The Works Of Messrs. Schneider And Co.

FINISHING ARMOUR PLATES. 71 slide by a double-screwed shaft .122 metre (4| in.) in diameter. Length of frame 11.000 36 1 Travel of slide 9.000 29 6 Vertical travel of tool 1.200 3 llj Speed of cutting per minute 4.200 13 9§ There are six such planing machines in the works, all of them having been designed and built by Messrs. Schneider and Co. When the edge has a winding surface, as is often the ■case for side armour-plates, it is finished by a special tool «alled the winding-surface planing machine. It consists of two cast-iron frames 3.600 metres (11 ft. 10 in.) apart from centre to centre. On these is a clear space between two uprights, which slide on the frames and carry a cross- piece on which is fixed the tool-holder. The cross-piece The horizontal motion is obtained by two screwed shafts, one on each frame, which pass through nuts fixed in the foot of the movable crosshead uprights. Near this tool is a shaping machine, the cutters of which can be inclinée! at will ; this can also be employed in finishing winding surfaces. There are, besides, two large planing machines for flat surfaces, and two vertical and horizontal planing machines, which are used specially for planing port-holes and other openings in armour ; this work is done vertically. Drilling and Tapping. — Holes in armour-plate are drilled and tapped after the plates have been hardened ; this work is not attended by many difficulties, as the holes are made in the surface which has not been hardened. When — which seldom happens — a hardened <? § Centre fir Plates of 4 Maires RoxUå^ U............ ~^<l.SOO C7~.—:— . iww^w i- Rg.lBZ. Planing Machine for Curved Armour Plates. can be raised or lowered at will, in order to brino' the tool to the height of the edge which requires planing. The tool-holder is mounted on a vertical sector which allows it to cant to any desired angle. The plate is fixed in a pit between the two frames ; the workman holds the levers which control the incline of the tool and cause the crosshead to travel up and down. He can thus vary the position of the tool after each cut, and follow exaetly the two lines marked out, and which indicate the windino- Ö surface to be given to the plate. The following are the principal dimensions of this machine. Length of frames ... 8.000 in. 26 ft. 3 in. Width of pit 2.500 m. 8 ft. 2/j. in. Length ,, 7.850 m. 25 ft. 9 in. Depth ,, 2.600 ni. 8 ft. 6g in. Travel of tool carrying slide lengthwise ... 6.000 m. 19 ft. 8 in. Travel of tool crosswise ... .900 ni. 35j78 in. Incline of tool holding slide 15deg. oneither 15 deg. on either side of side of horizontal. horizontal. surface has to be drilled, the metal at the particular spot is previously softened. There are three large radial drilling machines (see Fig. 163, Plate XXXIII.) for thick plates and six smaller ones for deck plates. There are also a milling machine, driven electrically for finishing the edges of the hardened surfaces; a large milling machine (Fig. 164, Plate XXXIII.), 32 ft. 10 in. length of bed, and .900 metre (35J in.) cross travel; a trimming machine .900 metre (35| in.) vertical travel ; a face-plate planing machine ; a horizontal drilling machine ; a lathe for sectioning ingots and gun hoops ; and a boring machine. There are in ail fifty-seven machine tools, with which the manufacture of ail the varied shapes of armour-plates are completed. The shop is divided into three bays on ils width; the centre one, which contains ail the principal tools, is 25 metres (82 in.) wide, and tlie two side bays are 12.500 metres (41 ft.). The total length is 120 metres (393 ft.