The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-03 00:00:00

Artillery Experiments at Portsmouth.

The arrival of some cartridges on board
Excellent at Portsmouth yesterday, which have
been altered and adapted b the Whitworth rear.
vent guns at the Portsmouth issuing magazine,
enabled the Special Committee to commence their
third day's experimental firing with the 70 pounder
Whitworth and Armstrong rifled naval guns. The
day's work was, however, prematurely cut short
soon after noon by the choking of the rear-vent of
the Whitworth gun after having fired its oSth
round; and as it was absolutely necessary to dis-
cover the exact cause the vent had to be unscrewed
and removed from the breech of the gun for exami-
nation by the committee. This operation, an en-
tirely new feature, and one of no small importance
in relation to guns on board ship, as giving means
of immediate remedy, was successfully carried out,
and the vent, on examination,was found to be simply
fouled, but uninjured in any of its metal parts. The
introduction of this rear-vent in a gun under trial
has been a bold measure on the part of Mr Whit-
worth, for certain difficulties must be expected to be
met in the introduction of any new idea, however
sound such idea may be in reality, and one of these
small difficulties Mr Whitworth met with yesterday
in the fouling of his newly introduced vent-piece.
The temporary choking of the vent, however, can-
not affect the gun's merits, as the fault simply lay
in the form and position of the vent, and the disuse
of a cleansing wire, as used in the other guns, after
each discharge of the gun. The vent lies on a line
with the cartridge, in lieu of being at right angles
as with other guns, and the opening for the fuse lies
inside the breech-ring. By this arrangement Mr
Whitworth, with the aid of a paper tube leading
from the base to the centre of the cartridge, fires his
column of powder charge in the centre, or rather
just aft of the centre, and thus burns the whole of
his powder, and with no damage to his gun, as
would be with the ordinary vent, but at the same time
the greater amount of the force created is expended
in the rear of the chamber and on the inner face
of the vent, This vent is simply a hollow cone,
with the base next the powder cartridge, and the
fine point of its apex at the fuse end, and the result
of every explosion of a cartridge in the chamber of
the gun deposits a greater or less amount of foul
coating upon the inside of the conical vent, as it
would upon the interior of an ordinary vent, the
amount differing in its nature according to the state
of the atmosphere. Now, up to yesterday's experi.
ence, Mr Whitworth has directed, very wrongly for
his own interest many people think, that his gnn
throughout any day's firing should not have the
vent cleared by the wire, as is done with the other
guns, his cartridges requiringno pricking, as with
the ordinary cartridge, or in fact all other cartridges.
To this error of judgment, in not keeping his guns'
vent free by an occasional passing through of the
wire, may be attributed fairly and honestly its
partial disablement of yesterday ; but the lesson
will no doubt be of value to Mr Whitworth, as the
remedy apparently lies in his own hands. In
the partial or total disablement of any of the guns,
Armstrong cr Whitworth, throughout this trial it
is imperatively necessary that the truth in its strict-
est sense, gathered from the facts as they Occur,
should only be given to the public, in order that the
present story of the
guns may be rendered as intel-
ligible and incontrovertible in its sense and truth.
fulnes3 as may be possible.
The firing, so kr as it was proceeded with yes-
terday, was carried out with the following results :

INDEPENDENT FIRING.
Range, 2,600 yards.—Charge of powder, 101 b.
Whitworth gun; 20 rounds fired ; time, 11 win. 5 S':C.
QUICK FIRING.
Number of
Rounds.

Description
of Gun.

Time.
in. El,

Whitworth (101 b charge)
12 0
Armstrong Shunt (101 b charge).. 20
Armstrong Wedge (blb charge).. 20
Whitworth (101 b charge)
Time in this instance taken from the misfire of
the 19th round, when the vent became choked.
The difference in the time of firing their twenty
rounds by the three guns is at present really of no
moment, but it is astonishing to'fiud, by a comp,-