Armor plate

“ Iron armor consists of wrought iron plates, rolled or forged, and of cast iron or chilled cast iron, as in the Gruson armor. Compound armor consists of a forged combination of a steel plate and an iron plate. Steel armor consists of wrought steel plates. Nickel-steel armor consists of plates made from an alloy of nickel and steel. ”

“ Obviously, when the projectile strikes armor-plate, either the plate or the projectile must yield, for the reason that the projectile brings to bear upon a 12-inch plate an energy sufficient to fuse a hole right through it, and this is substantially what it does. The hard and toughened steel of the plate is heated and softened by the force of impact, and, although the projectile may be cold after it has passed through, it actually does fuse a hole through the plate, the metal flowing like wax from its path. ”

“ The relative value of steel and compound armor is much debated, and at present the rivalry is great, but the weight of evidence and opinion seems to favor the all-steel plate. The hard face of a compound plate is supposed to break up the projectile, that is, make the projectile expend its energy on itself rather than upon the plate, and the backing of wrought iron is, by its greater ductility, to prevent the destruction of the plate. ”

“ The plates are fastened to the hulls and backing by heavy bolts, varying in size according to the weight of the individual plate. For the 6,000 ton armored ships, these bolts are from 2.75 to 3.1 inches in diameter and from 18.45 to 23 inches in length. They are tapped two or three inches into the armor and do not go through the plate. They pass through wrought iron tubes in the backing and set up with cups, washers and nuts against the inner skin of the ship.
At steel works where plates for our new navy are being manufactured, there are inspectors who look after the government's interests. ”

“ Till quite recently armor plates have been made of wrought iron only, as numerous experiments in England had served to show that notwithstanding the enormous resistance of steel to penetration it was unfit for armor plating,—the damage from the impact of shot not being localized as in wrought iron. ”

“ The web just underneath the armor-shelf is of the old-style solid plate, to give better support than would be gained by bracket-plates. The double-bottom arrangement continues throughout two thirds of the length of the ship, the frames outside of this being reduced in dimensions. The armor-shelf of the Warrior proving a weak construction, that of the Bellerophon was better worked. The outer angle was formed by an angle-iron bolted to the vertical outside plating, and to a flat plate forming the armor-seat, the iron being on the inside of each plate. ”

“ The experiments conducted during the year to test the relative resisting power of armor plates have been so valuable as to attract great attention in Europe. The only part of the work upon the new ships that is threatened by unusual delay is the armor plating, and every effort is being made to reduce that to the minimum. ”

“ Mail armor continued in general use till about the year 1300, when it was gradually supplanted by plate armor, or suits consisting of pieces or plates of solid iron, adapted to the different parts of the body. ”

“ The manufacture of steel-armor plates is a specialty of Le Creusot, which is engaged in an active competition with the manufacturers of compound armor. Plates up to 60 centimeters in thickness and 3 meters wide are forged here; they are tempered after forging, but what subsequent treatment they receive was not explained.
The tempering pit for the plates consists of an excavation of convenient size, in the center of which is placed a tank containing 180 tons of oil. At the four corners of the pit are furnaces in which the plates are raised to a proper temperature. ”

“ The waters of this placid subterranean lake are the brightest, loveliest blue that can be imagined. They are as transparent as plate glass, and their coloring would shame the richest sky that ever bent over Italy. No tint could be more ravishing, no lustre more superb. Throw a stone into the water, and the myriad of tiny bubbles that are created flash out a brilliant glare like blue theatrical fires. Dip an oar, and its blade turns to splendid frosted silver, tinted with blue. Let a man jump in, and instantly he is cased in an armor more gorgeous than ever kingly Crusader wore. ”

“ Attempts were also made to increase the toughness of the back by the substitution of mild nickel steel for wrought iron. The inherent defect of compound armour, however—its want of homogeneity,—remained, and in the year 1891 H.A. Harvey of Newark, N.J., introduced a process whereby an all steel plate could be face-hardened in such a way that the advantages of the compound principle were obtained in a homogeneous plate. ”

“ It is at this period of the history of defensive armour that we first find traces of that decadence which later on permeated every art and craft with its pernicious poison. It is to be found in the imitating of fabrics and also of the human face in metal. There exist suits of plate in many museums, both in England and on the Continent, in which the puffings and slashings of the civilian attire are closely copied in embossed metal, entirely destroying the important glancing surfaces on which we have laid such stress. ”

“ Plate armour reached the perfection of workmanship in the second half of the fifteenth century. At no period was it so light, yet impervious, with curves and angles so admirably directed to deflect the impact of sword or lance, and articulations so skilfully devised to mitigate the restraint on freedom of movement necessarily imposed by a sheathing of steel. Never was armour so closely fitted to the contour of the body, and thus so elegant, so easily and therefore so constantly worn. ”

“ It was struck in brass from the die of the 1814 Artillery Corps cap plate, type I, again with a thin sheet of iron applied to the reverse before the strike. There is no pewter filling; the beveled edges of the piece together with the adhesive effect of the strike—which shows through very clearly—holds on the back. The plate is fitted with two simple bent-wire fasteners for attachment, indicating that it was intended for ornamental use only. Like its waist-belt plate counterpart, this specimen must be considered an officer's device. ”

“ We find at almost every period, however, that a fair blow delivered “au pas de charge” with a well-steeled lance might penetrate every defence; and that no armour could be made actually proof against downright blows from a two-handed battle-axe wielded by a powerful and expert rider.
One of the most marked characteristics of this age of plate-armour was a growing appreciation of the intrinsic beauty of steel, and a new desire to invest steel armour with graceful lines. ”

“ The cut of a surcoat, the hilt of a sword, the lines of a breastplate, will tell us, with some degree of accuracy, when a man lived and to what nation he belonged; and, at the same time, in the later years, we shall find that the suit of plate not only proclaims the individuality of the wearer, but also bears the signature and individuality of the maker; a combination of interests which few works of handicraft can offer us.
From the eleventh to the end of the fourteenth century we have but a few scattered examples of actual defensive armour and arms ”

“ This grenadier-type plate, struck in brass, is one of the most beautiful examples of the die maker's art in the national collections. On a sunburst-over-clouds (p. 82) background is an eagle grasping the top of the Federal shield superimposed on panoply of arms and colors. The national motto is on a ribbon below. Certainly not from a stock pattern, this plate obviously was made for a specific Militia unit of considerable affluence. Three simple wire fasteners soldered to the reverse provide means of attachment. ”

“ The reader will notice the round plates at the elbows and knees, which are the first visible introduction of plate armour—breastplates, worn under the hauberk, had been occasionally used from Saxon times. He will observe, too, the leather gauntlets which David wears, and the curious defences for the shoulders called ailettes: also that the shield is hung round the neck by its strap (guige) , and the sword-belt round the hips, while the surcoat is girded round the waist by a silken cord. The group is also valuable for giving us at a glance three different fashions of helmet. ”

“ This oval plate, struck in thin brass with lead-filled back, has a raised rim, within which is a mounted, helmeted horseman in the act of charging; overhead is an eagle with a wreath in its beak. A double-wire fastener soldered to the back is not contemporary.
(p. 8) DRAGOON HELMET PLATE, 1800, DIE SAMPLE USNM 60283-M (S-K 41) . Figure 2.
Figure 2
Although from a different die, this plate, struck in thin brass, appears to be a die sample of the plate described above. ”

“ Alloy steels of this nature appear to be very susceptible to thermal treatment, by suitable variation of which, with or without oil quenching, the physical condition of the same steel may be made to vary to an extraordinary extent, a peculiarity which is turned to good account in the manufacture of the modern armour plate. ”

“ The pieces consist of a breastplate of the peascod variety with laminated goussets, and a backplate; a gorget of five lames and a tace of one plate, which could be removed if required from the breastplate; tassets, laminated pauldrons, brassarts, vambraces, and coudières. The entire design of this grand example of the armourer’s art is worked out by embossing from the back to surfaces of different levels, chasing and enriching with fine gold damascening, plating, and overlaying. The work is of remarkably even quality, and is at the present time in an excellent state of preservation. ”

“ A steel needle or pen-knife132 has great strength. But it is only nickel-steel that has both toughness and strength. This makes it the best metal we know for armour plate. A battleship with a hull covered with steel or iron would be shattered to pieces if it were hit by one of the modern shells. If the armour plate is made of nickel-steel, the largest projectile makes only a dimple, such as you would in a pat of butter by sticking your finger into it. This property of toughness is added to the steel by putting in three and one half per cent. ”

“ The chain camail has gone out of fashion, the basinet continuing itself with a chin and cheek plate which joins a gorget of plate covering the collar-bone, a movable viser shutting in the whole head with steel. The gussets of chain mail sewn into the leathern or fustian doublet worn below the body armour are unseen even at the gap at the hollow of the arm where the plates must be allowed to move freely, for a little plate, round, oval or oblong, is tagged to each side to fence the weak point. ”

“ All armour of the best periods does this to the full. It is only under the blighting influence of the Renaissance that we find metal so worked that it resembles woven fabrics, or, worse still, the human form and features. The limited space at our disposal precludes us from investigating the various Coats of Fence, or body protections of quilted fabrics with metal, horn, and other materials added. Mention has been made in the chapter on the Transition of the Brigandine, which formed a very serviceable defence without being [Pg 67] so unwieldy as the suit of plate. ”

“ With regard to manufacture, a brief account of the Krupp process as applied in one of the great English armour plate works (omitting confidential details of temperature, &c.) will illustrate the great complexity of treatment Manufacture. which the modern armour plate has to undergo before its remarkable qualities of combined hardness and toughness can be developed. ”

“ The sleeve of the hauberk was cut in the same way, and the elbow was defended by a cap of plate-iron called a coudière. Early examples of these two pieces of plate armour will be seen in the later illustrations of our last chapter, for they were introduced a little before the end of the thirteenth century. ”

“ To take our axioms in the order given, it may appear to the casual student that if armour were sufficiently thick it would naturally fulfil its primary reason for existence. But we find, on careful examination of plate armour, that there are other considerations which are of equal, if not greater importance. ”

“ The shining plates of the Guards are parade pieces only, but a curious revival of an old defence was carried by English cavalry in the field at the end of the 19th century, when small gussets of chain mail were attached to the shoulders of certain cavalrymen as a defence against sword cuts. Through all the age of modern warfare inventors have pressed the claims of various bullet-proof breastplates, but where they have been effective against rifle fire their weight has made them too heavy an addition to the soldier’s burden. (See, however, Armour Plates, ad fin.) ”

“ Their weapons had been perfected in a long series of grim experiences in actual war, and they had added to their equipment a sword and dagger, and some kind of simple headpiece. That they had adopted any complete defence of plate-armour in the Roman fashion is improbable, but they were apparently entirely unacquainted with chain-mail. In the history of armour in Britain this period, taken as a whole, can only be regarded as a very primitive age of plate. ”