The next meeting of the ASM International Cleveland Chapter on Tuesday, March 7th will include the presentation:
Archaeological Metallurgy: Update on Materials and Processes in the Manufacture of Civil War Small Arms
Speaker: John Harkness, FASM
The presentation is scheduled to start at 7:00 pm (U.S. EST). The online presentation is free to attend. Register Here
The presentation abstract is shown below. Additional information, including the author biography, is available here.
Abstract
The author's two decade-old presentation, "Materials and Processes in the Manufacture of Civil War Small Arms", traced the evolution of the American System of Manufacturing which enabled rapid production of robust, value engineered military small arms with fully interchangeable parts ca. 1860, at both U.S. and British arsenals. This historical technology review included insights to the metallurgy behind these weapons, plus a survey of materials and processes available to arms makers of the period and a full metallurgical examination of representative antique rifle musket components.
This update recaps key elements of the Interchangeable Parts System of Manufacture, and the author expands the scope of historical firearms examined to include mid-19th Century British-pattern rifle muskets produced by native workers at The Arsenal of Nepal. The present work further addresses an earlier erroneous conclusion regarding apparent differences in the metallurgy of British rifle muskets produced for use by regular Crown forces vs. comparable pattern arms intended for export sale (as to both Federal and Confederate forces in the U.S. Civil War) or for issue to British Empire colonial troops. As in previous presentations, example antique rifle muskets are displayed for audience viewing.
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Scott Henry
Senior Content Engineer
ASM International
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