(PDF) The Gun Foundry Recast | Daniel Trepal

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Download Free PDFThe Gun Foundry RecastProfile image of Daniel TrepalDaniel Trepal

IA: Journal for the Society for Industrial Archeology 35, nos. 1&2 (2009)

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Abstract

The West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, NY gained nationwide recognition for the production of rifled artillery during the American Civil War. For most of the period during which it operated, the foundry could claim to be a modern facility capable of producing a wide variety of cast iron products for both military and civilian applications. However, broad technological shifts in the latter half of the 19th century compelled the West Point Foundry to adapt its process in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to respond to changing industrial realities. In 2007 archaeologists from Michigan Technological University, working in partnership with site owners Scenic Hudson Land Trust, investigated the foundry’s 1817 casting house, part of the oldest building complex on the site. The archaeological data, coupled with historic source material, indicates both a long period of operation as a gun foundry and a very late adaptation of the building into a more generalized casting house.

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Key takeawayssparkles

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  1. The West Point Foundry specialized in cast iron artillery, achieving nationwide recognition during the American Civil War.
  2. Technological shifts in metallurgy led to cast iron's decline and steel's rise in heavy industry by the late 19th century.
  3. Archaeological investigations since 2007 revealed the gun foundry's long-term operational history and its adaptation struggles.
  4. The foundry failed to modernize and suffered financially after government contracts diminished in the 1880s.
  5. The Gun Foundry Board's recommendations in 1883 marked the transition to steel artillery production, sidelining iron foundries.
Figures (11)arrow_back_ios
Figure 1. Detail of an 1821 broadside advertisement for the West Point Foundry, showing the gun foundry (left, with air furnace stack and boring mill, looking westward. Note the finished cannon lying in a row in front of the boring mill. Courtesy Putnam History Museum.
Figure 1. Detail of an 1821 broadside advertisement for the West Point Foundry, showing the gun foundry (left, with air furnace stack and boring mill, looking westward. Note the finished cannon lying in a row in front of the boring mill. Courtesy Putnam History Museum.
Figure 2. Detail from an 1841 engraving of the West Point Foundry showing some of the early expansion of the site, with the addition of a third, smaller air furnace in 1819 (left-most stack) and a second casting house with a large stepped-gable roof of c.1839. The gun foundry (tallest stack) and boring mill remain the core of the operation, and are now surrounded by newer construction. Note the blast furnace in the background at right. From John W. Barber, Historical Collections of the State of New York (New York: S. Tuttle, 1842), 449.
Figure 2. Detail from an 1841 engraving of the West Point Foundry showing some of the early expansion of the site, with the addition of a third, smaller air furnace in 1819 (left-most stack) and a second casting house with a large stepped-gable roof of c.1839. The gun foundry (tallest stack) and boring mill remain the core of the operation, and are now surrounded by newer construction. Note the blast furnace in the background at right. From John W. Barber, Historical Collections of the State of New York (New York: S. Tuttle, 1842), 449.
Figure 3. Drawing by John Ferguson Weir of an 8-inch Parrott gun clearly showing the distinctive wrought-iron reinforcing band near the breech (rear) end of the weapon. From Betsy Fahlman, John Ferguson Weir: The Labor of Art (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1997), 74, by permission of the press.
Figure 3. Drawing by John Ferguson Weir of an 8-inch Parrott gun clearly showing the distinctive wrought-iron reinforcing band near the breech (rear) end of the weapon. From Betsy Fahlman, John Ferguson Weir: The Labor of Art (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1997), 74, by permission of the press.
Figure 4. An 1861 view of the gun foundry interior showing iron being tapped from one of the two air furnaces. Notice the large masonry stack separating the two furnaces (the other furnace is in shadow) and the wooden (or tin-covered wood) partition concealing all but the semicircular face of the air furnaces. The face of the furnace appears to be marked with a date of 1823 or possibly 1828. From “West Point Foundry” Harper’s Weekly, 14 Sept. 1861, p. 588. The high-water mark for the foundry arrived dur- ing the American Civil War. After Gouverneur Kem- ble began to retire from active management of the operation, Robert Parrott leased the foundry” just as demand for rifled guns was especially high. The indus- trial capability of the Union is often identified as a key factor in the conflict and the West Point Foundry served as an important high-volume producer of badly- needed ordnance. In one dramatic case the foundry’s While the foundry could (and did) build steam engines, pumps, rifled cannon and other modern contrivances associated with the nineteenth century, the basic technol- ogy behind the West Point Foundry were its furnaces for melting iron, including a blast furnace for initial smelt- ing, cupola and reverberatory air furnaces for casting,
Figure 4. An 1861 view of the gun foundry interior showing iron being tapped from one of the two air furnaces. Notice the large masonry stack separating the two furnaces (the other furnace is in shadow) and the wooden (or tin-covered wood) partition concealing all but the semicircular face of the air furnaces. The face of the furnace appears to be marked with a date of 1823 or possibly 1828. From “West Point Foundry” Harper’s Weekly, 14 Sept. 1861, p. 588. The high-water mark for the foundry arrived dur- ing the American Civil War. After Gouverneur Kem- ble began to retire from active management of the operation, Robert Parrott leased the foundry” just as demand for rifled guns was especially high. The indus- trial capability of the Union is often identified as a key factor in the conflict and the West Point Foundry served as an important high-volume producer of badly- needed ordnance. In one dramatic case the foundry’s While the foundry could (and did) build steam engines, pumps, rifled cannon and other modern contrivances associated with the nineteenth century, the basic technol- ogy behind the West Point Foundry were its furnaces for melting iron, including a blast furnace for initial smelt- ing, cupola and reverberatory air furnaces for casting,
Figure 5. The Gun Foundry, 1864-66. John Ferguson Weir’s carefully researched painting of the interior of the gun foundry depicts the reverberatory furnaces casting pits and masonry stack in use at the height of the Civil War. Foundry workers ave busy casting a gun using a Rodman water-cooled mold. Courtesy Putnam History Museum.
Figure 5. The Gun Foundry, 1864-66. John Ferguson Weir’s carefully researched painting of the interior of the gun foundry depicts the reverberatory furnaces casting pits and masonry stack in use at the height of the Civil War. Foundry workers ave busy casting a gun using a Rodman water-cooled mold. Courtesy Putnam History Museum.
further deliberation, the Watervliet Arsenal in upstate New York was chosen for this purpose in 1887.” The foundry board’s recommendations marked the United States military’s adoption of the all-steel breech-loading gun, and created a system whereby the involvement of private industry was limited by government control over a large part of the manufacturing process, as well as control over the design requirements. It also com- pletely bypassed the two iron foundries and effectively destroyed the West Point Foundry’s hope of obtaining further lucrative government contracts for artillery. Just over 20 years after achieving international fame as one of America’s premier manufacturers in iron, the West Point Foundry found itself faced with a grim struggle to survive as a business. steel breech-loading gun. In addition, after reviewing current gun manufacturing arrangements in England, France, Germany, and Russia, and citing the example of Krupp’s dominance of the artillery industry in the rising German Empire, the foundry board came to the conclusion (fateful for the West Point Foundry) that entrusting the nation’s artillery production to a private corporation would result in price gouging. The board observed that the German government had “no control over the works” and that their reliance on the private company led to the Germans paying too much and indeed made them a “slave of the corporation”.” The board’s opinion may have been colored by the fact that Krupp’s London agents rebuffed their requests to send Gun Foundry Board representatives on a fact-finding mission to the Essen works, refusing to allow anyone to tour the factories unless they intended to become a cus- tomer.” In either case, the board concluded that relying on a private company to supply artillery to the govern- ment was undesirable. Instead, the board’s recommen- dations most closely resembled the French system: the basic steel forgings for guns were to be purchased from several private steel corporations to be turned into fin- ished guns at a government-operated arsenal.* After
further deliberation, the Watervliet Arsenal in upstate New York was chosen for this purpose in 1887.” The foundry board’s recommendations marked the United States military’s adoption of the all-steel breech-loading gun, and created a system whereby the involvement of private industry was limited by government control over a large part of the manufacturing process, as well as control over the design requirements. It also com- pletely bypassed the two iron foundries and effectively destroyed the West Point Foundry’s hope of obtaining further lucrative government contracts for artillery. Just over 20 years after achieving international fame as one of America’s premier manufacturers in iron, the West Point Foundry found itself faced with a grim struggle to survive as a business. steel breech-loading gun. In addition, after reviewing current gun manufacturing arrangements in England, France, Germany, and Russia, and citing the example of Krupp’s dominance of the artillery industry in the rising German Empire, the foundry board came to the conclusion (fateful for the West Point Foundry) that entrusting the nation’s artillery production to a private corporation would result in price gouging. The board observed that the German government had “no control over the works” and that their reliance on the private company led to the Germans paying too much and indeed made them a “slave of the corporation”.” The board’s opinion may have been colored by the fact that Krupp’s London agents rebuffed their requests to send Gun Foundry Board representatives on a fact-finding mission to the Essen works, refusing to allow anyone to tour the factories unless they intended to become a cus- tomer.” In either case, the board concluded that relying on a private company to supply artillery to the govern- ment was undesirable. Instead, the board’s recommen- dations most closely resembled the French system: the basic steel forgings for guns were to be purchased from several private steel corporations to be turned into fin- ished guns at a government-operated arsenal.* After
Figure 8. A cutaway elevation drawing of a reverberatory air furnace. Fuel is burned in the chamber at lower left, and the hot combustion gasses are drawn out through a tall chimney at upper right. The metal to be melted sits in the center (G) and melts into the reservotr at left center (E) to be tapped. The fuel and metal never come into direct contact. From N.E. Spretson, A Practical Treatise on Casting and Founding (London: E. & F. N. Spon, 1880), Plate XV.
Figure 8. A cutaway elevation drawing of a reverberatory air furnace. Fuel is burned in the chamber at lower left, and the hot combustion gasses are drawn out through a tall chimney at upper right. The metal to be melted sits in the center (G) and melts into the reservotr at left center (E) to be tapped. The fuel and metal never come into direct contact. From N.E. Spretson, A Practical Treatise on Casting and Founding (London: E. & F. N. Spon, 1880), Plate XV.
tion. Separating the rail from the area under the cupola is a brick wall that sits on the dirt/sand floor without any foundation; it may have served to prevent furnace debris from covering the rails. Tram cars run- ning on rails and drawn by men or draft animals were used throughout the foundry to transport heavy equip- ment, molds, and castings. Immediately to the north of the cupola remains, a pad of red brick—dry-laid and only one course thick—was uncovered, again sitting directly on the floor of the foundry. On top of the red brick was a single course of radial stretcher firebricks forming a ring. The bricks, marked “W.H. Berry & Co. No 1 Woodbridge NJ,” also do not appear to have been
tion. Separating the rail from the area under the cupola is a brick wall that sits on the dirt/sand floor without any foundation; it may have served to prevent furnace debris from covering the rails. Tram cars run- ning on rails and drawn by men or draft animals were used throughout the foundry to transport heavy equip- ment, molds, and castings. Immediately to the north of the cupola remains, a pad of red brick—dry-laid and only one course thick—was uncovered, again sitting directly on the floor of the foundry. On top of the red brick was a single course of radial stretcher firebricks forming a ring. The bricks, marked “W.H. Berry & Co. No 1 Woodbridge NJ,” also do not appear to have been
Since the number and form of the chimney stacks in the roofline of the gun foundry can be tracked over time, they can provide clues for changes taking place within the building. The single large masonry stack seen in most of the illustrations or photographs was a prominent feature of the gun foundry but appears to have been removed late in the foundry’s life. Using the 1885 roofline plan as a rough guide, a 2 X 2m
Since the number and form of the chimney stacks in the roofline of the gun foundry can be tracked over time, they can provide clues for changes taking place within the building. The single large masonry stack seen in most of the illustrations or photographs was a prominent feature of the gun foundry but appears to have been removed late in the foundry’s life. Using the 1885 roofline plan as a rough guide, a 2 X 2m
Figure 14. Furnace stack excavation photo. Note the iron rail (left) resting directly on top of the granite foundations. Photo by author. The location of the pits in the gun foundry ruin is obvious; two large depressions partially filled with granite wall rubble lie within the foundation. The western pit was selected for excavation because it con-
Figure 14. Furnace stack excavation photo. Note the iron rail (left) resting directly on top of the granite foundations. Photo by author. The location of the pits in the gun foundry ruin is obvious; two large depressions partially filled with granite wall rubble lie within the foundation. The western pit was selected for excavation because it con-
Figure 17. 1912 Sanborn insurance map. Both this and the 1905 Sanborr show the approximate location of the cupola furnaces, and both list the gun foundry (here labeled “Old Moulding Ho[use]”) and boring mill buildings and the furnaces as “not used.” Sanborn Map Company. 1885 and 1887, Paulding, Kemble & Co., faced with the reality that their gun foundry was of no further use, removed the old air furnaces (which were by then pos- sibly more than 60 years old) and replaced them with two large cupola furnaces standing on massive cast iron legs. These furnaces would have been considerably more efficient for casting the gun carriages, shot, machine parts, and other non-gun products for which the foundry still received orders. The iron rails were also added at this time, running directly over the old air furnace stack foundation. The 1905 Cornell blueprint refers to the gun foundry as a “loam shop”, and a significant amount of casting loam was indeed collected during excavations. This dark, sandy, soil-like material was used to make the loam molds commonly used for large and complex cast- ings. Such molds were commonly moved about via rails within a foundry, which likely explain the presence of the rails also added around the time the cupolas appeared. It appears that the gun foundry was repurposed as a more generalized iron-casting house during the last years of
Figure 17. 1912 Sanborn insurance map. Both this and the 1905 Sanborr show the approximate location of the cupola furnaces, and both list the gun foundry (here labeled “Old Moulding Ho[use]”) and boring mill buildings and the furnaces as “not used.” Sanborn Map Company. 1885 and 1887, Paulding, Kemble & Co., faced with the reality that their gun foundry was of no further use, removed the old air furnaces (which were by then pos- sibly more than 60 years old) and replaced them with two large cupola furnaces standing on massive cast iron legs. These furnaces would have been considerably more efficient for casting the gun carriages, shot, machine parts, and other non-gun products for which the foundry still received orders. The iron rails were also added at this time, running directly over the old air furnace stack foundation. The 1905 Cornell blueprint refers to the gun foundry as a “loam shop”, and a significant amount of casting loam was indeed collected during excavations. This dark, sandy, soil-like material was used to make the loam molds commonly used for large and complex cast- ings. Such molds were commonly moved about via rails within a foundry, which likely explain the presence of the rails also added around the time the cupolas appeared. It appears that the gun foundry was repurposed as a more generalized iron-casting house during the last years of
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References (38)

  1. Excellent general histories of the rise of iron and steel in Amer- ica are found in Robert B. Gordon, American Iron, 1607-1900 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996) and Thomas J. Misa, A Nation of Steel: the Making of Modern America, 1865-1925 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995).
  2. For the background history of the site, see Steven A. Walton, "Founding a Foundry: The Diary of the Setting-Out of the West Point Foundry, 1817," IA: the Journal of the Society for Industrial Ar- cheology 35, nos. 1-2 (2009): 25-38;
  3. "Hudson Scenery. From the National Advocate. Extract of a Letter from -, to His Friend in New York.," Daily National Intelligencer, 21 June 1819, 2.
  4. American artillery technology and practice in the early nineteenth century closely followed European patterns, particularly those of the British and the French. For an overview of contemporary muz- zle-loading artillery technology, see Harold L. Peterson, Round Shot and Rammers (Harrisburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 1969).
  5. Edward S. Rutsch, et al., "The West Point Foundry Site: Cold Spring, Putnam County, New York," (Newton, N.J.: Cultural Re- source Management Services, 1979), 77, T. Arron Kotlensky, "From Forest and Mine to Foundry and Cannons: An Archaeo- logical Study of the Blast Furnace at the West Point Foundry," IA: the Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology 35, nos. 1-2 (2009): 49-72.
  6. Robert B. Gordon, American Iron, 72-73.
  7. Luz M. Graziani, "Hacienda La Esperanza Sugar Mill Steam Engine 1861," (Manati: The Conservation Trust of Pureto Rico, 1979).
  8. John Warner Barber, Historical Collections of the State of New York (New York: S. Tuttle, 1842), 450.
  9. Rutsch, et al., "West Point Foundry Site" (note 5), 41.
  10. Alexander V. Fraser, Captain Fraser's Report of Trial of the Revenue Steamers Spencer and McLane (Washington: C. Alexander, 1846) and Robert M. Browning, Jr., "The Lasting Injury: the Revenue Marine's First Steam Cutters," The American Neptune 52 (1992): 25-37. Data on the Spencer can be found at <http://www.uscg.mil/ history/webcutters/Spencer_1844.asp>.
  11. William Kemble to Gouverneur Kemble, 16 January 1841, Kemble Family Papers, box 4, folder 18 (private collection of a Kemble family decendant, New York State).
  12. William S. Pelletreau, History of Putnam County (Philadelphia: W. W. Preston & Co., 1886), 621.
  13. "West Point Foundry," Harper's Weekly. 14 Sept. 1861, p. 580. John Ferguson Weir, "West Point Foundry, Cold Spring, New York," c. 1864, Yale University Art Gallery, acc. 1991.1.3.
  14. Pelletreau, History of Putnam County, 621.
  15. E.V. White, The First Iron-Clad Naval Engagement in the World (New York: J.S. Ogilvie Publishing Company, 1906), 13. Eugene B. Canfield, Civil War Naval Ordnance (Washington D.C.: U.S. GPO, 1969), 10.
  16. Terry S. Reynolds, Stronger Than a Hundred Men: A History of the Vertical Water Wheel (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983), 14. Louis C. Hunter, A History of Industrial Power in the United States, 1780-1930. Vol. 1, Waterpower in the Century of the Steam Engine (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1979).
  17. Gordon, American Iron (note 6), 222-23.
  18. Ibid., 218.
  19. In general, see Barton C. Hacker and Margaret Vining, American Military Technology: the Life Story of a Technology (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2006) and the literature cited therein.
  20. Rutsch, et al., "The West Point Foundry Site" (note 5), 98-99.
  21. Report by Lt.-Col. Silas Crispin, Constructor of Ordnance, in Steven Vincent Benét, "Report of the Chief of Ordnance," in An- nual Report of Secretary of War, 1876, vol. 3: Ordnance, 44th Congress [1746 H.exdoc.1/7] (Washington, D.C.; U.S. GPO, 1877), App. H, 108-118.
  22. Edward Simpson, "Report of the Gun Foundry Board," (Wash- ington D.C.: U.S. GPO, 1884), appendix 64, and see "Memori- als in Behalf of The South Boston Iron Co. and The West Point Foundry, with Data showing the necessity of having at least two Foundries kept in perfect working order for manufacturing heavy ordnance" (Washington, D.C.: Gibson Bros. 1878).
  23. Simpson, "Report of the Gun Foundry Board," 46.
  24. Ibid., appendix, 60. "A Cannon King. Description of Krupp's Great Foundry for Steel Cannon-Steel Guns-Steel Bombs-Steel Shells," New York Times 4 August 1867, p. 6.
  25. "The Foundry Board's Report; the French System of Manufac- turing Ordnance Deemed the Best," New York Times, 18 February 1884, p.5. Simpson, "Report of the Gun Foundry Board," 46.
  26. John Swantek, Watervliet Arenal 1813-2003: A History of America's Oldest Arsenal (Watervliet, N.Y.: Watervliet Arsenal Public Affairs Office, 2003), 127-28.
  27. Personal communication from Lourdes Font, History of Art depart- ment, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, 5 March 2008.
  28. David Crossley, Post Medieval Archaeology in Britain (London: Leicester University Press, 1990), 176-77. Simpson Bolland, The Art of Casting in Iron (New York: John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1893), 56. Edward Kirk, The Cupola Furnace: A Practical Treatise on Construction and Management of Foundry Cupolas (Philadelphia: Henry Carey Baird & Co., 1903), 95.
  29. Sara Wermiel, "Rethinking Cast Iron Columns," Building Renova- tion 12 (Winter 1995): 37-38.
  30. "Undated Inventory of Buildings", West Point Foundry file, New- York Historical Society, New York, N.Y. See also Rutsch, et al., "West Point Foundry Site" (note 5), 74.
  31. Crispin in Benét, "Report of the Chief of Ordnance" (note 21), 110.
  32. Simpson Bolland, The Encyclopedia of Founding (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1894), 178.
  33. "No Profit in Cannons; an Ordnance Foundry in the Creditors' Hands. West Point Association Embarrassed-a Business Estab- lished in 1817-Where Parrott Guns Were Made," New York Times, 19 August 1884, p. 1. "The West Point Foundry," New York Times, 14 August 1886, p. 2.
  34. D.W. Flagler, "Report of the Chief of Ordnance," in Annual Re- port of Secretary of War, 1895, vol. 3: Ordnance, 54th Congress [3378 H.doc.2/9] (Washington, DC, U.S. GPO, 1896), 33; "Dynamite Thrown Miles; Official Test of the Improved Pneumatic Machine. Proving the Safety of the Merriam Fuse-How It Is Fitted and Op- erated in the Projectile," New York Times, 9 July 1890, p. 1.
  35. Rutsch, et al., "The West Point Foundry Site" (note 5), 121.
  36. See A.R. Buffington, "Report of the Chief of Ordnance," in Annual Report of Secretary of War, 1901, vol. 3: Ordnance, 57 th Congress [4285 H.doc.2/17] (Washington, D.C., U.S. GPO, 1902), passim.
  37. Rutsch, et al., "The West Point Foundry Site," 124.
  38. Ibid., 126.
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What evidence supports the West Point Foundry's decline in the steel era?add

The research shows that by the late 1870s, the West Point Foundry struggled to transition to steel production, as its last cast iron gun was made in 1876, indicating diminished capability against evolving technologies.

How did the Gun Foundry Board influence military procurement decisions?add

Formed in 1883, the Gun Foundry Board recommended procuring steel forgings from private manufacturers, ultimately sidelining established iron foundries like West Point for modern artillery production.

Which innovations contributed to the success of the Parrott Rifle at the Foundry?add

The Parrott Rifle benefited from the Rodman Process and a wrought iron band, enhancing strength and mobility, leading to it becoming a key artillery piece during the Civil War.

What archaeological findings were crucial for understanding the foundry's operational history?add

2007 excavations revealed extensive remains of cupola furnaces and casting pits, affording insight into the specialized processes at the gun foundry from 1817 until its obsolescence.

How did economic factors restrict the adaptability of the West Point Foundry?add

The foundry's reliance on government contracts and limited financial management hindered significant modernization, resulting in its inability to efficiently produce steel products by the late nineteenth century.

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