APK IU 1922 PREFACE. 1. The following pages give an account of my system of rifled guns, and show how it originated and has been developed. 2.-In the application of this system to guns of large calibre I was led to the manufacture of steel, and found that by subjecting the metal to extreme pressure when in a fluid state I could produce steel of absolute soundness. 3. Having always contended that guns should be made of steel, I have now removed every practical objection to the use of that material, and I reject as utterly unsuitable in their manufacture the combination of a weak and a strong metal, such as iron and steel. It will be seen on referring to the experiments detailed in this work that it is possible to make guns of ductile steel possessing twice the strength of iron, and completely master of the gunpowder. My breechloading gun, made of fluid-compressed steel, with its large powder chamber, cannot burst or break up into pieces. For penetration and destructive power it will fire shells of such length and capacity as no one would venture to use for a gun of mixed iron and steel, while its range will be at high elevations from 45 to 50 per cent. greater than that of a muzzle-loading service gun of the same calibre. |