The Works Of Messrs. Schneider And Co.

XXII.—THE ORDNANCE AND FORTIFICATION DEPARTMENT. HISTORICAL. At the commencement of this volume, when sketching the earlier history of Creusot, long before it passed into the possession of the Schneider family, we pointed out that during the whole period of the Revolution, as well as during the long series of war which attended the First Empire, the proprietors of the Creusot Works, manu- factured war material without intermission, producing the best qualities of cast iron and bronze guns known at the 526 show a cross-section and a side view of that section of the flask which contained the trunnions. The core forming the bore of the gun is not shown. The originals of these drawings are contained in the archives of Messrs. Schneider and Co. ; the type it represents was followed in the Creusot Works, in the year 1792. The first guns then manufacturée! were cast hollow. To this end, a core of loam was placée! in the mould and centred by three iron studs, that were left imbedded in Patterns and Moulds for Bronze Guns, made at Creusot in 1792. time, both for the army and navy, as well as large quanti- tés of carriages and projectiles, and other war material. As a matter of historical interest, we reproduce in Figs 522 to 553 above, and on Plate XCVL, drawings which illustrate the condition of gun-making at the end of the last Century. Figs. 522 to 528 show the form of a “36’’ calibre naval gun, and details of the patterns and moulds from which it was cast. As will be seen from these figures the gun was cast in sand, the patterns being divided in sections A B ,.. H, as shown in Fig. 523 ; Fig. 525 shows the varions flasks in section bolted together, and Fig. 528 is an exterior view. The metal was poured at K, which served as a head and secured a sound casting; Figs. 525 and the metal of the breech. After the careful fettling of the casting, there practically only remained the polishing of the core with a broaching bit. This operation was carried on as follows : The gun was suspended vertically in a kind of crosshead guide, muzzle downwards ; the broaching bar formed the axle of a gin that was turned by two horses, the weight of the gun on the broaching bar serving to insure the regulär feed as the work progressed. Large calibre guns were too heavy to be treated by this method, and a system of counterweights was resorted to, in Order to balance the excess in weight of the gun. The core was liable to shift during the process of casting, and as with the imperfect methods then in use, it constituted