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For my friends, my muses, my knights in shining armor:
ALEX
ANDA
AUSTIN
BIRD
EZRAEL
KATIE
MAX
MIK
RAVIV
SAMANTHA
TEDDY
 CONTENTS

1. CHAPTER 1
2. CHAPTER 2
3. CHAPTER 3
4. CHAPTER 4
5. CHAPTER 5
6. CHAPTER 6
7. CHAPTER 7
8. CHAPTER 8
9. CHAPTER 9
10. CHAPTER 10
11. CHAPTER 11
12. CHAPTER 12
13. CHAPTER 13
14. CHAPTER 14
15. CHAPTER 15
16. CHAPTER 16
17. CHAPTER 17
18. CHAPTER 18
19. CHAPTER 19
20. CHAPTER 20
21. CHAPTER 21
22. CHAPTER 22
23. CHAPTER 23
24. CHAPTER 24
25. CHAPTER 25
26. CHAPTER 26
27. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 FIRST, THERE WAS ONLY SOL AMONG A SEA OF STARS.
Alone, they formed the world by gathering stardust in their
hands.
From the dust pressed between their fingers, mountains grew.
From their tears of loneliness, oceans and rivers flowed. From the
water, the desolate earth grew lush trees and jungles.
And from the new earth, Tierra was formed, and Sol was not
alone.
The world was beautiful and exciting, but the couple was alone
in the universe with no one to share it with.
They decided to create a race of godly children.
First, Tierra brought forth gold from deep within the earth, and
Sol shaped it into the Golds.
The Golds were powerful but vain. They wanted only to test the
limits of their strength, busying themselves with their work instead
of spending time with their creators. And so Sol and Tierra tried
again.
Next, Tierra brought forth jade from the caverns where the
ocean met the shore, and Sol shaped it into the Jades.
The Jades were kind but focused. They were so immersed in
finding new ways to bend and channel their powers, that they had
no thoughts of their family. And so Sol and Tierra tried again.
Last, Tierra brought forth obsidian from the edges of the earth’s
hottest flames, and Sol shaped it into the Obsidians.
The Obsidians were passionate but selfish. They sought only
destruction, not the development of their home.
Eventually, Sol and Tierra grew tired of shaping gods. Sol went
down into the earth and planted their heart deep beneath the
ground, to be closer to their beloved. Sol’s heartsblood mingled with
the humble dirt and, unexpectedly, humans were born.
The small mortals were welcomed, and given a home in Reino
del Sol. By nature of their short existence, the humans held more
compassion and empathy, loved more fiercely, than any god could
through an eternity.
Sol and Tierra loved the humans most of all, so they tasked the
gods with caring for the fragile creatures—to provide for them,
inspire them, and learn from them.
The Golds, Jades, and Obsidians fought viciously about what
aspects of life they would rule over. Sol put an end to the fighting by
making a seven-pointed star out of clay and filling it with all the
powers the gods could possess.
All the gods took turns hitting it with a stick, but it was a Gold
god, Luna, whose blow cracked it open. From the broken clay, stars
rained down.
The Golds grabbed the brightest stars, containing the greatest
responsibilities. The Jades searched among the smaller stars for the
ones most precious to them. The Obsidians snatched their stars
from the dust and hid them deep in the earth, where the broiling
heat and the pressure of their greed turned their gifts black and
brittle.
Agua took stewardship of the oceans and all the life within. Pan
Dulce guarded the hearth and gave her name to the mortals’
favorite treat, sweet and soft and colorful.
Fauna made all the animals, Guerrero made the great cats in
their own image, Quetzal made the birds in hers, and they were all
beloved.
The Obsidians—Venganza, Chupacabra, and Caos—grew angry.
They were jealous of how Sol loved the humans. Instead of
celebrating human life with the other immortals, the Obsidians
wanted humans to serve and worship them.
Caos longed for the world before this rigid structure. Chupacabra
thirsted for blood. And Venganza crafted a plan to center himself
above all others.
They sought out Tierra, who was guarding Sol’s heart at the
center of the earth. The clever Chupacabra limped and whimpered
into Tierra’s path, tricking his attention away while Venganza and
Caos stole Sol’s heart.
Without Sol’s heart to warm the earth, the Obsidians turned Sol
and Tierra’s cherished humans into mindless creatures, who existed
only to worship the gods.
In order to save humanity, Sol went to the top of their temple.
On a stone slab, they drove a dagger into their own chest. When
the last drop of blood drained from Sol’s body, they reappeared in
the sky as a burning, brilliant star. As the sun, Sol was able to trap
the traitor gods in the sky within celestial bindings.
Back on earth, Sol’s body turned to lava, burning on the
sacrificial slab. While Sol could keep the Obsidians trapped during
the day, there was nothing to keep them away during the night.
Tierra stepped forward and took his beloved’s molten body into
his arms. Even as it burned his skin from his flesh, Tierra formed
Sol’s skull into the Sol Stone, which shone brightly at the top of the
golden temple. He then took the rest of Sol’s body and turned it into
smaller Sun Stones. Each of the remaining gods took one stone and
placed it at the top of their temple to keep the Obsidians from
returning to Reino del Sol.
Sol ascended as the sun, watching over the earth and locking
the Obsidians within celestial prisons among the constellations.
Every night the betrayer gods try to escape, but the Sun Stones
keep them away until Sol rises each morning.
As long as the sun shines and the stones stay lit, the traitorous
gods cannot return.
 CHAPTER 1
Careful! We don’t want to fuck up and get caught again,” Teo
whispered as muffled voices bickered inside his backpack. Finally
released from his usual stint in detention, Teo was eager to put the
plan he’d spent the last two days concocting into action.
Bracing himself, he jogged across the street to where the target
of today’s prank loomed. The Academy advertisement was
unavoidable, plastered on a brick wall of the school. In large gold
letters, it read:
Come See the Academy’s Best Compete in
THE SUNBEARER TRIALS
Tall figures stood in an arrow formation on the black background
of the poster, power posing and smiling for the camera. Teo
recognized the woman standing in the center as Brilla, who had
been crowned as Sunbearer in the last trials. Flanking Brilla were
other past Sunbearers, recognizable by the golden sunburst crowns
they wore on their heads.
It made Teo want to barf. He figured since he was forced to see
it every day, the least he could do was add his own artistic flair.
Unfortunately, the poster was at least as tall as Teo—who was a
proud five foot ten, thank you very much—and well out of his reach.
Which was where Peri and Pico came in.
Most people in the city of Quetzlan had a bird, but they were
more than just pets, they were companions. It was a lifelong bond
between bird and human. But only Teo and his mom—Quetzal, the
goddess of birds—could communicate with them directly.
Or, in Teo’s case, occasionally team up for some light defacing of
school property.
“Coast is clear, come on out you two,” Teo said as he unzipped
his backpack. Immediately, two birds poked their heads out. “You
remember how to use these?” Teo asked, pulling out two of the
smallest cans of spray paint he could find at the store.
Of course! Peri chirped.
 I love these! Pico said, expertly popping the cap off with his
beak.
The two young caiques were Teo’s partners in crime and always
down to clown. They’d agreed to help Teo before he even offered
up the dried mango in his backpack.
What’s the plan? Pico asked, tipping his head to stare up at Teo.
“I think they could use some humbling,” Teo said, eyeing the
Golds. “Maybe some funny faces?” he suggested. “I’m open to your
artistic interpretations.”
Great idea! they agreed before taking off.
“Try to hurry!” Teo called after them, checking the time on his
phone.
You can count on us!
The best part of this prank was by the time anyone found his
latest work of art, he’d be long gone to Sol Temple.
The Sunbearer Trials were the biggest out of all the holidays in
Reino del Sol—a competition of the very best semidioses that kept
the sun fueled and ensured the safety of their world for the next ten
years. What had started as a sacred ritual thousands of years ago
was now a televised and sponsored event that took over the cities.
And Teo and his mom were required to attend.
As a simple Jade, Teo knew there was no chance he’d ever be
chosen by the omniscient Sol to compete—something he was
constantly reminded of by the posters that had been hung on the
sides of buildings and light posts for weeks. They were all over
social media, too, making it impossible for Teo to escape.
Like their parents, the kids of Gold gods were stronger and more
powerful than Jade demigods. Some could produce and control
elements and even move mountains. They went to a fancy academy
and had fancy uniforms and got fancy training from the age of
seven to be the Heroes of Sol. Whenever there was an emergency
or disaster, the Golds were summoned to help.
Meanwhile, Teo and the other Jades weren’t deemed powerful
enough to attend the Academy, so they got stuck going to public
school with mortal kids. Quetzlan High was held together with duct
tape and glue, and the only uniform Teo was ever given was awful
lime green gym shorts and a gray T-shirt that didn’t fit. While Golds
traveled around Reino del Sol saving lives, the most interesting
responsibility Teo had was judging the yearly Quetzlan bird show.
He was tired of every privilege Golds received getting rubbed in
his face.
Pico and Peri used their talons to hook into the advertisement’s
canvas, giving them something to hold on to while they wielded the
cans of spray paint and got to work.
I’m getting good at this! Pico said, repeatedly banging his head
on the nozzle as he sprayed light blue paint haphazardly across the
beaming faces of the Gold semidioses.
Peri’s focus was solely on Brilla. When Teo asked what she was
drawing, she proudly announced, You said to give them funny faces.
Nothing’s as funny-looking as a cat!
“That’s very clever, Peri,” Teo agreed.
The graffiti was messy and definitely looked like two birds had
done it, but damn was it satisfying to see those smug expressions
covered in paint.
“Time for the final touch!” Teo dug into his pocket while Pico and
Peri glided down to perch on his shoulders. He unfolded a piece of
paper he’d scribbled on during detention. “Can you write this across
the top?”
Oh, that’s a good one, Son of Quetzal! Pico chuckled before
plucking the paper from Teo’s hand and taking off.
What does it say? Teo heard Peri whisper as she flew after Pico
with her can of spray paint.
I don’t know, I can’t read!
Peri held the paper while Pico tried his best to re-create the
words. What Pico produced was absolute gibberish. Teo laughed
behind his hand, not wanting to hurt the bird’s feelings.
That’s supposed to be a loop, not a squiggle! Peri said.
It is a loop!
Peri huffed. Will you fly up and show him, Son of Quetzal? she
asked.
Don’t ask him that! Pico snapped, nipping at Peri. You know he’s
sensitive about his wings!
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 Teo pretended he didn’t hear them, even as his wings flexed
against their bindings beneath his shirt. “It doesn’t have to be
perfect!” he said. They needed to be in and out before anyone saw.
The spray can hissed, coating Pico’s white chest in sticky blue
paint. Teo winced. “Not so loud!”
My feathers! Pico squawked, flapping his wings in dismay.
“Teo?”
We’ve been caught!
Abort, abort!
The spray cans clattered to the ground as Pico and Peri flew off,
bickering all the way. As the sound of footfalls approached, Teo
scrambled to grab the cans and shove them into his backpack.
Dreading who he’d see, Teo turned toward the voice. Luckily, it
was just Yolanda, one of the city’s mail carriers, accompanied by a
red-lored parrot on her shoulder who delivered letters to residents
through their open windows.
Hello, Son of Quetzal! the bird sang with a respectful nod of his
head.
“What are you still doing at school?” Yolanda asked.
“Just running to meet Huemac!” he said, securely yanking the
zipper of his backpack shut before jogging to meet her.
Yolanda pursed her lips into a knowing look. “No you weren’t.”
Teo flashed her a toothy, not-at-all-innocent grin. “Well, now I
am?”
Yolanda chuckled and waved him off. “Get going, and try to be
on your best behavior at the trials. Huemac’s not as young as he
used to be.”
Huemac and the people of Quetzlan had raised Teo. His mortal
father had died when he was a baby, and his mom was busy with
the responsibilities of being a goddess. So the city had become
Teo’s family. Even though he was seventeen now, they still looked
after him. Sometimes a bit too closely.
“I’m always on my best behavior!” Teo called over his shoulder
as he darted to the other side of the street.
“Spoken like a true troublemaker!” Yolanda’s voice carried after
him.
 Every city in Reino del Sol was devoted to a god. The ones in the
center were larger, nicer, and devoted to the Gold greater gods like
Agua and Tierra. Meanwhile, smaller cities placed on the outskirts
were dedicated to Jade lesser gods, like Quetzal.
Teo jogged through jungle trees interspersed among buildings
draped with vines. From the outside, Quetzlan looked like a city that
had lost its battle with nature and been swallowed by the dense
foliage. But though it was a bit run-down, Quetzlan was a proud city
lovingly maintained by its people.
The defining characteristic of their city was the abundance of
tropical birds that dotted the trees like brightly colored fruit. They
were everywhere you turned, living in happy companionship with
their human counterparts. Here, people and nature were intimately
and inextricably linked.
Teo pushed through the crowd as he crossed a pedestrian
causeway that went over one of the many canals where merchants
hawked their goods from boats and canoes. As he passed the
laundromat, Teo held his backpack over his head to protect himself
from the gem-colored hummingbirds dive-bombing passersby who
got too close to their streetlamp.
With the Sunbearer Trials officially starting that night, the streets
were filled with even more excitement than usual. Signs reading
“Watch the Sunbearer Trials here!” hung in the windows of bars and
restaurants along pictures of Sol-themed desserts and drinks
inspired by the diose. A large group of people loitered outside the
electronics store, watching the TVs on display. Clips of Gold Heroes
flashed across the screens.
Teo tried to sneak past without being spotted, but almost
immediately, a hand caught his backpack.
“Teo!” A round-faced man grinned, dragging him into the group.
“Who do you think will be chosen to compete?” Mr. Serrano asked,
gesturing to one of the displays.
Some Golds posed and smiled in their crisp uniforms alongside
clips of the semidioses saving people from various disasters. Their
stats were listed in the corner of the screen.
 “The best of the best, I guess,” Teo replied, trying to sound
polite through a mouthful of resentment. Luckily, everyone present
was too busy theorizing to notice.
“Guerrero’s kid for sure,” Miss Morales replied, scratching the
neck of the lilac-crowned amazon resting on her shoulder.
“Agua’s boy is far more impressive!”
“Ocelo could squash him in one blow!”
“Sol doesn’t only care about strength!”
Teo rolled his eyes and used their arguing as a chance to slip
away. He just couldn’t escape them. Even kids at school swapped
trading cards of the Gold Heroes and placed bets on who would be
chosen to compete in the Sunbearer Trials. They peppered Teo with
questions to get the inside scoop, as if he cared enough about the
Golds to keep tabs.
The light changed and Teo crossed the street, dodging a man
pushing his duritos cart and a woman carrying a stack of crates. A
bodega sat on the corner, nestled between a bird supply store and a
spice shop. It was a short, clementine orange building with windows
plastered with flyers and advertisements. Above the front door, the
words El Pájaro were written in black letters next to a delicately
painted mural of a quetzal.
Out front, a man struggled to unload boxes from a small truck.
“Whoa, let me help!” Teo said, sprinting forward to easily take
all four boxes in one hand. The ability to carry more boxes than the
average middle-aged man was another mostly useless power he
had as a Jade.
The man leaned back in surprise. “Careful—!”
When Teo shifted the stack out of his hand, the man’s eyes took
him in. A wide smile split his face immediately.
“Pajarito!” he greeted warmly, spreading his arms out at his
sides.
“Aye, Chavo.” Teo grinned. “Need a hand?”
Chavo chuckled. “My back ain’t what it used to be,” he
confessed, slapping Teo on the shoulder. His shirt was cobalt blue
and he wore a matching string of tiny blue feathers around his neck.
“How’s it goin’, man?” Before Teo could answer, Chavo’s face
scrunched up in confusion. “Aren’t you supposed to be on your way
to Sol Temple?”
Teo shifted another stack of boxes into his other hand. “Just
swinging by to pick up my order first.”
“Come, come, I’ve already got it ready!” Chavo said, ushering
him toward the bodega. “Huemac’s not gonna be happy with you,”
he said with an amused look.
Teo snorted. “What else is new?” Late was late, and his
approximate amount of lateness didn’t matter. He’d be getting a
lecture either way.
A bell chimed as Chavo pushed through the door.
No cats! an angry voice chirped.
“Hey, Macho,” Teo said as he set the boxes down. Macho, the
tiny parrotlet, swooped down and landed on the counter.
Oh, it’s just you, Son of Quetzal, he said, distractedly dipping his
head to look at the door.
“What’s got him all worked up?” Teo asked as Chavo went
behind the counter.
“Oh, don’t mind Macho,” Chavo said. “That stray cat’s been
around again.”
Always sneaking in and trying to steal! Macho shouted, blue
feathers ruffling as he hopped angrily across the tobacco case. NO
CATS!
Chavo pulled out a large paper bag that was so packed, it’d had
to be stapled shut. “Here you go!”
“You remembered the Chupa Chups, right?”
“Of course!” Chavo said as he rang up the order on his ancient
register. “I would never forget those!”
Teo grinned. “Perfect.”
“You weren’t kidding when you said you were stocking up.”
Chavo grinned.
“I’m going to need it,” Teo told him, fishing out his wallet from
his backpack. “Dios Maize doesn’t allow ‘refined sugar and
processed garbage’ in Sol Temple.”
“Man, what I wouldn’t give to go to Sol Temple,” Chavo said,
sighing wistfully as he stroked his goatee. “I’ve never seen a Gold
diose in person.”
Teo couldn’t blame Chavo for being fascinated by the Golds.
They were rare to come by, especially in Jade cities. They were
even bigger celebrities than their semidiose children—famous and
untouchable. All of the gods ruled from Sol Temple and only
semidioses and priests could make the journey to the island in the
center of Reino del Sol.
“I’d like to meet Dios Tormentoso and thank him and Lluvia,”
Chavo said, glancing back over his shoulder.
Behind Chavo were two altar boxes. The larger nicho was
painted in shades of turquoise and jade, with illustrations of birds in
devotion to Teo’s mother. Bird feathers of every color had been laid
inside. The smaller, newer nicho was painted in swirls of light blue
and gray with white raindrops and yellow bolts of lightning. Taped
inside was a newspaper clipping. Lluvia, the eldest daughter of the
weather god, Dios Tormentoso, stood in the center of the black-and-
white picture, hands on her hips and beaming.
Three years ago, a hurricane had hit the western coast of Reino
del Sol. Even though hurricanes were common in September, this
one tore through the western Jade cities, requiring the demigods of
Tormentoso to be summoned. Lluvia arrived in Quetzlan and
managed to tame the angry storm enough to save civilians from the
flooded streets—including Chavo and his wife.
“I’ll put in a good word if I run into them,” Teo lied as he handed
over his debit card.
“Are you nervous?” Chavo asked, eyebrows pinching.
Teo frowned, confused. “About what?”
“You know, getting selected for the trials.”
“Oh, that? No way.” Teo snorted as he took his card and receipt
and shoved them into the pocket of his jeans. “I’m just there as a
formality.”
Teo had only been seven years old during the last trials, so he
didn’t remember much. What he did know was that Jade semidioses
were almost never chosen to compete. The last Jade had been
chosen 130 years ago, and they hadn’t made it out alive.
 “All I’m gonna do is explore the Gold cities, eat as much food as
I can, and blow all my money on souvenirs.” He grinned, the
impending sights and travels sending his heart racing.
But when he looked up, Chavo still looked worried.
“Hey—only the most powerful and honorable semidioses get
chosen, remember?” Teo said, bumping his fist against Chavo’s
shoulder in an attempt to reassure him. “I’m just a Jade.”
That seemed to ease the tension in Chavo’s expression. He was
back to his apple-cheeked smile. “Hey, it don’t matter if you’re a
Gold or not. You’re still our Hero, patrón.”
Teo snatched the bag and shoved it into his already full
backpack. “All right, okay, I’m outta here before I freaking barf.”
Chavo laughed as Teo slapped his palm one last time. “You
should stop by the panadería!” Chavo called after him as Teo bolted
for the exit. “Veronica made some green concha especially for Diosa
Quetzal!”
“Oh man, you know I can’t pass those up,” Teo said with a grin.
“See you in a couple weeks!” Chavo called.
“I’ll literally be counting down the days!” Teo said as he slipped
out the door. The bell rang behind him.
NO CATS! Macho’s voice followed.

Teo could smell his destination before he even made it around

the block.
The street was crowded and filled with restaurants, food carts,
and taco trucks. The sizzling scent of al pastor hung heavy in the
air, tickling his nose along with the sweet smell of elote and the
spicy zing of chamoy. Teo was so distracted by his growling stomach
that he didn’t notice anything was wrong until movement rippled
through the crowd—turned heads and raised voices.
The hairs on the back of Teo’s neck stood on end, and a moment
later, a flock of birds tore down the street. Their screeches filled the
air, making everyone stop and stare upward as their colorful
feathers streaked across the sky. Teo tried to make out what they
were saying, but they were all shouting at once, panicked cries
tumbling over one another.
A crowd of bodies surged into him, nearly knocking Teo over.
That was when the sharp smell of smoke hit his nose.
Teo tried to get on his tiptoes for a better look. Down the street,
thick, black plumes billowed from where the panadería sat. All at
once, the birds’ voices became clear.
FIRE! FIRE!
Human shouts crashed with the birds’ cries. The crowd surged
forward again, a wave of bodies trying to get to safety. Teo had to
latch on to a light pole to keep himself from being swept away.
“Where’s María?” a girl wailed.
Teo searched and found a little girl crying in the middle of the
street. He pushed his way through the crowd and crouched down in
front of her.
“Who’s María?” Teo asked as calmly as possible with adrenaline
slamming through his body. “Your sister?”
“My doll!”
For Sol’s sake.
“I need you to do something very scary right now, okay?” he
asked, squeezing her small shoulders to get her to focus on him.
“You need to get somewhere safe, find someone you know, and I’ll
look for María, okay? Can you do that?”
The sound of cracking stone split the air. The large windows of
the warehouse where the panadería was located exploded into
shards.
Teo tugged the girl to his chest and crouched over her. Tiny bits
of glass rained down around them.
After that, she didn’t need more encouragement and took off.
Teo stared up at the building engulfed in flames. His heart
thudded in his chest, his breaths sharp and shaky. Most of the food
carts in the alley ran off propane. If the fire from the panadería got
out of control, it’d be a street full of bombs ready to go off. How fast
could the whole block burn down? Had anyone summoned help? An
anguished scream cut through the air.
 Through the curtain of smoke, Teo spotted a pair of arms
desperately waving for help.
The frantic thoughts in Teo’s brain cleared in a snap. Only one
thought remained: Someone needed help.
While everyone else fled from the growing flames, Teo ran
toward them.
 CHAPTER 2
Teo sprinted to the front of the panadería. Thick, black smoke
billowed into the air, blotting out the sun, while flames licked the
now-empty window frames of the third floor.
Something swooped down from above, knocking into Teo’s head.
She’s still inside! She’s still inside! The masked tityra zoomed
back and forth, frantically beating his wings. Streaks of soot
darkened his silvery feathers.
“Who’s inside?!” Teo asked, but the bird was inconsolable.
I left her! I can’t believe I left her!
Out of impatience, Teo caught the bird between his hands.
“Who?”
My human! I left my human! Teo could feel the poor thing’s
racing heart. Veronica!
Teo’s stomach dropped. “Where is she?”
The second floor!
“Show me!”
Teo released the bird and he darted to a broken window on the
second floor. Here, she’s here! Please help her, please! the tityra
begged.
Every fiber of Teo’s being told him to go in. There was a fire
escape that led right to the window, but he didn’t know what he
was doing. Teo didn’t know jack shit about fires. It wasn’t like fire
science was an elective at Quetzlan High.
But this was his city, his panadería, the green concha waiting for
his mom. If any of his people were in danger, he sure as hell wasn’t
going to sit by and watch. If he didn’t do something, Veronica could
die.
Without a plan or a single coherent thought in his head, Teo ran
for the fire escape.
“Shit, shit, shit,” he hissed to himself as he tore up the rickety
steps.
Teo tumbled through the window and was immediately choked
by thick, acrid smoke. Teo coughed, his eyes stinging as he dropped
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it receives the end of the B tube. Cold water is forced up into the
inside of the barrel in order to keep it cool. As the breech cools,
which it is allowed to do spontaneously, it contracts and grips the
barrel and B tube with great force. The cascable requires to be very
carefully fitted. It is this piece which plays so important a part in
resisting the force tending to blow out the end of the barrel. The
cascable is a solid screw formed of the very best iron, and its inner
end is wrought by scraping and filing, so that when screwed in there
may be perfect contact between its face and the end of the steel
barrel. A small annular space is left at the circumference of the inner
end, communicating through a small opening with the outside. The
object of this is, that in case of rupture of the steel barrel, the gases
escaping through it may give timely warning of the state of the
piece.
Besides minor operations, there remain the important processes of
finishing the boring, and of rifling. The boring is effected in two
operations, and after that the interior is gauged in every part, and
“lapping” is resorted to where required, in order to obtain the perfect
form. Lapping consists in wearing down the steel by friction against
fine emery powder and oil, spread on a leaden surface. The piece is
then ready for rifling. The machinery by which the rifling is
performed cannot be surpassed for its admirable ingenuity and
simplicity.
In this operation the gun is fixed horizontally, its axis coinciding with
that of the bar, which carries the grooving tools. This bar is capable
of two independent movements, one backwards and forwards in a
straight line in the direction of the length of the bar, and the other a
rotation round its axis. The former is communicated by a screw
parallel to the bar, and working in a nut attached to the end of it. For
the rotatory movement the bar carries a pinion, which is engaged by
a rack placed horizontally and perpendicularly to the bar, and
partaking of its backward and forward movement, but arranged so
that its end must move along another bar placed at an angle with
the former. It is this angle which determines the pitch of the rifling,
and by substituting a curved guide-bar for the straight one, an
increasing twist may be obtained in the grooves.
The projectile used with these guns is of a cylindrical form, but
pointed at the head, and the moulds in which these shots are cast
are so arranged that the head of the shot is moulded in iron, while
the body is surrounded with sand. The rapid cooling induced by the
contact of the cold metal causes the head of the shot to solidify very
quickly, so that the carbon in the iron is not separated as in ordinary
casting. In consequence of this treatment, the head of the shot
possesses the hardness of steel, and is therefore well adapted for
penetrating iron plates or other structures. The projectiles are turned
in a lathe to the exact size, and then shallow circular cavities are
bored in them, and into these cavities brass studs, which are simply
short cylinders of a diameter slightly larger than the cavities, are
forced by pressure. The projecting studs are then turned so as
accurately to fit the spiral grooves of the guns. Thus the projectile in
traversing the bore of the piece is forced to make a revolution, or
part of a revolution, about its axis, and the rapid rotation thus
imparted has the effect of keeping the axis of the missile always
parallel to its original direction. Thus vastly increased accuracy of
firing is obtained.
 Fig. 95.—Millwall Shield after being
battered with Heavy Shot.—Front View.

Fig. 96.—Rear View of the Millwall Shield.

Shells are also used with the Woolwich rifled guns. The shells are of
the same shape as the solid shots, from which they differ in being
cast hollow, and having their interior filled with gunpowder. Such
shells when used against iron structures require no fuse; they
explode in coming into collision with their object. In other cases,
however, the shells are provided with fuses, which cause the
explosion when the shot strikes. Fig. 93, page 195, represents one
of the 35–ton guns, made on the plan introduced by Mr. Fraser. This
piece of ordnance is 16 ft. long, 4 ft. 3 in. in diameter at the breech,
and 1 ft. 9 in. at the muzzle. The bore is about 1 ft. Each gun can
throw a shot or bolt 700 lbs. in weight, with a charge of 120 lbs. of
powder. It is stated that the shot, if fired at a short range, would
penetrate a plate of iron 14 in. thick, and that at a distance of 2,000
yards it would retain sufficient energy to go through a plate 12 in.
thick. The effect of these ponderous missiles upon thick iron plates is
very remarkable. Targets or shields have been constructed with
plates and timber backing, girders, &c., put together in the strongest
possible manner, in order to test the resisting power of the armour
plating and other constructions of our ironclad ships. The above two
cuts, Figs. 95 and 96, are representations of the appearance of the
front and back of a very strong shield of this description, after
having been struck with a few 600 lb. shots fired from the 25–ton
gun. The shots with chilled heads, already referred to, sometimes
were found to penetrate completely through the 8 in. front plate,
and the 6 in. of solid teak, and the 6 in. of plating at the back. The
shield, though strongly constructed with massive plates of iron, only
served to prove the relative superiority of the artillery of that day,
which was at the time when our century had yet about thirty years
to run. Up to 1876 no confidence was placed in steel as a resisting
material, a circumstance perhaps not much to be wondered at, as its
capabilities had not then been developed by the newer processes of
manufacture, described in our article on Iron; nor had mechanicians
acquired the power of operating with large masses of the metal.
Since then it has come about that only steel is relied upon for
efficiently resisting the penetration of projectiles, iron being held of
no account except as a backing. There has always been a rivalry
between the artillerist and the naval constructor, and this contest
between the attacking and the defending agencies is well illustrated
in the table on page 166, where the parallel advance in the
destructive power of guns and in the resisting power of our war-
ships is exhibited in a numerical form.
 Fig. 97.—Comparative Sizes of 35 and 81
ton Guns.

A, 35–ton; B, 81–ton.

The 35–ton Fraser guns were at the time of their production

humorously called in the newspapers “Woolwich infants”; but it was
not long before they might in another sense be called infants in
comparison with a still larger gun of 81 tons weight constructed at
Woolwich shortly before iron-coiling and muzzle-loading were set
aside. Fig. 97 shows the relative dimensions of the 35–ton and 81–
ton guns: the latter was built up in the same way as the 9–inch gun
described above, but the coils were necessarily longer and the chase
was formed in three parts instead of two. The total length of this
gun was 27 feet, and the bore was about 24 feet long and 14 in. in
diameter, and the weight of the shot about 1000 lbs., with sufficient
energy to penetrate at a considerable distance an iron plate 20 in. in
thickness. It was for the manufacture of these very large guns that
the great steam hammer, represented in Plate III., was erected at
Woolwich.

The 81–ton gun was the largest muzzle-loader ever made in the
national gun factory at the time when such huge weapons were in
request; but in 1876 its dimensions were surpassed by those of a
few 100–ton guns built at Elswick to the order of the Italian
Government for mounting on their most formidable ironclads. These
guns have a calibre of 17·72 inches, and are provided with a
chamber of somewhat larger bore to receive the charge of powder.
They are built up on the Armstrong shrinkage principle, and
comprise as many as twenty different tubes, jackets, hoops, screws,
etc., and are undoubtedly the most powerful muzzle-loading
weapons ever constructed. It happened, just as these guns were
completed, that the British Government, apprehensive at the time of
a war with Russia, exercised its rights of purchasing two of them,
one to be mounted at Gibraltar, the other at Malta.
The Elswick establishment soon afterwards surpassed all its former
achievements in building great guns, by designing and constructing
the huge breech-loaders, one of which forms the subject of our Plate
XII. These are known as the Armstrong 110–ton guns; they are
formed of solid steel throughout, and their weight is accurately
247,795 lbs., or 110 tons 12 cwts. 51 lbs. The total length of the gun
is 43 ft. 8 in., and of this 40 ft. 7 in. is occupied by the bore, along
which the rifling extends 33 ft. 1 in. The calibre of the rifled part is
16¼ in., and the diameter of the powder chamber is somewhat
greater. The regulation charge of powder weighs 960 lbs., although
the guns are tested with still greater charges. The weight of the
projectile is 1,800 lbs., and it leaves the muzzle with a velocity of
2,128 ft. per second, which is equivalent to a dynamical energy of
56,520 foot-tons. What this means will perhaps be better
understood, not by describing experiments such as those on the
Millwall Shield, the results of which are depicted in Figs. 95 and 96,
but by stating that if the shot from the 110–ton gun encountered a
solid wall of wrought iron a yard thick, it would pass through it. The
Elswick 110–ton gun is, in fact, the most powerful piece of ordnance
that has ever been constructed. There are no trunnions to these
great guns, but they are encircled by massive rings of metal,
between which pass strong steel bands that tie the gun to its
carriage, or, rather, to the heavy steel frame on which it is mounted,
and which slides on a couple of girders. The force of the recoil acts
on a hydraulic ram that passes through the lower part of the
supporting frame. The whole working of the gun is done by hydraulic
power, and, indeed, the same method has been applied by the
Elswick firm to the handling of all heavy guns. By hydraulic power,
maintained automatically by a pumping engine exercising a pressure
of from 800 lbs. to 1,000 lbs. per square inch, are operated the
whole of the movements required for bringing the cartridge and the
projectile from the magazine; for unscrewing the breech block,
withdrawing it, and moving it aside; for pushing home the shot and
the cartridge to their places in the bore; for closing the breech and
screwing up the block; for rotating the turret within which the gun is
mounted, or in other cases for ramming the piece in or out, and for
elevating or depressing it. It is, indeed, obvious that such ponderous
masses of metal as form the barrels and projectiles of these 110–ton
and other guns of the larger sizes could not be handled to
advantage by any of the ordinary mechanical appliances. But by the
application of the hydraulic principle, a very few men are able to
work the largest guns with the greatest ease, for their personal
labour is thus reduced to the mere manipulation of levers. On board
ship the power required for working large guns has lately been
sometimes supplied by a system of shafting driven by a steam
engine and provided with drums and pulleys, exactly as in an
engineer’s workshop. Great care has also been bestowed upon the
mounting of the smaller guns, which are so nicely poised on their
bearings and provided with such accurately fitted racks, pinions, etc.,
that a steel gun of 10 ft. in length can easily be pointed in any
direction by the touch of a child’s hand. The mechanical
arrangements are now so admirably adapted for facility of working
that, unless in the rude shocks of actual warfare the nicely adjusted
machinery is found to be liable to be thrown out of gear, these
applications of the engineer’s skill may be considered as having done
all that was required to bring our modern weapons to perfection.
 PLATE XII.

THE 110–TON ARMSTRONG GUN.

With the construction of the 110–ton we arrive at a period when

commences a new era in guns—and especially in the armament of
war-ships—necessitated by various circumstances, amongst which
may be named the invention of torpedoes and the building of swiftly
moving torpedo-boats, and of still swifter “torpedo-boat catchers or
destroyers”; so that guns that could be worked only at comparatively
long intervals were at a great disadvantage. Again, about 1880,
were published the records of a most elaborate and important series
of researches conducted by Captain Noble and Sir F. Abel, the
chemist of our War Department. They had investigated all the
conditions attending the combustion of gunpowder in confined
spaces, the nature and quantities of the products, the temperature
and pressures of the confined gases, etc. The information thus
afforded was extremely valuable; but besides this, direct
experiments made with actual guns were carried out, more
particularly at Elswick, in which the speed of the projectiles at every
few inches of their travel along the bore of the piece was
ascertained, and also the pressures of the powder gases at any
point. The way in which this is done we shall explain on another
page. (See article on Recording Instruments.)
So long as muzzle-loading was in use, guns were necessarily made
short, for had they not to be run in from the port-holes and
embrasures of forts in order to be loaded? Now there was an
obvious disadvantage in this, for the projectile left the gun before
the expansive force of the gases had been spent that could have
imparted additional velocity. When however muzzle-loading was
abandoned, and especially when strong and trustworthy steel
became available for the construction of the gun throughout, there
was no reason to waste in this way the power of the charge, so that
barrels were made lighter, much longer in proportion to the calibre,
and every part accurately adapted in strength to the strain to be
resisted. For instances of increasing length, take the 38–ton 12–inch
guns built up at Woolwich (of only seven pieces) for H.M.S.
Thunderer (see Fig. 93), on Mr. Fraser’s plan. These had a bore
equal to only 16 times their calibre, while in the Armstrong 100–ton
guns the bore is 21 calibres long; and in the 110–ton guns the total
length of the chase is 31 times the diameter of the rifled part. It has
since been the practice to make the bore of guns from 30 to 40
calibres in length.
The effect of a longer chase used with an appropriate charge is very
clearly and instructively shown by the diagram Fig. 98, which is by
permission copied from the very comprehensive work by Messrs. E.
W. Lloyd and A. G. Hadcock, entitled Artillery: its Progress and
Present Position. The reader should not pass over this diagram until
he has thoroughly understood it, for it is an excellent example of the
graphic method of presenting the results of scientific investigations.
At the lower part of the diagram there are drawn to scale half-
sections of a long and of a short gun. The horizontal line above is
marked in equal parts representing feet numbered from the base of
the projectiles. The upright line on the left numbered at every fourth
division is the scale for the pressures in tons per square inch on the
base of the projectile, and these are represented by the height of
the plain curves above the horizontal line at each point in the travel
of the shot. The dotted lines represent in the same way, but not on
the same scale as the former, the velocity with which the base of the
projectile passes every point in the chase. The figures 2, 4, and 6 on
the upright line at the right-hand side refer only to pressures: the
velocities scale is such that the point where the dotted meets the
right-hand one is 2,680 units above the horizontal line, as the middle
upright in the same way is 1,561 high, and the heights of the dotted
lines represent each on the same scale the velocities of the bases of
the projectiles at the corresponding parts of the chases. The shorter
gun has the rifled part of the chase 15·4 calibres long; the
corresponding part of the longer is nearly 33 calibres. The short 7–
inch gun has a charge of 30 lbs. of gunpowder, and its projectile
weighed 115 lbs. The longer 6–inch gun was not charged with
gunpowder, but with the more powerful modern explosive cordite
(see Index), of which there was 19·5 lbs., and its projectile weighed
100 lbs. The charges were so adjusted that the shots had the same
initial maximum pressure of 20 tons per square inch applied to them.
Now the cordite, though much more powerful than gunpowder (that
is, a given weight will produce far more gas), is slower in its ignition,
continuing longer to supply gas. The maximum pressure, 20 tons in
both cases, is suddenly attained by the gunpowder gases, when the
shot has hardly moved 6 inches onward, and the pressure declines
rapidly as the moving shot leaves more space for the gas; while the
cordite gases produce their greatest pressure more gradually at a
part where the shot is already about 20 inches on its way, and not
only do their highest pressures continue for a greater distance,—but
the decline is far less rapid than in the other case. It will be
observed by the intersection of the dotted lines, that when the shots
in each case have moved about 2 ft. their velocities are equal. They
finally leave the muzzles with the velocities marked on the diagram,
and if the reader will apply the formula given on page 174 he will
obtain their respective energies in foot-lbs.; but for large amounts
like these it is more usual to state the energy in foot-tons, which of
course will be arrived at by dividing the foot-lbs. numbers by 2,240,
and these will work out in the one case to 4978·9 ft.-tons, and in the
other to 1942·5 ft.-tons. The shot from the long gun will therefore
have more than 2½ times the destructive power of the other.
 Fig. 98.—Diagram of Velocities and
Pressure.

The operations required in constructing guns are multiform, and

have to be very carefully conducted so that the workmanship shall
be of the best quality. The finest ores are selected for reduction, and
the steel is obtained by the Siemens-Martin process already
described. It must be free from sulphur and phosphorus, and contain
such proportions of carbon, silicon, and manganese as experience
has shown to be best, and its composition is ascertained by careful
chemical analysis before it is used. The fluid steel is run into large
ladles lined with fire-brick, and provided with an opening in the
bottom from which the metal can be allowed to run out into the
ingot moulds, the size and proportions of these being in accordance
with the object required; some admitting of as much as 80 tons at
one operation. When a barrel or hoop is required of not less than 6
inches internal diameter the ingot is cut to the required length and
roughly bored. The ingot is then heated, a long cylindrical steel bar
is put through the hole, and under a hydraulic press the hot metal is
squeezed into greater length and less diameter. The hole first bored
through the ingot is of somewhat greater, and the steel bar (called a
mandril) of less, diameter than required in the finished piece.
Portions are cut from each end of what is now called the forging and
subjected to mechanical tests: if these are satisfactory, the forging is
rough bored and turned on the outside. It is then annealed, by being
heated and allowed to cool very slowly. The next operation is to
harden the metal by raising it to a certain temperature, at which it is
immersed in rape oil until cold. Then the piece is again annealed,
and fine-turned and bored. All these operations have to be
performed not only on the barrel, but also on each hoop, before the
hoops are shrunk on, and the greatest nicety of measurement is
required in each piece. Then the gun has to be turned on the
outside, the screw for the breech piece cut, the bore rifled, etc. The
object of the annealing is to relieve the metal from internal strains.
It will not be wondered at that months are required for the
construction of the larger kind of guns. Thus at Elswick a 6 in. quick
firing gun, upon which men are employed night and day, cannot be
completed in less than five months, and sixteen months are required
for making a 67–ton gun.
We may take as an illustration of the progress of modern artillery
one of the products of the Elswick factory which has just been
referred to, and for which the demand from all quarters has been
unprecedentedly great, namely, the 4·7 inch gun. This weapon is
mounted in various manners according to the position it has to
occupy, whether for a land defence, or on ship-board between
decks, or on the upper deck. The arrangement shown in Fig. 99,
which is reproduced from Messrs. Lloyd & Hadcock’s work, is known
as the centre pivot mounting, and is suitable for such a position as
the upper deck of a ship. The reader should compare the
proportions and mounting of this weapon with those of the old 32–
pounder sketched in Fig. 90, observing the very much greater
comparative length of the modern weapon, and the mechanism for
elevating and training it (which, however, the scale of the drawing
crowds into too small a space to show as it deserves). C is a
projection from the breech, to which is attached the piston of the
recoil press; at T is the handle for training, which actuates a worm at
V; the elevation is regulated by the turning of the four-armed wheel.
The long chase of the gun projects in front; but the mounting and
the breech machinery are protected by shields of thick steel, of
which the sections of two plates are denoted by the dark upright
parts in front. These are fixed; but a movable plate above the gun
can be raised or lowered into an inclined position, for better taking
sights. In the figure this is shown as open and in a horizontal
position. This gun is provided with sights by which it can be aimed at
night; that is, the sights can be illuminated by small electric lamps
suitably placed; the wires connecting these with voltaic battery cells
carried on the mounting are indicated. The figure represents the gun
as constructed about 1893, but the improvements that are
continually being made have brought about some modifications in
the details.
 Fig. 99.—Elswick 4·7 inch Q. F. Gun on
Pivot Mounting.

Very notable among the productions of the great Elswick factory are
the quick firing guns. These were at first confined to guns of small
calibre, such as the 6–pounders. They are, of course, all breech-
loaders, and the powder and shot are both contained in a single
metallic cartridge case. A more formidable weapon of the same class
is the 45–pounder rapid firing gun, which, like the rest, is
constructed entirely of steel, with a total length of 16 ft. 2½ in., a
calibre of 4·724 in., and a length of bore equal to 40 diameters. The
weight of this gun is 41 cwt., and it throws a shell of 45 lbs. weight
with a 12–lb. charge of gunpowder. Quick firing guns having a
calibre of 6 in. are now also made in great numbers for arming our
ironclads. The breech block in the quick firing guns turns aside on a
hinge, and after the introduction of the cartridge it is closed and
screwed up to its place by a slight turn of a handle. The piece is
then pointed and trained by aid of mechanical gearing as in the case
of the heavier guns. But Mr. Hotchkiss has introduced a simpler
method of elevating and training his 3–pounder and 6–pounder
quick firing guns, by attaching to the rear, and unaffected by the
recoil, a shoulder piece against which the marksman can lean, and
move the weapon as he takes his aim. Though these guns weigh
respectively 4½ cwt. and 7 cwt., they can thus be pointed with the
greatest ease. The firing is done by pulling a trigger in what seems
like the stock of a pistol. The empty cartridge case is automatically
extracted from the firing chamber by the act of opening the breech,
and it drops to the ground. Ten or twelve rounds per minute can be
fired from these guns, and Lord Armstrong has advocated the use of
a number of them for naval armament in preference to that of a few
ordinary breech-loaders of more unwieldy dimensions. He has
calculated that in a given time a far greater weight of metal can be
projected from a vessel armed with quick firing guns than from one
provided only with the heavier class of cannons.
The breech pieces in the Elswick guns are closed on the “interrupted
screw” system—that is, a very large screw thread of V-shaped
section is cut in the barrel at the breech end, and a corresponding
thread on the principal part of the breech block, which is, of course,
capable of rotating about the axis. The screw threads, however, are
not continuous, segments parallel to the axis being cut away, the
spaces in the outer thread corresponding with the projecting parts in
the inner, and vice versâ, so that when the block is pushed home,
one very small part of a turn suffices to engage all the threads. The
screw is also made conical, and is so cut into steps, as it were, that
great resisting power is brought into play. The Elswick guns are
provided with hydraulic buffers for checking the recoil, and the
principle is applied in various modified forms. In some cases the
pistons allow for the water a passage, which towards the end
gradually diminishes. This is the arrangement for the 3–pounder
rapid firing Hotchkiss gun, and the force of the recoil is made at the
same time to compress two springs, which serve to return the gun
to the firing position. This very handy gun is said to be able to fire
twenty rounds per minute. In Mr. Vavasseur’s plan of mounting, the
recoil is checked by ports, or openings, in the piston of a hydraulic
cylinder being gradually closed, which is easily arranged by making a
spiral groove within the cylinder, which gives a small axial motion to
part of the piston.
 Fig. 100.—The Moncrieff Gun raised and
ready for firing.

Fig. 101.—Moncrieff Gun lowered for

loading.

An extremely effective plan for the defence of coasts and harbours

was originated by Colonel Moncrieff, when about 1863 he contrived
a method of mounting large guns on the disappearing system, by
which almost complete protection against hostile fire is given to both
gun and gunners. He utilizes the recoil as a means of bringing the
gun down into a protected position the moment it has been fired,
and retains this energy by a simple arrangement until the piece has
been reloaded, when it is allowed to expend itself by again raising
the gun above the parapet into the original firing position. The
configuration and action of Colonel Moncrieff’s gun-carriage will be
understood by an inspection of the annexed illustrations, where in
Fig. 100 is shown the gun raised above the parapet and ready for
firing. When the discharge takes place, the gun, if free, would move
backwards with a certain speed, but the disposition of the mounting
is such that this initial velocity receives no sudden check, the force
being expended in raising a heavy counterpoise, and at the same
time the gun is permitted to descend, while maintaining a direction
parallel to its firing position. At the end of the descent, which, it
must be understood, is caused by the force of the recoil, and not by
the counterpoise, for this more than balances the weight of the gun,
the latter is retained as shown in Fig. 101 until it has been reloaded;
and when it has again to be fired, it is released so as to allow the
descent of the counterpoise to raise it once more into position. The
great advantage of this invention is the protection afforded to the
artillerymen and gun while loading; and even the aiming can be
accomplished by mirrors, so that the men are exposed to no danger,
except from “vertical fire,” which involves but little risk.
Colonel Moncrieff took out a patent for his invention in 1864, but
committed the practical working out of his idea to the firm of Sir W.
G. Armstrong & Co., in whose hands the design was ultimately
transformed from the original somewhat cumbersome arrangement
of the mounting into the compact and manageable form shown in
Fig. 102, which represents a 13·9 inch 68–ton breech-loading
disappearing gun on the Elswick hydro-pneumatic mounting. The
principle of hydraulic power is fully explained in our article on that
subject, and an example of its application to cranes as devised by Sir
W. Armstrong is there described. When guns began to be made very
large, and projectiles weighing several cwts. had to be dealt with,
the application of power in some form became essential for loading,
running out, elevating, training, etc.; and though steam-power
naturally was first used, hydraulic power was adopted at Elswick,
and has been there applied to the mountings of large guns with the
greatest success by Mr. G. W. Rendel. To mention the various
arrangements in which this power is applied, or to attempt any
description of the elaborate machinery by which it is regulated,
would carry us far beyond our limits. But the powerful weapon
depicted in Fig. 102 is designed to be worked only by the manual
effort of a few men. In this mounting the pressure of condensed air
sustains the gun in the firing position; that pressure, acting upon the
water in the recoil presses, having previously forced up their rams so
as to turn into a nearly vertical position the strong brackets or
beams on which the trunnions are supported. The recoil is checked
in the usual way by the forcing of the water through small ports or
valves as the ram descends, but these valves are so arranged that
the water is in part forced back into the air chamber, and there
recompresses the air, to restore the power for again raising the gun.
The pressure in the air chamber when the gun is down may be
about 1,400 lbs. per square inch; when it is up this will be reduced
to perhaps one half by the expansion of the air in doing work. We
have here the reaction of compressed air taking the place of the
gravity of the counterpoise originally designed. There are in this
hydro-pneumatic mounting a number of adjusting appliances, such
as forcing pumps, brakes, etc., for regulating the pressures, or
quantity of liquid, as, for instance, when lowering the gun without
any recoil action in operation. Then again, with any change in the
weight of projectile or in the powder charge, there would be a
corresponding change in the power of the recoil, and therefore the
necessity for compensatory adjustments, which are made with great
readiness. The nicety with which the parts are adapted to each other
in this mounting must be obvious, when we observe the magnitude
of the mass to be moved with the least delay, and brought to rest,
quite gently and exactly, in a new position. Details cannot here be
given even of the method by which the valves in the recoil cylinders
are automatically controlled for this purpose. Means are also
supplied for setting the gun, while still in its protected position, to
the required angle of elevation or depression. The adjustment is
made by the long rods attached near the breech and set at their
lower ends to the position giving the intended angle to the raised
gun. The varied and powerful strains to which the parts of this
mechanism are subject, and which have had to be calculated and
provided for, may be inferred from the enormous recoil energy of the
gun, which under ordinary conditions amounts to no less than 730
foot-tons. The gun is provided with ordinary, and also with reflecting,
sights, so that no one need be exposed to the enemy’s fire.
Protective armour above the gun is not required, as the pit itself
being usually on some elevation is imperceptible to the enemy, and
the gun is visible but for a few seconds, forming a quite
inconspicuous object. The pit in which the gun is mounted is
commonly lined with concrete. Italy, England, Norway, Japan and
other countries have appreciated the advantages of the disappearing
system in providing the most powerful coast defences yet devised,
and a great many guns have been mounted on this principle.

Fig. 102.—68–ton Gun on Elswick Hydro-

Pneumatic Mounting.
An extraordinary piece of ordnance is represented in Fig. 103. It is
one of two huge mortars, the idea of which presented itself to Mr.
Mallet during the Crimean War, the intention being to throw into the
Russian lines spherical shells a yard in diameter, which would, in
fact, have constituted powerful mines, rendering it impossible for the
fortifications to continue tenable. Mallet’s original design was to
project these shells from mortars of no less than 40 tons weight.
When it was pointed out that the transport of so heavy a mass
would be impracticable, the design was changed to admit of the
mortar being made in pieces not exceeding eleven tons in weight,
and built up where required. During the most active period in the
siege of Sebastopol this plan was submitted to Lord Palmerston, who
at once ordered two of these apparently formidable pieces to be
constructed, without waiting for official examinations of the scheme,
and the usual reports of experts,—promptness in this case being
considered of the utmost importance. A contract was made with a
private firm, who undertook to deliver them in ten weeks. But the
difficulties attending such constructions not being understood at the
time, delays arose, the contractors failed, and two years elapsed
before the mortars were completed. In the meantime peace had
been concluded, and the mortars were never fired against any
hostile works; but experiments were made with one of them at
Woolwich. The heaviest of the shells it was intended to project
weighed 2,940 lbs., and for this it was proposed to use a charge of
80 lbs. of gunpowder. In the experiments the charges first used
were low, but gradually increased: when it was found that after
every few rounds repairs became necessary in consequence of the
weak points in the construction, and after the nineteenth round the
mortar was so much damaged that the trials were definitely
discontinued. The other mortar, though mounted, was never fired,
but remains at Woolwich, an object of some interest to artillerists,
especially since there has been some talk of reverting to this very
old-fashioned form of ordnance as a means of attacking ironclads in
their most vulnerable direction by the so-called vertical fire. In one
of the rounds of the Mallet mortar tried at Woolwich, a shell
weighing 2,400 lbs. was thrown by a charge of 70 lbs. of gunpowder
a distance of more than a mile and a half, and it buried itself in the
soil to a very great depth.

Fig. 103.—Mallet’s Mortar

For high-elevation firing, howitzers will more probably be the form of

ordnance most in use. The range of the howitzer is determined by
the angle at which it is elevated, whereas with the mortar it is chiefly
by variation of the powder charge that the aim is adjusted. Many of
the old short 9 in. muzzle-loaders have already been converted into
11 in. rifled howitzers, and these are likely to prove of great service
in defending our harbours and channels against war vessels.
Some account has been given in a preceding article of the great
steel works of Krupp & Co. at Essen, and the place has been noted
as one of the greatest gun factories in the world during the second
half of our century. The process there practised of casting crucible
steel ingots, and already described, is precisely that used in the first
stage of gun-making. The steel for guns put into the crucibles is a
carefully adjusted mixture of one quality of iron puddled into steel
and subjected to certain treatment; the other portion is made from a
different quality of iron from which all the carbon has been puddled
out. The cast ingot is forged under a great steam hammer, bored,
turned, and steel hoops shrunk upon it, in several layers, and other
operations are performed upon it like those which have already been
mentioned. A 14 in. gun is said to require sixteen months for its
manufacture, and its cost to be about £20,000.

Fig. 104.—32–pounder Krupp Siege Gun,

with Breech-piece open.

Artillerists had long carried on a warm controversy as to the relative

merits of wrought iron and steel in gun construction, the latter
material being regarded with shyness on account of its want of
uniformity as formerly produced. Krupp however began as early as
1847 to make guns of his excellent crucible steel, and through bad
report and good report confined himself to this material until, it is
asserted, by 1878 he had supplied over 17,000 steel guns of all
calibres. He began by making a 3–pounder gun, but soon produced
pieces of larger size, all of which were bored and turned out of solid
masses of metal. At a later period the plan of shrinking on
strengthening hoops of steel was adopted. The Krupp guns have
found extensive favour, and many very heavy ones have been made,
some indeed of greater weight than the 110–ton Armstrong; but the
excess of weight is due to the mass of metal which the Krupp
construction of the breech mechanism requires. Thus Krupp’s 120–
ton gun has a muzzle energy of but 45,796 foot-tons, while that of
the Elswick piece is 55,105 foot-tons.
 Fig. 105.—The Citadel of Strasburg after
the Prussian Bombardment.

The breech arrangement in the Krupp guns consists of a lateral slot

into which slides a closing block after the charge has been inserted
from the rear. An obsolete form of this breech piece is seen in Fig.
104, which represents a 32–pounder gun such as was used in sieges
by the Prussians in the Franco-German War. It will be observed here
that the slot and breech piece are of rectangular form; but this
shape, causing the piece to be weak where most strength was
required, was afterwards altered into a D-shaped section, the curved
side being of course to the rear. That difficulty which baffled the
earliest attempts at breech-loading is the same that has given much
trouble to modern gunmakers. It consists in so closing the breech
that no escape of the powder gases can take place there at the
moment of discharge. When we remember that the momentary
pressure of the gases in the powder chamber may amount to more
than 40 tons on the square inch, we can well understand the
enormous velocity with which they will rush forth from even the
smallest interspace between the base of the gun and the breech
block, but we can hardly realise without actual inspection the
mechanical action they produce in their passage: when once the
escape occurs, a channel is cut in the metal as if part had been
removed by an instrument, and the piece in that condition is
disabled for further use. Several devices are in use obtaining perfect
closure of the breech, which is technically called obturation (Latin,
obturare, to close up). One of these consists in fitting closely into the
circumference of the bore a ring of very elastic steel, turned up at
the edges towards the powder chamber. The gas pressure forces the
edge of this ring still more closely against the interior of the powder
chamber, much in the same way as the Bramah collar acts in the
hydraulic press (see Fig. 165). The shaded circle shown on the
breech piece in Fig. 104 is an additional device for obtaining
obturation. The Broadwell ring, as the above-mentioned contrivance
is called, is not used in English guns, but another plan of obtaining a
gas-joint has been much adopted, in which a squeezable pad is by
compression forced outwards to close up the bore.
A very long range was claimed for Krupp’s guns at the time of the
Franco-German War, for at the siege of Paris (1870) it was said they
could hurl projectiles to the distance of five miles, though probably
there was some exaggeration in this statement. There is no doubt
however that the Prussians had very effective and powerful artillery,
as may be gathered from Fig. 105, which is taken from a photograph
of part of the fortifications of Strasburg after the bombardment of
that fortress. The explosive shells used by the Prussians against
masses of troops were not precisely segment shells of the form
already described, but the principle and effect were the same, for
the interior was built up of circular rings, which broke into many
pieces when the shell exploded.
Out of the very numerous forms in which modern ordnance is
constructed, we have been able to select but a few examples for
illustration and description. These will suffice, it is hoped, to give an
idea of the progress that the century has witnessed. It would be
beyond our scope to give details of the ingenious mechanical devices
that have come to be applied to guns: such as the breech-closing
arrangements, the various ways in which recoil is controlled and
utilized, etc. A good illustration, had space permitted, of the
scientific skill applied to ordnance would be found in the
contrivances fitted to certain projectiles in order to determine their
explosion at the proper moment. These are very different from the
cap or time fuse that did duty in the first half of the century. We
have indeed said little of the projectiles themselves beyond mention
of the Palliser chilled shot and the obsolete studded projectiles. We
have not explained how bands of copper, or other soft metal, are put
round a certain part of the shot or shell, in order that, being forced
into the grooves, the axial rotation may be imparted, or how
windage is prevented by “gas checks” attached to the base of the
projectiles. We must now be contented to conclude this section by
showing the structure of two kinds of explosive shells which have
been much used.
Shrapnel shell takes its name from Lieutenant Shrapnel, who was its
inventor about the end of last century, but the projectile began to be
used only in 1808. Fig. 105a is a section showing the shell as a case
containing a number of spherical bullets, of which in the larger shells
there are very many, the interspaces being filled with rosin, poured
in when melted; the bullets are thus prevented from moving about.
The figure shows the shell without the fuse or percussion apparatus,
which screws into the hollow at the front. The bursting charge of
gunpowder is behind the bullets, and when it explodes they travel
forward with a greater velocity than the shell, but with trajectories
more or less radiating, carrying with them wide-spreading
destruction and death.
A shrapnel shell may be said to be a short cannon containing its
charge of powder in a thick chamber at the breech end; the sides of
the fore part of the shell are thinner than those of the chamber, and
may be said to form the barrel of the cannon. This cannon is loaded
up to the muzzle with round balls, which vary with the shell in size.
An iron disc between the powder and the bullets represents the wad
used in ordinary fowling-pieces. A false conical head is attached to
the shell, so that its outward appearance is very similar to that of an
ordinary cylindro-conoidal shell: that is to say, it looks like a very
large long Enfield bullet. The spinning motion which had been
communicated to the shell by the rifling of the gun from which it had
been fired causes the barrel filled with bullets to point in the
direction of the object at which the gun has been aimed.
Consequently, when the shrapnel shell is burst, or rather fired off,
the bullets which it contained are streamed forward with actually
greater velocity than that at which the shell had been moving; and
the effect produced is similar to firing grape and canister from a
smooth-bore cannon at a short range.

Fig. 105a.—The Shrapnel and Segment

Shells.

Segment shells were first brought into use by Lord Armstrong in

1858 in connection with his breech-loading guns. The segment shell
consists of a thin casing like a huge conical-headed thimble, with a
false bottom attached to it. It is filled with small pieces of iron called
“segments,” cast into shapes which enable them to be built up inside
the outer casing into two or more concentric circular walls. The
internal surface of the inmost wall forms the cavity of the compound
or segment shell, and contains the bursting charge. The segment
shell is fitted with a percussion fuse, which causes it to explode
when it strikes. In the shrapnel shell, the powder charge is situated
in rear of the bullets, and consequently produces the chief effect in a
forward direction. In the segment shell, the powder is contained
inside the segments, and therefore produces the chief effect in a
lateral direction. When the shrapnel shell is burst at the right
moment, its effect is greatly superior to that of the segment shell;
on the other hand, the segment shell, when employed at unknown
or varying distances, is far more unlikely to explode at the proper
time.
Shrapnel and segment shells can be used with field artillery, i.e., 9–
pounders, 12–pounders, 16–pounders; and also with heavy rifled
guns in fortresses, viz., 40–pounders, 64–pounders, 7–in. and 9–in.
guns. But the conditions of their service are very different in each
case. With regard to field artillery, the distance of the enemy is
rarely known, and is constantly changing, and hence the men who
have to adjust the fuses would probably be exposed to the fire of
the enemy’s artillery, and, consequently, could not be expected to
prepare the fuses with the great care and nicety which are
absolutely necessary to give due effect to the shells. There are,
however, some occasions when the above objections would not hold
good—as, for instance, when field artillery occupy a position in
which they wait the attack of an enemy advancing over ground in
which the distances are known.
Segment shells require no adjustment of their percussion fuse. They
enable the artillerymen to hit off the proper range very quickly, since
the smoke of the shell which bursts on striking tells them at once
whether they are aiming too high or too low.
With regard, however, to the service of heavy rifled guns in
fortresses, the conditions are quite different. In the first place, the
distance of all objects in sight would be well known beforehand; and
in the second place, the fuses of the shells would be carefully cut to
the required length in the bomb-proofs, where the men would be
completely sheltered. The 7–in. shrapnel contains 227 bullets, and a
9–in. shrapnel would contain 500 bullets of the same size, and these
shells could be burst with extraordinary accuracy upon objects
5,000, 6,000, or 7,000 yards off.
 MACHINE GUNS.

T he name of machine guns has been applied to arms which may

be regarded as in some respects intermediate between cannons
and rifles, since in certain particulars they partake of the nature of
both. Like the former, they are fired from a stand or carriage, and in
some of their forms require more than one man for their working: in
the calibre of their barrels and the weight of their projectiles, they
are assimilated to the rifle, but they are capable of pouring forth
their missiles in a very rapid succession—so rapid indeed as
practically to constitute volley firing. The firing mechanism of the
machine gun has always an automatic character, but the rifle has
acquired this feature, so that it cannot be made a distinguishing
mark: on the other hand, since machine guns have been made to
discharge projectiles of such weights as 1 lb. or 3 lb. there is nothing
to separate them from quick-firing ordnance unless it be the
automatic firing.
The idea of combining a number of musket-barrels into one weapon,
so that these barrels may be discharged simultaneously or in rapid
succession, is not new. Attempts were made two hundred years ago
to construct such weapons; but they failed, from the want of good
mechanical adjustments of their parts. Nor would the machine gun
have become the effective weapon it is, but for the timely invention
of the rigid metallic-cased cartridge. Several forms of machine guns
have in turn attracted much attention. There is the Mitrailleur (or
Mitrailleuse), of which so much was heard at the commencement of
the Franco-German War, and of whose deadly powers the French
managed to circulate terrible and mysterious reports, while the
weapon itself was kept concealed. Whether this arose from the great
expectations really entertained of the destructive effects of the
mitrailleur, or whether the reports were circulated merely to inspire
the French troops with confidence, would be difficult to determine.
Our own policy in regard to new implements of war is not to attempt
to conceal their construction. Experience has shown that no secret
of the least value can long be preserved within the walls of an
arsenal, although the French certainly apparently succeeded in
surrounding their invention with mystery for a while. The machine
gun, or “battery,” invented by Mr. Gatling, an American, is said by
English artillerists to be free from many defects of the French
mitrailleur. In 1870 a committee of English military men was
appointed to examine the powers of several forms of mitrailleur, with
a view to reporting upon the advisability or otherwise of introducing
this arm into the British service. They recommended for certain
purposes the Gatling battery gun.

Fig. 105b.—The Gatling Gun.—Rear View.

In the Gatling the barrels, ten in number, are distinct and separate,
being screwed into a solid revolving piece towards the breech end,
and passing near their muzzles through a plate, by which they are
kept parallel to each other. The whole revolves with a shaft, turning
in bearings placed front and rear in an oblong fixed frame, and
carrying two other pieces, which rotate with it. These are the
“carrier” and the lock cylinder. Fig. 105b gives a rear view, and Fig.
105c a side view, of the Gatling battery gun. The weapon is made of
three sizes, the largest one firing bullets 1 in. in diameter, weighing
½ lb., the smallest discharging bullets of ·45 in. diameter. The small
Gatling is said to be effective at a range of more than a mile and a
quarter, and can discharge 400 bullets or more in one minute. Mr.
Gatling thus describes his invention:
“The gun consists of a series of barrels in combination with a
grooved carrier and lock cylinder. All these several parts are rigidly
secured upon a main shaft. There are as many grooves in the carrier,
and as many holes in the lock cylinder, as there are barrels. Each
barrel is furnished with one lock, so that a gun with ten barrels has
ten locks. The locks work in the holes formed in the lock cylinder on
a line with the axis of the barrels. The lock cylinder, which contains
the lock, is surrounded by a casing, which is fastened to a frame, to
which trimmers are attached. There is a partition in the casing,
through which there is an opening, and into which the main shaft,
which carries the lock cylinder, carrier, and barrels, is journaled. The
main shaft is also at its front end journaled in the front part of the
frame. In front of the partition in the casing is placed a cam,
provided with spiral surfaces or inclined planes.
“This cam is rigidly fastened to the casing, and is used to impart a
reciprocating motion to the locks when the gun is rotated. There is
also in the front part of the casing a cocking ring which surrounds
the lock cylinder, is attached to the casing, and has on its rear
surface an inclined plane with an abrupt shoulder. This ring and its
projection are used for cocking and firing the gun. This ring, the
spiral cam, and the locks make up the loading and firing mechanism.
“On the rear end of the main shaft, in rear of the partition in the
casing, is located a gear-wheel, which works to a pinion on the
crank-shaft. The rear of the casing is closed by the cascable plate.
There is hinged to the frame in front of the breech-casing a curved
plate, covering partially the grooved carrier, into which is formed a
hopper or opening, through which the cartridges are fed to the gun
from feed-cases. The frame which supports the gun is mounted
upon the carriage used for the transportation of the gun.
“The operation of the gun is very simple. One man places a feed-
case filled with cartridges into the hopper; another man turns the
crank, which, by the agency of the gearing, revolves the main shaft,
carrying with it the lock cylinder, carrier, barrels, and locks. As the
gun is rotated, the cartridges, one by one, drop into the grooves of
the carrier from the feed-cases, and instantly the lock, by its
impingement on the spiral cam surfaces, moves forward to load the
cartridge, and when the butt-end of the lock gets on the highest
projection of the cam, the charge is fired, through the agency of the
cocking device, which at this point liberates the lock, spring, and
hammer, and explodes the cartridge. As soon as the charge is fired,
the lock, as the gun is revolved, is drawn back by the agency of the
spiral surface in the cam acting on a lug of the lock, bringing with it
the shell of the cartridge after it has been fired, which is dropped on
the ground. Thus, it will be seen, when the gun is rotated, the locks
in rapid succession move forward to load and fire, and return to
extract the cartridge-shells. In other words, the whole operation of
loading, closing the breech, discharging, and expelling the empty
cartridge-shells is conducted while the barrels are kept in continuous
revolving movement. It must be borne in mind that while the locks
revolve with the barrels, they have also, in their line of travel, a
spiral reciprocating movement; that is, each lock revolves once and
moves forward and back at each revolution of the gun.
“The gun is so novel in its construction and operation that it is
almost impossible to describe it minutely without the aid of
drawings. Its main features may be summed up thus: 1st.—Each
barrel in the gun is provided with its own independent lock or firing
mechanism. 2nd.—All the locks revolve simultaneously with the
barrels, carrier, and inner breech, when the gun is in operation. The
locks also have, as stated, a reciprocating motion when the gun is
rotated. The gun cannot be fired when either the barrels or locks are
at rest.”
There is a beautiful mechanical principle developed in the gun, viz.,
that while the gun itself is under uniform constant rotary motion, the
locks rotate with the barrels and breech, and at the same time have
a longitudinal reciprocating motion, performing the consecutive
operations of loading, cocking, and firing without any pause
whatever in the several and continuous operations.
The small Gatling is supplied with another improvement called the
“drum feed.” This case is divided into sixteen sections, each of which
contains twenty-five cartridges, and is placed on a vertical axis on
the top of the gun. As fast as one section is discharged, it rotates,
and brings another section over the feed aperture, until the whole
400 charges are expended.

Fig. 105c.—The Gatling Gun.—Front

View.

After a careful comparison of the effects of field artillery firing

shrapnel, the committee concluded that the Gatling would be more
destructive in the open at distances up to 1,200 yards, but that it is
not comparable to artillery in effect at greater distances, or where
the ground is covered by trees, brushwood, earthworks, &c. The
mitrailleur, however, would soon be knocked over by artillery if
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