the Commanding Officer, Colonel Ripley, and the master machinist, Mr. Buckland, who is the inventor of the principal machines employed in the manufacture of firearms.
The front building, which has a handsome centre tower, is used as an arsenal for muskets. It contains 100,000 muskets, stacked with beautiful uniformity.
The barrels are made in mills, situated on the banks of a small river at some distance. The lighter parts of the musket, as the stock, the lock, guards, &c., are manufactured in the workshops attached to the Armoury.
The machines employed in the manufacture of the musket stocks are worthy of particular notice. By the kind courtesy of Colonel Ripley, facilities were afforded me for observing the time occupied in each operation.
The stocks are purchased rough from the saw for twenty-eight cents (or 1s. 2d.) each.
| Time occupied. | |||
| Min. | Sec. | ||
| 1. | They are roughly turned in Blanchard's machine, which has been in operation nearly thirty years | 4 | 11 |
| 2. | While one stock is being turned, the attendant is able to face and slab another by a circular saw | 3 | 30 |
| 3. | The stock is next taken to what is called a "spotting" machine, where the sides are cut flat
in different parts, to serve as bearings, or points to work from in future processes; this is done by two pairs of horizontal cutlers, one pair at each end, and three single cutters in the centre |
0 | 7 |
