THE GUN-SMITH.
1. It is the business of the gun-smith to manufacture fire-arms of the smaller sorts; such as muskets, fowling-pieces, rifles, and pistols.
2. The principal parts of the instruments fabricated by this artificer, are the barrel, the stock, and the lock. In performing the operations connected with this business, great attention is paid to the division of labor, especially in large establishments, such as those belonging to the United States, at Springfield and Harper's Ferry; for example, one set of workmen forge the barrels, ramrods, or some part of the lock; others reduce some part of the forged material to the exact form required, by means of files; and again another class of operators perform some part of the work relating to the stock.
3. The barrel is formed by forging a bar of iron into a flat piece of proper length and thickness, and by turning the plate round a cylindrical rod of tempered steel, called a mandril, the diameter of which is considerably less than the intended bore of the barrel. The edges of the plate are made to overlap each other about half an inch, and are welded together by heating the tube in lengths of two or three inches at a time, and by hammering them with very brisk, but moderate strokes, upon an anvil which has a number of semicircular furrows upon it.
4. In constructing barrels of better workmanship, the iron is forged in smaller pieces, eight or nine inches long, and welded together laterally, as well as lengthwise. The barrel is now finished in the usual way; or it is first made to undergo the additional operation of twisting, a process employed upon those intended to be of superior quality. The operation is performed by heating small portions of it at a time, and twisting them successively, while one end is held fast.
5. The barrel is next bored with several bits, each a little larger than the preceding one. The last bit is precisely the size of the intended calibre. After the barrel has been polished, and the breech closed with a screw, its strength and soundness are tested by means of a ball of the proper size, and a charge of powder equal in weight to the ball. Pistol-barrels, which are to go in pairs, are forged in one piece, which is cut asunder, after it has been bored.
6. Barrels for rifles are much thicker than those for other small arms; and, in addition to the boring in common barrels, they are furrowed with a number of grooves or rifles, which extend from one end of the cavity to the other, either in a straight or spiral direction. These rifles are supposed to prevent the rolling of the ball in its passage out, and to direct it more unerringly to the object of aim.
7. The stocks are commonly manufactured from the wood of the walnut-tree. These are first dressed in a rough manner, usually in the country. After the wood has been properly seasoned, they are finished by workmen, who commonly confine their attention to this particular branch of the business. In each of the United States' armories, is employed a machine with which the stocks are turned, and also one, with which the place for the lock is made.
8. The several pieces composing the lock are forged on anvils, some of which have indented surfaces, the more readily to give the proposed form. They are reduced somewhat with the file, and polished with substances usually employed for such purposes. The several pieces of the lock having been put together, it is fastened to the stock with screws. Other particulars in regard to the manufacture of small-arms will be readily suggested by a careful inspection of the different kinds, which are frequently met with.
9. The period at which, and the country where, gunpowder and fire-arms were first invented, cannot be certainly determined. Some attribute their invention to the Chinese; and, in confirmation of this opinion, assert that there are now cannon in China, which were made in the eightieth year of the Christian era. On this supposition, their use was gradually extended to the West, until they were finally adopted in Europe, in the fourteenth century.
10. Others, however, attribute the invention of gunpowder to Berthold Schwartz, a monk, who lived at Mentz, between the years 1290 and 1320. It is said, that in some of his alchemistic experiments, he put some saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal, into a mortar, and having accidentally dropped into it a spark of fire, the contents exploded, and threw the pestle into the air. This circumstance suggested to his mind the employment of the mixture for throwing projectiles. Some traditions, however, attribute the invention to Constantine Antlitz, of Cologne.
11. The fire-arms first used in Europe were cannon, and these were originally made of wood, wrapped in numerous folds of linen, and well secured with iron hoops. They were conical in shape, being widest at the muzzle; but this form was soon changed for the cylindrical. At length they were made of bars of iron, firmly bound together with hoops of the same metal. In the second half of the fourteenth century, a composition of copper and tin, which was brought to form by casting in sand, came into use.
12. Cannon were formerly dignified with great names. Charles V. of Spain had twelve, which he called after the twelve apostles. One at Bois-le-Duc is called the devil; a sixty-pounder, at Dover Castle, is called Queen Elizabeth's pocket-pistol; an eighty-pounder, at Berlin, is called the thunderer; two sixty-pounders, at Bremen, the messengers of bad news. But cannon are, at present, denominated from the weight of the balls which they carry; as six-pounders, eight-pounders, &c.
13. Fire-arms of a portable size were invented, about the beginning of the sixteenth century. The musket was the first of this class of instruments that appeared, and the Spanish nation, the first that adopted its use as a military weapon. It was originally very heavy, and could not be well supported in a horizontal position without a rest. The soldiers, on their march, carried only the rest and ammunition, while each was followed by a youth who bore the musket.
14. The powder was not ignited with a spark from a flint, but with a match. Afterwards, a lighter match-lock musket was introduced, which was carried by the soldiers themselves. The rest, however, maintained its ground, until about the middle of the seventeenth century. The troops throughout Europe were furnished with fire-locks, such as are now used, a little before the beginning of the eighteenth century.
15. The bayonet was invented, about the year 1640, at Bayonne; but it was not generally introduced, until the pike was entirely discontinued, about sixty years afterwards. It was first carried by the side, and was used as a dagger in close fight; but, in 1690, the custom of fastening it to the muzzle of the fire-lock was commenced in France, and the example was soon followed throughout Europe.
16. Gunpowder, on which the use of fire-arms depends, is a composition of salt-petre, sulphur, and charcoal. The proportion of the ingredients is varied considerably in different countries, and by different manufacturers in the same country. But good gunpowder may be made of seventy-six parts of salt-petre, fifteen of charcoal, and nine of sulphur. These materials are first reduced to a fine powder separately, and then formed into a homogeneous mass by moistening the mixture with water, and pounding it for a considerable time in wooden mortars.
17. After the paste has been suffered to dry a little, it is forced through a kind of sieve. By this process it is divided into grains, the size of which depends upon that of the holes through which they have been passed. The powder is then dried in ovens, and afterwards put into barrels, which are made to revolve on their axis. The friction produced by this motion destroys the asperities of the grains, and renders their surfaces smooth and capable of easy ignition.
