The Works Of Messrs. Schneider And Co.

74 MESSRS. SCHNEIDER AND CO.’S WORKS. also of the old order of artillery, and the création in 1855 of the first Armstrong breechloading gun. From that time, in this country and abroad, dates the révolution in the construction of artillery which culminated, as regards weight and calibre, with the 100-ton Armstrong gun of 1876, and the far more formidable weapons of to-day, produced by the same firm, by Schneider and Go., Krupp, and a few others, ai the present time. The great and rapid changes in gun construction since 1855 have given problems more and more difficult of solution to the manufacturer of armour, for the power of the attack advanced always more rapidly than that of the defence. The first record o£ a steel plate being tested is one that was tried at Woolwich in 1857 ; it was but 2 in. thick, and failed rapidly, as did also the 4-in. wrought-iron plate, with. 2 ft. of oak backing, that was broken up the same year, also at Woolwich, by wrought-iron shot. It is of interest to note that a steel plate, at a little later date, was fired at in Russia, with somewhat better results. The next six years brought remarkable developments, both in guns and armour; manufacturers still famous in their specialty, such as Brown and Cammell, had succeeded in the commercial production of iron armour-plates up to 6 in. in thickness, while gun-makers like Armstrong and Whitworth were making artillery of such calibre and energy as to still maintain the balance in favour of the guns. Round shot had given place to pointed projectiles, either of chilled cast iron, like the Palliser ; of wrought iron case-hardened ; or of Bessemer steel. The following list of armour-plates that were tested at Portsmouth in February, 1864, will give an idea of the condition of the industry at that time in Great Britain. Naines of Makers. Ship for which Plates were made. Thickness of Wrought Iron. John Brown and Co.... “ Lord Warden ” 5i in. 4 „ 4 „ »? ,, “ Royal Alfred” Mersey Company “Prince Albert ” “ Agincourt ” 5J „ Cammell and Co. “ Lord Clyde ” Millwall Company Beale and Co “ Bellerophon ” “ Pallas ” 6 „ 44 „ As we have seen, it is to the French engineer Dupuy de Löme, in 1854, that is due the crédit of being the first to design and have constructed, floating batteries for actual warfare, protected with iron armour. The plates for the “ Lave,” “ Tonnante,” and “ Devastation” were manufactured by Messrs. Schneider and Co. The first armoured frigates, “ Gloire ” and “ Heroine,” were built immediately after- wards ; their iron armour-plates were 12 centimetres (4f in.) thick, and resisted fairly well the fire from all the guns of the time. The building of the “ Gloire ” may be regarded as the real starting-point of the armour-plate industry ; from that time dates also the serious beginning of the struggle between projectile and armour Since then armour-plate makers have been constantly engaged in devising means to produce plates that shall be successful in warding off every blow ; and on their side the gun-makers have been equally energetic in making guns of increased résistance, higher velocities, and flatter trajectories; whilst improve- ments in the manufacture of projectiles and explosives have been equally progressive. In the foregoing paragraphe some general idea lias been given of the early development of the armour-plate industry, and we may now pass on to consider the great pari taken by Messrs. Schneider and Co. in the more recent and important developments, commencing with the year 1876, when the Italian Government was building the two great battleships “ Duilio ” and “ Dandolo.” It was at this time that Messrs. Schneider and Co. decided upon the series of now historie trials, with the view of proving the superior value of steel over iron for armour-plates. These trials were conducted at the proving-yard of Muggiano, near Spezia; they took place in September and October, 1876, and demonstrated tlie superiority of Messrs. Schneider and Co.’s steel plate over the otliers tested at the same time. The Order for the “Duilio” and “Dandolo” steel armour was immediately after given to Creusot. Imperfect as were these early plates, comparée! with those they now manufacture, the advantages to be derived by the use of all-steel plates became apparent to the naval advisers of many Governments; and the conclusion was very widely arrived at, that iron had become inadequate for ship protection, and liad to be abandoned. Thus in July, 1879, the Danish Navy, instituted com- pétitive trials at tlie Amager proving-yard, near Copen- hagen. At these trials the Creusot plate was not the only steel plate tested ; other makers, whose interest had been aroused by the result of the Muggiano trials, also sent steel plates for test. The trials at Amager, however, established the superiority of “ Schneider-metal ” and the “ Tordenskjold ” deck-armour and turrets were ordered from Creusot. After the value of steel plates had been established, the manufacture of compound armour was commenced in Great Britain. This type was invented by Mr., now Sir Alexander, Wilson ; it gave from the be- ginning satisfactory results in many cases, and was adopted by varions navies. Meantime Messrs. Schneider and Co. were steadily working out improvements in the manu- facture of homogeneous steel armour, with the result that the resisting power of their plates was constantly inereas- ing; they obtained at this period, from the French Govern- ment, the order for the “ Terrible’s ” armour. Other impor- tant trials took place at the Muggiano proving-yard, in November, 1882, and in October and November, 1884, which resulted in Messrs. Schneider and Co. obtaining the order for the “ Lepanto’s ” armour-plates. These trials were so conclusive that the Terni Company decided to put down a powerful plant for the manufacture of plates on the Schneider process. The 1882 trials resulted also in deciding the Italian and the French Navy, and subsequently other navies also, to adopt the Schneider patent armour- plate bolt.