XIV. THE ARMOUR-PLATE DEPARTMENT.
FROM the year 1876, when Messrs. Schneider and Co.
submittecl the first steel armour-plate for trial at
Spezia, this special brauch of their manufacture has
steadily increased, and to day it forms the most important
department, except, perhaps, the gun factory, of the vast
establishment at Creusot. The main armour-plate shop
is a building 50 metres (164 ft.) wide and 430 metres
ioo-Ton Steam Hammer. — The most conspicuous
object in the main shop is the 100-ton steam hammer, the
working of which has impressed visitors to Creusot for
more than twenty years. It was constructed at a time
when nothing approaching its power had been attempted,
and the complété success which attended the bold experi-
ment gave the works at Creusot a distinct advantage over
Fig. 136 . The 100-Ton Steam Hammer.
Fig. 1 ft.) long ; in this all the varions processes of forging,
pressing, and machining, are carried on.
Another building, 25 metres (82 ft.) wide, and 277
metres (908 ft.) long, joined to the first one, con tains the
two heating furnaces and the tempering plant. The
cementing furnaces are placed in annexes outside the main
shop. The general arrangement is shown on the plan,
Fig. 135. Plate XXX. The total area occupied by this
department is 65,000 square metres (78,000 square yards).
all other large metallurgical works. The model which
formed so conspicuous an objeet in front of the company’s
pavillon at the Paris International Exhibition of 1878,
will still be remembered as dividing the honours of that
remarkable exhibit with the 120-ton steel ingot to which
reference has already been made (see Fig. 82, page 34 ante).
Fig. 136 gives a good general idea of the appearance
of the hammer, which. can be heard in operation for a
distance of 7 miles. The two diagrams, Figs. 137 and 138,