CREUSOT GUNS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8761, 27 February 1900, Page 3

CREUSOT GUNS.

The question as to what is a Creusot gun is answered in an interesting manner in an article by General Maurice in the Nineteenth Century, entitled " Terms Used in Modern Gunnery." "Creusot," or "Le Creusot," is a place in the department of Saone et Loire in France, which has been long famous for its extensive ironwo ks. It does not follow, however, that a Creusot gun was made at Creusot, because that name is now applied to all the guns that are manufactured by the great French firm of Schneider and Co., who in 1835 became possessed of the works at Clreusot, which, after being employed by the State uuder the Revolutionary Government for the manufacture of guns, were under the Empire handed back to private owners, though still receiving large orders for similar work from the Emperor. After the peace of 1815 the works passed through the hands of various firms, which failed in succession, until they were purchased by the predecessors of the present firm. In 1867 Messrs Schneider made themselves famous by being the first firm fully to apply and adapt to the manufacture of both pates for armoured ships and guns of various inventions, chiefly English, notably the great invention of Bessemer for the cheap manufacture of steal. From that time onwards their works have been steadily developed. They hive applied new processes in manufacture, including the use of various alloys — notably nickel, of which in its raw state the British Empire possesses almost a monopoly — to the improvement of the quality of the steel of which they make their own guns. They have become the owners of a vast area of ground in the neighborhood of Havre, and have there erected gigantic workshops almost on as large a scale as their works at Creusot. Curiously enough, it has come to pass that when we speak of a Creusot gun we mean a gun of whatever size made by the great French firm of Schneider and Co., whether it has in fact been made at Creusot or at Havre."