3-008-353 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Finishing shells at Woolwich Arsenal, 1862. 'Exertions are continued at Woolwich to supply munitions of war to the British possessions in North America...The splendid shell foundry is capable of turning out sufficient shells for all the armies of the world. Here may be seen the process by which the old scrap iron of the establishment is transformed into finished shot and shell...The smelting process is carried on in a dozen enormous cupola furnaces...The fierce heat generated by the blast rapidly melts the iron, which is then allowed to flow into the shell mould...Gangs of men are arranged in rows along a small tramway, the shells are put on the tram, and the captain of the gang puts the gauge (an iron ring to fit the shells), over them, and anywhere that the gauge scrapes is marked with chalk, and then the finisher goes to work with his file to make it perfect in shape...In one day more than 10,000 shells passed through this department, and were, on their passage, drilled or brushed, or fitted with the socket made to receive the fuse. The shells having rolled through a labyrinth of successive machines which operate upon them, move onward to the painting department, where they receive a coating of black varnish to prevent oxydisation'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.