A Southern Foundry With a Long History

[Cannoneer]

Clarksville Foundry, Inc. located in Clarksville, TN dates back to the Pre-Civil War era (under a different name). I found this video showing the manufacture of a cast iron M1841 6-pounder (cast around a steel liner) very informative.

http://www.clarksvillefoundry.com/video.html

[little seacoast]

Interesting video, I remember the place from the 1960's.  The manner of attaching the trunnions and using them to align the liner during the pour looks interesting, anyone else use this? Wonder what they'd think about casting more since they have the mold and experience now.  Be nice to have very high quality castings available locally. 

[Frank46]

Excellent video. We had an old brick building dating from before the civil war. Always wondered what it was. Well
found out one day as some fool came whipping around a very sharp turn and took out one of the walls. Turns out it was a foundry and they did cast cannon balls. Local newspaper did a nice article about it. Frank

[Ex 49'er]

Great video. Thanks for the link. Hmmmm, I wonder if they could make Gary's brass mortar?

[BoomLover]

Excellent video!

[Cannoneer]

The manner of attaching the trunnions and using them to align the liner during the pour looks interesting, anyone else use this?

A group of Brits calling themselves the “Artillery Society” had a barrel cast that appears to have been done the same way, only in aluminum.

http://www.artillerysociety.co.uk/Pattern.html

http://www.artillerysociety.co.uk/Barrel.html

It seems like a good system, the steel liner being centered and held in place at three points: The three points being the extended muzzle part of the sleeve that gets cut off later, and the trunnions. The one thing I was kind of surprised by was the fact that the flask only had to be elevated about 15 degrees.
There’s a company I won’t name here that’s had occasional problems with shifting liners, maybe watching this video could give them some practical ideas.

[P38]

Awesome !!!!
 
Thanks for sharing.

[T Brooks]

Very cool video.

Did anyone else notice that their breech plug was not a shrink fit?  It appeared to only get a light tap with a hammer before welding.

Cheers
Tarquin

[jamesfrom180]

Maybe pinned and then welded?  Looks to be alot left out of building the cannon in the video and more on the history and promotion of the foundry.  I would be very curious who commissioned the cannon, and what their purposes were?

[shred]

I was thinking the breech plug would be held in by the mass of cast steel surrounding it, but there's still the issue of corrosion in the gap then.

[Cannoneer]

Maybe pinned and then welded?  Looks to be alot left out of building the cannon in the video and more on the history and promotion of the foundry.  I would be very curious who commissioned the cannon, and what their purposes were?

I think you're right, James, there are some things I'd also like to see on the casting and finishing process that just weren't included in the final edit of the vid.
I don't believe the gun was ordered by anyone, it seems to have been manufactured simply as a promotional tool for the company. The foundry donated the artillery piece to the Clarksville City/County steering commitee, and it was going to be put on display at the Fort Defiance/Fort Bruce Interpretive Center.

After this video ends you'll see a screen with other videos to choose from: Open "Clarksville Foundry Cannon Coverage."

http://www.clarksvillefoundry.com/video.html