Handbook of artillery matériel

187 Pages·1899·14.719 MB·English

by  F.C. Morgan

HANDBOOK

ABTILLEBY MAT^BIEL
HANDBOOK
01"
AETILLEEY MATEKIEL

BY
F. C. MOKGAN
LIEUT.-COLONEL BOYAL ARTILLERY
WITH PLATES AND INDEX
LONDON:
WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED
13 CHAEING CKOSS
1899
Entered at Stationers' Hall
PREFACE
TO
THE SIXTH EDITION.
THIS work, which has now reached the sixth edition, is
brought up to date with the latest changes in materiel. It
has been necessary to entirely rearrange the chapters; and
much additional matter has been added.
F. C. M.
"WOOLWICH,

1898.

Royal Artillery Regimental Order No. 60 authorises
this work to be used as a text-book for Officers R.A.
qualifying for promotion in Subject "Artillery."
N.B.—The numbers in brackets thus (5304), appearing throughout the
work, refer to the paragraph in the ' List of Changes in War Materiel'
issued monthly with 'Army Orders?
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF GUN CONSTRUCTION 1

II. BREECH-LOADING (B.L.) ORDNANCE 6

III. QUICK-FIRING GUNS 24

IV. R.M.L. ORDNANCE 34

V. R.M.L. CONVERTED GUNS ; R.B.L. GUNS ; AND S.B. ORDNANCE 46

VI. MACHINE GUNS 51

VII. EXPLOSIVES, CARTRIDGES, &C 56

VIII. PROJECTILES, R.M.L., R.B.L. AND S.B. ORDNANCE 68

IX. PROJECTILES FOB B.L. GUNS 78

X. FUZES, TUBES, &C 84

XL B.L. AND R.M.L. FIELD AND SIEGE CARRIAGES 99

XII. MOUNTINGS OF HEAVY B.L. ORDNANCE 106

XIII. MOUNTINGS OF HEAVY R.M.L. ORDNANCE 110

XIV. TRANSPORTING CARRIAGES AND MACHINES 117

XV. TACKLES, CORDAGE, SKIDDING, &C. .. 122

XVI. SHEERS, DERRICKS, AND STORES FOR MOUNTING AND DIS­
MOUNTING ORDNANCE 129

XVII. LAYING ORDNANCE, RANGE AND POSITION-FINDING 137

INDEX 141
LIST OF TABLES.
TABLE
I. B.L. Ordnance To face page 12
II. Q.F. Guns „ 28
III. E.M.L. Ordnance „ 30
IV. E.M.L. Converted and R.B.L. Guns „ 48
V. Weights of Full Charges and Projectiles for
B.L. and Q.F. Ordnance „ 67
VI. Weights of Full Charges and Projectiles of
E.M.L. and R.B.L. Ordnance „ 67
VII. Charges of S.B. Ordnance In text, page 11
VIII. Time Fuzes. (Wood) „ 84
IX. Metal Fuzes for Rifled Ordnance B.L. and R.M.L. „ 87
X. Electric Tubes, &c „ 96
LIST OF PLATES.
PLATE
I. E.M.L. Guns To face page 3

II. B.L. Guns
„ 12

HI. „
„ 12

IV. Breech Mechanisms „ 12

V. „ ,> „ 16

VI. Instruments Measuring Velocities „ 22

VII. Q.F. Guns „ 26

VIII. Manufacturing Operations „ 34

IX. „ „ .. .. „ 34

X. E.M.L. Ordnance „ 36

XI. Jointed Gun, Grooves, &c. .. „ 37

XII. Converted and E.B.L. Guns 46

M
XIII. Cartridges .. .. „ 64

XIV. E.M.L. Projectiles „ 72

XV. B.L. Projectiles „ 80

XVI. Driving Bands, &c „ 80

XVII. Time Fuzes „ 86

XVIII. Metal Fuzes „ 90

XIX. „ \ 90

M
xii HANDBOOK OF ARTILLERY MATERIEL.
PLATE
XX. Vent-Sealing Tubes
To face page 92

XXL Howitzer and Siege Platform
„ 102

XXII. Overbank Carriage „ 103

XXIII. 40-pr. Side-closing Gun Carriage „ 104

XXIV. E.M.L. Heavy Mountings „ 110

XXV. Hydraulic Jack and Gyn „ 118

XXVI. Tackles „ 124

XXVII. Sheers „ 128
HANDBOOK
OF
ARTILLERY MATEEIEL.

CHAPTEE I.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF GUN CONSTRUCTION.
FOB. some years past all ordnance manufactured for the Service
have been of steel and breech loading. These modern ordnance,
as they are termed, differ considerably from the wrought-iron and
steel muzzle-loading pieces which, as regards manufacture, they
have entirely superseded.
The great improvements in ballistic power and in range and
accuracy in modern guns have been brought about by the employ­
ment of more suitable steel in gun construction, and, secondly, by
considerably altering the relative proportions of calibre and length
of bore. In addition, the change to breech loading rendered practi­
cable the provision of a better system of rifling and the more perfect
application of the principle of chambering for the charge in a gun.
Other defects, also, that were inherent in a piece loaded at the
muzzle were removed by the adoption of breech loading. These
advances, however, in gun construction called for the introduction
of more suitable forms of gunpowder, without which they would
have been of little value; and, more recently, by the use of cordite
as the propelling agent, gun ballistics have been still further
developed.
In the old type of guns using cubical and granulated black
powders, high initial chamber pressures were set up, and suffi­
ciently large charges could not therefore be used without exceeding
2 HANDBOOK OF ARTILLERY MATERIEL.
safe working pressures, so that whilst pressures were excessive the
corresponding muzzle velocities were low. This was chiefly due
to a percussive rather than a propelling effect being produced on
discharge, in consequence of the form of powder employed. By
the introduction, however, of slow and regular-burning prismatic
powders, and, more recently, by the use of cordite powder, higher
muzzle velocities without exceeding the safe working pressures
have been obtained, and the total pressure on the base of the pro­
jectile is spread over a longer period, acting, in fact, throughout
the shot's entire travel in the bore. The forward pressures thus
occurring necessitate, however, the walls of the bore of a gun being
strengthened up to the muzzle to a greater extent than formerly,
and in order to allow of the whole pressure of gas evolved acting
on the shot before leaving the bore the latter had to be lengthened
considerably, hence there is a very marked difference between the
external appearance of an old and new type piece.
The radical changes in gun designs occurred at the commence­
ment of the era of so-called modern ordnance, but subsequently so
many improvements have by degrees arisen that B.L. guns of
latest designs differ very materially from those first constructed,
and the details of this matter will be referred to in a subsequent
chapter.
Improvements in the gun are necessarily accompanied by cor­
responding ones in gun mountings, and in the ammunition used,
and stores in general. This fact, therefore, tends to widen and
complicate the subject of war materiel, a large proportion of which
comprises ordnance and the stores in connection.
Again, owing to economical and other reasons, long periods
will frequently elapse before materiel of a pattern no longer
manufactured is finally passed out of the service, and during its
obsolescent stage a knowledge of the manufacture and use of the
materiel must still be maintained.
As regards the history of ordnance it is briefly as follows.
Until about the year 1854 all ordnance were constructed of bronze
or iron, and were smooth-bored, these metals being found suffi­
ciently strong, and otherwise suited for the purpose. But the in­
troduction of rifled ordnance necessitated a more tenacious metal
being employed, owing to the greatly increased strains occurring
on discharge, due to the use of elongated projectiles in a rifled
gun to which both a rotary and forward motion had to be im­
parted, the spherical projectile in a smooth-bored gun experiencing
but slight resistance to motion.
Not only were wrought iron, in conjunction with steel, substi­
tuted for cast iron or bronze in rifled ordnance, but, in order to
gain additional strength, guns were constructed or built up in