and taper. The metal by this process is firmly compacted,
becoming wholly homogeneous through its entire length.
This operation of rolling the barrel is not only a very important and
valuable one, but very difficult of acquisition, the knowledge
appertaining to its practical working having been wholly confined to one
person in this country previously to the breaking out of the Rebellion.
The invention is English, and has been used in this country but a few
years. Only one set of rollers was used at this armory until the present
emergency demanded more. About half a dozen years ago the superintendent
of the works here sent to England and obtained a set of rollers, and a
workman to operate it, bargaining with him to remain one year at a
stipulated salary. At the expiration of the time engaged for, the
workman demanded, instead of a salary, to be paid eleven cents for each
barrel rolled by him. As he had allowed no one to learn the art of
rolling the barrel in the mean time, his demand was acceded to; but
after the breaking out of the Rebellion four additional rolling-mills
were imported, and of course new men had to be taught, or imported, to
work them. The art is now no longer a secret. There are forty men
employed, day and night, running the rolling-mills, but, instead of
twelve cents, which was paid for welding, they now receive but four
cents for rolling a barrel, with the same contingency of a dollar
forfeiture for each one that bursts. Four persons are employed at each
mill, namely: the foreman, who sees to the heating of the scalps and
barrels; the straightener, who straightens the barrel after it passes
through the roller; the catcher, who stands behind the roller to catch
the barrel when it has passed through; and the fireman. The rollers
weigh two tons apiece, and the five sets turn out one thousand barrels
per day, one per cent. of which burst in the proving-house.
The barrel when rolled is left much larger in the circumference, and
smaller in the bore, than it is intended to be when finished, in order
to allow for the loss of metal in the various finishing-operations. When
it passes into the roller, the scalp weighs ten pounds; when it comes
from the roller, the barrel weighs a little over seven; when completed,
it weighs but four and a half: so that more than one half of the metal
originally used is lost in the forging, or cut away by the subsequent
processes.
The first of these latter is the boring-out of the interior by machines
called boring-banks, of which the water-shops contain a large number, in
constant operation day and night. These machines consist of square,
solid frames of iron, in which the barrel is fixed, and bored out by a
succession of operations performed by augers. These augers are square
bars of steel, highly polished, and ground very sharp at the edges, and
terminating in long, stout rods to enable them to pass through the
barrel. The barrels are fixed very firmly in the boring-banks, the shank
of the auger inserted into the centre of a wheel placed at one end of
the bank, and a slow rotary motion given to the auger, together with a
still slower progressive motion at the same time. By this means the
auger gradually enters the hollow of the barrel, and enlarges the cavity
as it advances. After it has passed through, another auger, a trifle
larger, is substituted in its place, and thus the calibre of the barrel
is gradually enlarged to nearly the required size. Formerly, six borings
were given to each barrel, but at the present time only four are
permitted, aside from the rifling, which is a distinct operation,
performed at the works on the till, and will be described hereafter.
After the boring of the barrel, it is placed in a lathe, and the outside
turned down to the proper size. The piece is supported in the lathe by
means of mandrels inserted into the two ends, and there it slowly
revolves, bringing all parts of its surface successively under the
action of a tool fixed firmly in the right position for cutting the work
to its proper form. The barrel has a slow progressive as well as rotary
motion during this process, and the tool advances or recedes very
regularly and gradually, forming the proper taper from the breech to the
muzzle, but the main work is performed by the rotation of the barrel. In
the boring, it is the tool which revolves, the piece remaining at rest;
but in the turning, the barrel must take its part in action, being
required to revolve against the tool, while the tool itself remains
fixed in its position in the rest.
A curious and interesting part of the operation of manufacturing muskets
is the straightening of the barrel. This straightening takes place
continually in every stage of the work, from the time the barrel first
emerges from the chaotic mass produced by heating the scalp, until it
reaches the assembling-room, where the various parts of the musket are
put together. As you enter the boring and turning rooms, you are struck
with surprise at observing hundreds of workmen standing with
musket-barrels in their hands, one end held up to their eyes, and the
other pointing to some one of the innumerable windows of the apartment.
Watching them a few moments, however, you will observe, that, after
looking through the barrel for half a minute, and turning it around in
their fingers, they lay it down upon a small anvil standing at their
side, and strike upon it a gentle blow with a hammer, and then raise it
again to the eye. This is the process of straightening.
In former times, a very slender line, a hair or some similar substance,
was passed through the barrel. This line was then drawn tight, and the
workman, looking through, turned the barrel round so as to bring the
line into coincidence successively with every portion of the inner
surface. If there existed any concavity in any part of this surface, the
line would show it by the distance which would there appear between the
line itself and its reflection in the metal. This method has not,
however, been in use for over thirty years. It gave place to a system
which, with slight modification, is still in practice. This method
consisted in placing a small mirror upon the floor near the anvil of the
straightener, which reflected a diagonal line drawn across a pane of
glass in a window. The workman then placed the barrel of the musket upon
a rest in such a position that the reflected line in the mirror could be
again reflected, through the bore of the barrel, to his eye,--the inner
surface of the barrel being in a brilliantly polished condition from the
boring. When the barrel is placed at the proper angle, which practice
enables the person performing this duty to accomplish at once, there are
two parallel shadows thrown upon opposite sides of the inner surface,
which by another deflection can be made to come to a point at the lower
end. The appearance which these shadows assume determines the question
whether the barrel is straight or not, and if not, where it requires
straightening. Although this method is so easy and plain to the
experienced workman, to the uninitiated it is perfectly
incomprehensible, the bore of the barrel presenting to his eye only a
succession of concentric rings, forming a spectacle of dazzling
brilliancy, and leaving the reflected line in as profound a mystery
after the observation as before.
At present, the mirror is discarded, and the workman holds the barrel up
directly to the pane of glass, which is furnished with a transparent
slate, having two parallel lines drawn across it. The only purpose
subserved by the mirror was that of rendering the operation of holding
the barrel less tiresome, it being easier to keep the end of the musket
presented to the line pointing downwards than upwards. Formerly, this
means of detecting the faults, or want of straightness in the barrel,
was, like the working of the rolling-mill, the secret of one man, and he
would impart it to no one for love or money. He was watched with the
most intense interest, but no clue could be obtained to his secret. They
gazed into the barrel for hours, but what he saw they could not see.
Finally, some fortunate individual stumbled upon the wonderful
secret,--discovered the marvellous lines,--and ever since it has been
common property in the shop. Each workman is obliged to correct his own
work, and afterwards it is passed into the hands of the inspector, who
returns it to the workman, if faulty, or stamps his approval, if
correct. The next process is that of grinding, for the purpose of
removing the marks left upon the surface by the tool in turning, and of
still further perfecting its form. For this operation immense
grindstones, carried by machinery, are used, which rotate with great
rapidity,--usually, about four hundred times in a minute. These stones
are covered with large, movable wooden cases, to keep the water from
flying about the room, or over the workmen.
An iron rod is inserted into the bore of the barrel, and is fitted very
closely. The rod is furnished with a handle, which is used by the
workman for holding the barrel against the stone, and for turning it
continually while he is grinding it, and thus bringing the action of the
stone upon every part, and so finishing the work in a true cylindrical
form. In the act of grinding, the workman inserts the barrel into a
small hole in the case in front of the stone, and then presses it hard
against the surface of the stone by means of an iron lever which is
behind him, and which he moves by the pressure of his back. The work is
very rapidly and smoothly done.
There are twelve sets of stones in the grinding-room in constant
operation day and night. These stones, when set up, are about eight feet
in diameter, and are used to within twelve inches of the centre. They
last about ten days.
The operation of grinding was formerly regarded as a very dangerous one,
from the liability of the stones to burst in consequence of their
enormous weight and the velocity with which they revolve; but, about
twenty years since, a new method of clamping the stone was adopted, by
means of which the danger of bursting is much diminished. The last
explosion which took place in this department occurred about nine years
ago. The operation of grinding, however, is objectionable also from the
very unhealthy nature of the work. Immense quantities of fine dust fill
the air, and the premises are always drenched with water, making the
atmosphere damp and unwholesome.
In former times, it was customary to grind bayonets as well as barrels;
but the former are now milled instead, thus making an important saving
in expense, as well as gain in the health of the establishment. No mode,
however, has yet been devised for dispensing with the operation of
grinding the barrel; but the injury to the health, in this case, is much
less than in the other.
When the barrels are nearly finished, they are proved by an actual test
with powder and ball. To this purpose a building at the water-shops,
called the proving-house, is specially devoted. It is very strongly
built, being wholly constructed of timber, in order to enable it to
resist the force of the explosion within, and contains openings in the
roof and at the eaves for the escape of the smoke, a very large number
of barrels being proved at once.
The barrels are subjected to two provings. In the first, they are loaded
with a double charge of powder and two balls, thus subjecting them to a
far greater strain than they can ever be exposed to in actual service.
In the second proving, only the ordinary charge is used.
The interior of the proving-house is very happily arranged for the
purpose to which it is put. On the right-hand end of the building as you
enter, and extending across it, is a platform of cast-iron, containing
grooves in which the muskets are placed when loaded. A train of
gunpowder is then laid on the back side of this platform, connecting
with each barrel, and passing out through a hole in the side of the
building near the door. A bank of clay is piled up on the opposite side
of the room, into which the balls are thrown. Only one fatal accident
has occurred at the armory during the last two years, and this occurred
in the proving-house. When the muskets are brought in, they are placed
upright in frames, which, when full, are laid down upon the platform.
Five barrels are placed in a frame, and these five exploded while the
man was putting them in the proper position for laying them down, and
ten balls were plunged into him. No satisfactory explanation could ever
be obtained of the cause of the premature explosion.
About one per cent. of the barrels burst under this trial, although
under the old process of welding there was a loss of nearly two per
cent., or one in sixty.
The pieces that fail are all carefully examined, to ascertain whether
the giving-way was owing to a defect in the rolling, or to some flaw or
other bad quality in the iron. The appearance of the rent made by the
bursting will always determine this point. The loss of those which
failed from bad rolling is then charged to the operative by whom the
work was done, at a dollar for each one so failing. The name of the
maker of each is known by the stamp which he put upon it at the time
when it passed through his hands. As the workman gets but four cents for
rolling a barrel, he loses the work done upon twenty-five for each one
that fails through his negligence. The justice of this rule will be
apparent, when it is taken into account that that amount of cost has
been expended upon the barrel prior and subsequent to the work done by
the roller, all of which has been lost through his remissness. Besides,
he is paid so liberally for his work, that he can well afford to stand
the loss. This system of accountability runs through the entire work,
and tends greatly to the promotion of care and fidelity in the various
departments of labor.
There are forty-nine pieces used in making up a musket, which have to be
formed and finished separately; only two of these, the sight and
cone-seat, are permanently attached to any other part, so that the
musket can, at any time, be separated into forty-seven parts, by simply
turning screws and opening springs. Most of these parts are struck in
dies, and then finished by milling and filing. The process of this
manufacture is called swaging,--the forming of irregular shapes in iron
by means of dies, one of which is inserted in an anvil in a cavity made
for the purpose, and the other placed above it, in a trip-hammer, or in
a machine operated in a manner analogous to that of a pile-driver,
called a drop. Cavities are cut in the faces of the dies, so that, when
they are brought together, with the end of a flat bar of iron, out of
which the article is to be formed, inserted between them, the iron is
made to assume the form of the cavities, by means of blows of the
trip-hammer, or of the drop, upon the upper die. About one hundred and
fifty operations upon the various pieces used in the construction of the
musket are performed by these dies. Some of the pieces are struck out by
one operation of the drop, while others, as the butt-plate, require as
many as three, and others a still larger number. The hammer is first
forged, and then put twice through the drop. Four men are kept
constantly at work forging hammers in the rough, while but two are
required to put them through the two operations under the
swaging-machine. Sometimes, however, the work presses upon the droppers,
and they have the alternative either to work double time--that is, night
and day--or to allow other hands to work with them; and as they work by
the piece, and are anxious to earn as much as possible each month, they
will frequently work night and day for several consecutive days. I have
known instances where workmen have worked from Monday until Thursday,
night and day, without any intermission, excepting the hour and a half
at the morning change of hands, one hour at noon, one at tea-time, and
half an hour at midnight,--four hours out of the twenty-four. By this
means they will sometimes earn as much as one hundred and fifty dollars
per month, although this would be an extraordinary case. The average pay
in the dropping-department is about three dollars per day.
There are twenty-four simple and seven compound dropping-machines in
constant operation. Some of the pieces are pressed into shape under
these drops when cold,--this being the case with the triggers, which
were found to use up the dies too rapidly when they were swaged while
heated; but, as a general rule, the swaging is done while the piece is
at a red or white heat. The operations of the various dropping-machines
are exceedingly interesting, and the amount of labor they save is
perfectly marvellous.
A large number of men are kept constantly at work making dies for the
various pieces required.
When the pieces come out of the swaging-machines, they have more or less
of surplus metal about them, which is cut off or trimmed by passing them
through machines designed for this purpose.
The bayonet-blade is first forged under a trip-hammer, and then rolled
to the proper shape, by an operation similar to the barrel-rolling. The
socket is forged separately, and afterwards welded to the blade under a
trip-hammer. It is then passed twice under the drop, then milled and
polished, when it is ready for use. The ramrod is cut from steel rods
about the size required. It is then ground in the same manner as the
barrel, and the hammer is swaged on by two operations under the drop.
The screw-cutting and polishing are very simple, and executed with great
rapidity.
The cone-seating, like every other part of the work done upon the
musket, is very interesting. The barrel, after it comes from the
rolling-mill, is placed in a forge and heated to a white-heat. A small
square block of iron, cut under a trip-hammer to the proper size, is
also heated to a white-heat, and then welded to the barrel by half a
dozen strokes under the trip-hammer,--the whole operation occupying less
time than is required to describe it. An iron rod is meanwhile inserted
within the barrel to maintain the continuity of the bore.
The sights are struck in dies, and placed upon the barrel in slots cut
for the purpose. They are then brazed upon the barrel, pieces of brass
wire, half an inch long, being used for this purpose. Three men are
employed in brazing on the sights for the establishment.
The rolling, forging, and swaging rooms are all connected, and form, as
it were, one extended apartment. In this are placed hundreds of forges,
furnaces, trip-hammers, rolling-mills, dropping-machines, and
trimming-machines,--besides scores of sledge-hammers, wielded by
stalwart arms. The noise here is so great that no effort of the voice
avails to make itself heard, and I doubt if even the loudest thunder
would make any appreciable addition to the general clangor. Small iron
carts, filled with hot iron, are incessantly whirling around you;
red-hot sparks, or melting drops of iron, are flying about the room in
all directions; the air is hot to suffocation, and sulphurous from the
burning of bituminous coal; while hundreds of swarthy faces, begrimed
with grease and dirt, are dripping with sweat: so that you can scarce
avoid the suspicion that you have at last stumbled into the infernal
regions, and are constantly wondering why some of Pluto's imps do not
seize you and plunge you into some horrible furnace, or chop you up
under a trip-hammer.
Having survived the examination of this department, you follow your
guide from the forging-room down a winding flight of iron steps to the
water-wheels, which are situated forty feet under ground. These wheels
are so arranged that they can be run together or separately; they are
generally run together, and in connection with the immense low-pressure
engine.
After the barrels are bored, turned, milled, and straightened, they are
next to be polished. For this purpose they are placed in upright frames,
each frame containing five barrels. The polishing is done by means of
hard, wooden rubbers, provided with a plentiful supply of lard-oil and
emery. The rubbers are placed horizontally, with their grooved ends
pressing by means of springs against the barrels, which are drawn
between them by a very regular and rapid vertical motion. The barrels
are also turned around slowly and continuously by a lateral movement,
which insures a uniform polish. They are allowed to remain in the first
polishing-machines fifteen minutes, and are then placed in a similar
machine and go through a second polishing, differing from the first
simply in the absence of the pulverized emery,--oil only being used upon
the rubbers during this finishing operation. The musket is now
completed, with the exception of the rifling, and some slight polishing
to be done by hand at the muzzle and breech.
Two polishing-machines are used for ramrods, similar in construction to
those above described,--ten rods being polished at once. The bayonet is
polished upon emery-wheels. These wheels are made of wood bound with
leather, upon which there is placed a sizing composed of glue and
pulverized emery. The polishing by this process is very rapid.
The number of workmen employed at the water-shops is ten hundred and
forty. The last time the writer had occasion to visit them was upon the
recurrence of an important occasion to the workmen employed there,
namely, pay-day. A temporary wooden structure has been erected
contiguous to the shops for the purpose of paying-off, and upon this
occasion it bore, from time to time, various placards, announcing which
shop was being paid, according as the paymaster arrived in succession at
the various departments. Within the densely thronged shops, and amidst
the deafening noise of hundreds of trip-hammers, perambulated a herald,
with bell in hand, and placard raised upon a pole, upon which was
painted a huge capital letter, thus designating, in alphabetical order,
the names of the workmen whose turn had arrived to affix their
signatures to rolls for a month's work, and receive in exchange a sheaf
of Uncle Sam's greenbacks.
The works at the water-shops are surrounded by a high wooden fence, and
guarded by a small force of watchmen armed with muskets. Should occasion
require, however, a force of five thousand men, armed with the best of
small arms, could be mustered at once from among the workmen in the
armory and the citizens of the town. Ammunition of all kinds is stored
within the establishment, sufficient for all emergencies.
I stated the number of pieces used in the construction of a musket to be
forty-nine; but this conveys no idea of the number of separate
operations which are performed upon it. The latter amount to over four
hundred, no two of which are by the same hand. Indeed, so distinct are
the various processes by which the grand result is obtained, that an
artisan employed upon one part of a musket may have no knowledge of the
process by which another part is fabricated. This, in fact, is the case
to a very large extent. Many persons employed upon particular parts of
the work in this establishment have never even seen other parts
manufactured, and in general the workmen understand only the process of
making the portions upon which they are engaged. The different parts are
of various grades in respect to character and price, and are regularly
rated, and the work done upon them is paid for by the piece. It will
scarcely be expected that I should describe all the processes included
in the four hundred separate operations performed in the manufacture of
the musket, and I shall therefore content myself with alluding to a few
of the most important or curious among them.
The gun-barrel, after it arrives at the works on the hill from the
water-shops, is taken to the old armory buildings to be rifled. For this
purpose it is placed in a horizontal position in an iron frame, and held
there very firmly. The instruments which perform the rifling are short
steel cutters placed within three apertures situated near the end of an
iron tube which is carried through the bore of the barrel by a slow
rotary and progressive motion. The cutters are narrow bars of steel,
having upon one side three diagonal protuberances of about one-sixteenth
of an inch in height and half an inch in width, ground to a very sharp
edge at the top. It is these which produce the rifling. The three
cutters, when inserted within the iron cylinder, form upon their inner
surface a small cavity which decreases towards the top. Into this is
inserted a small iron rod attached to the machine and revolving with it,
but so controlled by a connecting cog-wheel that the rod is pressed at
every revolution a little farther into the cavity between the cutters.
The effect of this operation is to increase the pressure of the cutters
upon the inner surface of the barrel, and thus gradually deepen the
corrugations produced by the rifling. The rods make twelve revolutions
in a minute, and it occupies thirty minutes to rifle a barrel. There are
twenty-seven of these rifling-machines in constant operation day and
night. This process is the last which takes place within the barrel, and
it leaves the bore in a highly polished and brilliant condition.
Among the innumerable machines which arrest the attention of the visitor
by the beauty and grace of their operations is the broaching-machine.
This is designed to cut out and polish the inner surface of the bands
which encompass the barrel and stock. These bands are irregular in
shape, and cannot, therefore, be bored out as the barrel is. When they
emerge from the drop, or swaging-machine, they are somewhat rough both
interiorly and exteriorly, and then undergo a series of operations which
leave them in a highly finished condition. The first of these is called
broaching. A cavity is made under a huge press in which the band is
placed. The broach consists of a steel tool about ten inches in length,
and of the exact diameter and form of the interior of the band, and is
armed upon its entire length with concentric rings composed of very
short and sharp knives. The broach, being placed over the cavity of the
band, is slowly subjected to the pressure of the two-ten press, and is
thus forced completely through the band, cutting it out as smoothly and
easily as if it were composed of lead. The bands are then milled upon
the outside by a process called profiling, drilled for the rings, placed
upon mandrels to insure the exact shape required, filed, polished,
case-hardened, and thus finished.
The hammer passes through a great number of processes before it is
completed. It is first forged, then dropped, trimmed, punched, drifted,
milled, turned, filed, and lastly case-hardened.
The cone, although one of the smallest pieces in the musket, is yet one
of the most important, and requires a great many separate operations in
its manufacture. It is first struck in a die, then
clamp-milled,--passing through a machine having clamps which hold short
knives that shave the entire outer surface of this very irregular-shaped
piece; then the thread is cut upon the screw, and both ends are
drilled,--this process alone requiring fourteen separate operations. It
is then squared at the base and case-hardened.
All the various portions of the lock are made by machines which perform
their multitudinous operations with the most wonderful skill, precision,
and grace; but it would be impossible to convey to the reader by a
simple description upon paper the various processes by which these
results are obtained.
Every portion of the musket is subjected to tests different in
character, but equally strict and rigid in respect to the qualities
which they are intended to prove. The bayonet is very carefully gauged
and measured in every part, in order that it may prove of precisely the
proper form and dimensions. A weight is hung to the point of it to try
its temper, and it is sprung by the strength of the inspector, with the
point set into a block of lead fastened to the floor, to prove its
elasticity. If it is tempered too high, it breaks; and if too low, it
bends. In either case it is condemned, and the workman through whose
fault the failure has resulted is charged with the loss.
The most interesting process, perhaps, in the manufacture of the musket
is the operation of stocking. This is done in the old arsenal-building,
which, with the exception of one floor, is wholly devoted to this
purpose.
The wood from which the stocks are made is the black walnut. This was
formerly obtained in Pennsylvania, and was kept on hand in the
storehouse in large quantities for the purpose of having it properly
seasoned. During the last two years, however, Ohio and Canada have
furnished the greater part.
The wood is sawn into a rough semblance of the musket-stock before it is
sent to the armory. It then passes through seventeen different machines,
emerging from the last perfectly formed and finished.
A gun-stock is, perhaps, as irregular a shape as the ingenuity of man
could devise, and as well calculated to bid defiance to every attempt at
applying machinery to the work of fashioning it. The difficulties,
however, insurmountable as they would seem, have all been overcome, and
every part of the stock is formed, and every perforation, groove,
cavity, and socket is cut in it, by machines that do their work with
such perfection as to awaken in all who witness the process a feeling of
astonishment and delight.
The general principle on which this machinery operates may perhaps be
made intelligible to the reader by description; but the great charm in
these processes consists in the high perfection and finish of the
machines, the smoothness, grace, and rapidity of their motions, and in
the seemingly miraculous character of the performances which they
execute.
The entire action of the various machines is regulated and guided by
patterns, which are models in iron of the various parts of the stock
which it is intended to form.
The first machine in the stocking-room cuts the sides of the stock to
the proper form for turning. The second saws off the butt-end, and cuts
a diagonal line at the breech. The third is armed with two circular
saws, which cut the upper part of the stock to the form of the finished
arm. An iron pattern of the stock is placed in the machine directly
under the stock to be turned, upon which rests a guide-wheel,
corresponding in size and shape to the two saws above. The whole is then
made to revolve very rapidly, the guide-wheel controlling the action of
the cutters, the result being an exact wooden counterpart of the iron
pattern. The fourth machine forms the butt of the stock in the same
manner. The next simply planes three or four places upon the sides of
the stock, for the purpose of affording the subsequent machines certain
fixed and accurate points for holding it in the frames. This operation
is called spotting. The next machine performs six separate operations,
namely, grooving for the barrel, breechpin, and tang, heading-down,
milling, and finish-grooving. These various operations complete the
stock for the exact fitting-in of the barrel. The next machine planes
the top, bottom, and sides of the stock, and the succeeding two are
occupied in shaping and bedding for the butt-plates. The next machine is
designed for fitting in the lock, and is the most wonderful of all. It
contains two bits and three cutters pendent from a movable steel frame
situated above the stock. These cutters, or borers, are made to revolve
with immense velocity, and are susceptible of various other motions at
the pleasure of the workman. The inevitable iron pattern--the exact
counterpart of the cavity which is designed to be made for the reception
of the lock--is situated in close proximity to the stock, and a guide in
the form of the borer is inserted within the pattern, and controls the
movements of the borer. This is ejected by causing the tool to revolve
by means of small machinery within the frame, while the frame and all
within it move together, in the vertical and lateral motions. All that
the workman has to do is to bring the guide down into the pattern and
move it about the circumference and through the centre of it, the
cutting tool imitating precisely the motions of the guide, entering the
wood and cutting its way In the most perfect manner and with incredible
rapidity, forming an exact duplicate of the cavity in the pattern. It is
on this principle, substantially, that all the machines of the
stocking-shop are constructed,--every process, of course, requiring its
own peculiar mechanism. The next machine cuts for the guards and bores
for the side-screws of the lock, and the two succeeding cut places for
bands and tips. The next operation is called the second turning,
finishing the stock in a very smooth and elegant manner. The next
machine grooves for the ramrod, and the following and last in this
department is designed for boring for the ramrod from the point where
the groove terminates. This latter work has always been done by hand
until the past winter, and there is as yet but one machine for the
purpose in operation at the armory, which, running night and day, is
able to bore only six hundred stocks. The remainder have still to be
done by hand, until more machines are constructed.
The history of the Springfield armory would be incomplete without some
allusion to the inventor of the machinery for turning irregular forms
adapted to the manufacture of gun-stocks. This was the invention of
Thomas Blanchard, then a citizen of Springfield and now of
Boston,--whose reputation as a mechanic has since become
world-wide,--and was first introduced into the armory about the year
1820. Before this the stocks were all worked and fitted by hand; but
the marvellous ingenuity of this machinery made a complete revolution in
this department, and contributed to a very large increase in the
rapidity and economy of gun-making all over the world.
The same invention has been applied to other branches of manufacture,
such as shoe-lasts, axe-helves, etc.; and Mr. Blanchard has successfully
used it in multiplying copies of marble statuary with a degree of
accuracy and beauty which is truly wonderful.
Eight years ago the English Government obtained permission of the then
Secretary of War--Jefferson Davis--to make draughts of this entire
establishment for the purpose of obtaining duplicate machinery for the
works at Enfield, and copies of the most novel and important parts of
the machinery were manufactured for them in the neighboring town of
Chicopee; an American machinist being employed to superintend their
operation at Enfield.
These works were the especial favorites of the late Prince Albert, who
took great pleasure in exhibiting them to his Continental visitors; but
no portion of the works received so much attention from him as that
occupied by the stocking-machines. In this department he would
frequently spend hours, watching the operations of these incomparable
machines with the greatest interest and pleasure.
As all of these ingenious and valuable machines are American inventions,
and nearly all of them designed by the various expert artisans who have
been employed at the armory during the last half-century, it would seem
proper and desirable that their peculiar construction should have
remained a secret within our national works, and, at any rate, not been
freely given to a rival government like that of Great Britain, who might
use the arms manufactured by American machinery against the very nation
that furnished it. It is probable, however, that the arch-traitor who
thus furnished the governments of Europe with draughts of these valuable
works had then in contemplation the monstrous rebellion which now
desolates our beautiful land, and took this means of weakening us by the
universal dissemination of the valuable secrets whereby we were enabled
to surpass the rest of the world in the rapidity of construction, and
the beauty and executive power of our rifled musket.
When the several parts are finished, they are taken to an apartment in
the arsenal to be put together. This operation is called assembling the
musket. There are a large number of workmen whose occupations are
confined to the putting together of the various parts of the
musket,--each one having some distinct part to attend to. Thus, one man
puts the various parts of the lock together, while another screws the
lock into the stock. Another is occupied in putting on the bayonet, and
so on. Each workman has the parts upon which he is employed before him
on his bench, arranged in compartments, in regular order, and puts them
together with marvellous dexterity. The component parts of the musket
are all made according to one exact pattern, and thus, when taken up at
random, are sure to come properly together. There is no special fitting
required in each individual case. Any barrel will fit any stock, and a
screw designed for a particular plate or band will enter the proper hole
in any plate or band of a hundred thousand. There are many advantages
resulting from this exact conformity to an established pattern in the
components of the musket, such as greater facility and economy in
manufacturing them, and greater convenience in service,--spare screws,
locks, bands, springs, etc., being easily furnished in quantities, and
sent to any part of the country where needed, so that, when any part of
a soldier's gun becomes injured or broken, its place can be immediately
supplied by a new piece, which is sure to fit as perfectly into the
vacancy as the original occupant. Each soldier to whom a musket is
served is provided also with a little tool, which, though very simple
in its construction, enables him to separate his gun into its
forty-seven parts with the greatest facility.
The most costly of the various parts of the musket is the barrel, which,
when completed, is estimated at three dollars. From this the parts
descend gradually to a little wire called the ramrod-spring-wire, the
value of which is only one mill.
A complete percussion-musket weighs within a small fraction of ten
pounds.
Besides the finished muskets fabricated here, there are many parts of
foreign arms duplicated at these works, for the use of our armies in the
field,--the most numerous of which are parts for the Enfield rifle, and
for a German musket manufactured from machinery made after our patterns
and models.
In the arsenal there is a case of foreign arms, containing specimens
from nearly every nation in Europe. None among them, however, equal our
own in style or finish, while all of them--excepting the Enfield
rifle--are very inferior in every respect. The French arm comes next to
the English in point of excellence, while the Austrian is the poorest of
all.
There are three steam-engines in operation at the works on the hill, one
connected with the stocking-department, and two with the other
operations carried on here.
Twenty-five thousand dollars' worth of oil is used yearly in lubricating
the machinery, and the various pieces of iron and steel, as they are
being turned, bored, milled, broached, etc.
At the water-shops there are five miles of leather belting in use, while
at the works on the hill the quantity greatly exceeds this amount.
In this establishment there are employed at the present time, as already
remarked, twenty-six hundred workmen, who complete, on an average, about
one thousand muskets daily, and the works may be increased to almost any
extent,--a large square cast of the present works on the hill, and
belonging to the Government, being admirably situated for the
construction of additional shops.
This extensive manufactory is under the direction of a principal who is
styled Superintendent, and who has the chief management of the business
of the armory,--contracting for and purchasing all tools and materials
necessary for manufacturing arms, engaging the workmen, determining
their wages, and prescribing the necessary regulations for the local
government of the establishment. To aid him in the important duties of
the armory, there is allowed a master-armorer, who manages the
mechanical operations, and is held accountable for all stock and tools
put under his charge for the use of the armory, and for the proper
workmanship of the muskets,--also a paymaster and storekeeper, whose
duty it is to liquidate and pay all debts contracted for the armory by
the superintendent, and to receive the finished arms, for which he is
held accountable, as well as for all other public property delivered
him. Each of these officers is allowed a numerous corps of clerks, to
aid in keeping the accounts. There is also a foreman, or assistant
master-armorer, to each principal branch of the work, and under him a
foreman over every job. These are severally held accountable for all
stock, tools, and parts of work delivered them for their respective
departments, and they in their turn severally hold the individual
workmen responsible for all stock, tools, or parts of work delivered to
them. The assistant master-armorers, or foremen, are inspectors in their
several branches, and are responsible for the faithful and correct
performance of the work. Each individual artisan puts his own private
mark on the work he executes, as do the inspectors likewise, when they
examine and approve of the various parts of the musket. Thus, in case of
any defect, the delinquent may readily be found. Monthly returns are
made to the superintendent, and from these returns the monthly pay-rolls
are made up.
Since the establishment of the armory in 1794-5, there have been
fourteen superintendents, all but two of whom are classed as civilians,
although a few of these had seen some military service. The armory has
been under military rule but fifteen years out of the sixty-eight which
have elapsed since it was established: namely, from April, 1841, to
August, 1854; and from October, 1861, until the present time. A standing
dispute on the subject of the government of the armory, which was kept
up with much heat and acrimony for many years, culminated, in 1854, in
the passage of a law by Congress, in favor of the civil administration.
This continued until after the breaking out of the Rebellion, when
Congress restored the military superintendency. The question of civil or
military government, however, is of no practical importance to any
person other than the aspirant for the place. The same rules and
regulations governing the workmen employed at the armory, as well as the
mode of payment, and the manner of doing the work, which were
inaugurated by Benjamin Prescott, the superintendent from November,
1805, to May, 1815, are substantially in operation now, and have
continued through all the changes which have occurred during more than
half a century.
At the end of December, 1817, there had been completed in this
manufactory 141,761 muskets. The expenditures for land and mill-seats,
and for erecting machinery, water-shops, work-shops, stores, and
buildings of every description, together with repairs, were estimated at
$155,500. The other expenses, exclusive of the cost of stock and parts
of work on hand, amounted to $1,553,100; stock and parts of muskets on
hand, $111,545; and the total expenditures, from the commencement of the
works, to December, 1817, $1,820,120.18.
From the establishment of the armory to the present date there have been
manufactured 1,097,660 muskets, 250 rifles, 1,000 pistols, 1,202
carbines, 8,660 musketoons, 4,806 cadets' arms, 18 model muskets, and 16
model pistols and rifles. The reader will be surprised, perhaps, to
learn, that there were 1,020 more muskets manufactured at these works
during the year 1811 than in the year 1854. In 1850 and 1851, 113,406
muskets were altered in their locks, from flint to percussion, involving
an amount of labor equal to the manufacture of 7,630 muskets. From 1809
to 1822, inclusive of those years, and exclusive of 1811 and 1812,
nearly 50,000 muskets were repaired, involving labor equal to the
manufacture of 11,540 muskets.
In addition to the large number of muskets manufactured at the
Government works in Springfield, and which amount to upwards of three
hundred thousand per annum, there are a vast number of private
establishments throughout the Northern States, which turn out from two
to five thousand muskets per month each. These various manufactories are
situated at Hartford, Norfolk, Windsor Locks, Norwich, Middletown,
Meriden, and Whitneyville, Ct., Providence, R.I., Manchester, N.H.,
Windsor, Vt., Trenton, N.J., Bridesburg, Pa., and New York City,
Watertown, and Ilion, N.Y. Besides these, there are more than fifty
establishments where separate parts of the musket are manufactured in
large quantities, and purchased by Government to supply the places of
those injured or destroyed in the service. It is estimated that the
private armories alone are manufacturing monthly upwards of sixty
thousand rifled muskets. The Government contracts for these arms extend
to January next, and the total number which will then have been produced
will be enormous. The cost of manufacturing a musket at the Government
works is estimated at about nine dollars; but the contract-price to the
private arms-companies is twenty dollars for those which equal the
Government standard in every respect, nineteen dollars and ninety cents
for those which lack a little in finish, nineteen dollars for the next
grade, eighteen for the next, and sixteen for the lowest and poorest
which are accepted.
As the arms are finished, they are sent away to the various Government
arsenals,--those made in New England to Watertown, Mass.,--where they
remain until the exigencies of the service require them. At the present
time, there is a sufficient number of new rifled muskets of the best
qualify stored in the various arsenals to arm the entire levy about to
be called into the field,--and should the war continue so long, there
will be enough manufactured during the next twelve months for a new levy
of over one million of men. These arms, it must be remembered, are
entirely independent of those ordered by the respective State
governments, which would swell the amount very largely.
* * * * *