THE FOUNDRY MACHINIST TOOL, TOOL MARKS AND TOOLING CONTEST Brought to You by Seacoast Artillery Company
This Contest is dedicated to all those Machinists, Mechanics, Inspectors, NC and CNC Programmers and Mechanical Engineers we have met over the years and with whom we have enjoyed working. Basically, this Contest will consist of one or two specific questions related to each of the photos. The location of the Gun WILL NOT be important on these, except for one or two. Nine or ten photos as usual, will be the extent of it and presentation should occur on Saturday, the 27th in the late afternoon or early evening. The identification of both Cannon making TOOLS, TOOLING and TOOL MARKS will be what this contest is all about. This contest will be over when all the questions are answered. Sometimes multiple answers are acceptable. Try to relate your answers to the tools and tooling available during the era of the Civil War.
All those participating will be vying for the Title: Foundry Machinist Extraordinaire. However, please remember these things: One, nobody really takes these Contests seriously and the purpose of all this is simply to have some fun. Two, if ever there was a time to become a member of this Black Powder Mortar and Cannon Board, this is it. Here are three good reasons for signing up:
1. You can see only about 50% of the photos that members post unless you are a member. Members see 100% of those photos.
2. You must be a member to post your answers to these Contest questions.
3. It’s FREE !!
Have Fun ! Mike and Tracy Seacoast Artillery Company
1. What is this? How is it used in ordnance production? Where did we find it? Location IS important for this one. As we left a little diner in this city, the lady said, “ Ya’ll come back now, heaa.”
2. Here is another photo of that partial, 15” Rodman lower carriage (chassis) that we showed in the Christmas Greetings thread. What type of axle do these two side-by-side dimples indicate? What machine tool is used to shape this type of axle? For what purpose is this axle used?
3. This 11” Dahlgren Shell Gun, located in White Point Gardens, at the tip of Charleston’s peninsula was removed from an Experimental Federal Ironclad which sank off of Morris Island, SC after the Ironclad Attack of April 1862 in Charleston, South Carolina’s outer harbor. What was that ironclad’s name? Why does the muzzle have such an odd shape? What tool(s) were used to shape it. It WAS` NOT cast this way.
4. This rifled, unbanded, 32 Pdr., CSA seacoast gun cast in 1829, located at Ft. Gaines on Dauphin Island, AL, has a muzzle-face scar. What type of tool removed the material. Why was this material removed?
5. What caused all those scratches beside this 100 Pdr. Parrott’s Front Sight Mass, below the 6” scale? Why was this work done? Why are there no scratches to the right of the vertical line seen here.
6. The dismounted 15” Rodman Gun at Fort Knox in Prospect, Maine displays 5 or 6 of these circular score marks on the breech and first reinforce. What made these tool marks? What purpose do they have?
7. The trunnion markings on one of the four 32 Pdr. Navy Guns of 57 hundredweight that we found at the Miles Standish cemetery in South Duxbury, MA. What sort of tool was used to make these markings at West Point Foundry in 1848? How do you know that this type of tool was used?
8. We found this cannon on the Glacis of Fort Morgan, Alabama. This trunnion face has a tapered hole in it. What was the purpose of this hole and the one on the opposite trunnion? These markings indicate both the type of banded rifle and where this naval artillery was made (name either of the two places).
9. We photographed this 8” Armstrong Shell at Fort Fisher in Kure Beach, NC in December of 2005 while we were making an engineering drawing of the original tube on loan from the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY. What tool shaped these copper studs? Why shape them like this? What shape is most likely for the portion of the stud under the shell’s exterior?
10. We found these tool marks on a 100 Pdr. Parrott rifle in City Park, Denver, Colorado. What type of tooling caused these marks which are almost parallel to the edge of the shape duplicator? What machine tool held the tube during this operation?