The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-15 00:00:00

Gun Cloth Ammunition.

The valuable properties of gun cotton as an am-
munition, and generally as an explosive agent, every
body is disposed to admit; but somehow, so far, that
practical crown of success, universal adoption, has
not yet graced any of the inventions of the numerous
experimenters in this new field of commercial science.
The Austrians, under the skilful guidance of Baron
von Leak, brought the manufacture of gun cotton a
considerable way on the road to perfection, but
whether sufficiently far to have produced any re-
markable results in practical warfare the inoppor-
tune abandonment of this material by them, as a
national ammunition, and their return to the use of
the old familiar gunpowder, has prevented our
learning. It is possible, however, despite the asserted
damaging effects of the small residue of acid retained
in the explosive material, and those other shortcom-
ings, dangers, and deteriorations of which we have
heard so many sinister whisperings, that the absence
of such volumes of smoke as emanate from the dis-
charge of many thousands of guns fired with ordi-
nary gunpowder might have given some counteract-
ing advantages against the Prussian breech loaders.
A superiority, however slight, is always valuable in
battle, and less smoke might give the soldiery better
chance of seeing more clearly and hitting more cor-
rectly. In our own country the Messrs. Prentice, of
Stowmarket, have for some time manufactured mer-
cantile gun cottons of very good quality, and we
believe in very considerable quantities. We are by
no means satisfied, however, that gun cotton, or
more correctly to speak, that pyroxilin (the chemi-
cal product which gun cotton represents) has been
made up to the present time with anything like the
perfection we are inclined to think it is perceptible
of ; nor are we better satisfied that it has been ap-
plied in practice with as much skill as we may here-
after see exhibited. Certainly so far as cartridges
for small arms, and especially for military rifles, are
concerned, many valuable improvements in neat-
ness and capacity might be suggested.

The greatest difficulty hitherto experienced with
gun-cotton for sporting and rifle-shooting has been
the uncertainty of the strength of the charge, one
cartridge having considerably more energy than
another, or vice versa, so that the shots, if small,
either scattered or did not hit hard enough, or the
bullet fell short of, or flew over, the mark. These
irregularities of explosive force were most noticeable
when the gun- cotton was used in the condition of
loose fibre ; but are of far less moment in themodern
woven fabrics of the Baron Von Lenk and the
Messrs. Prentice. Even in these there are suffi-
ciently marked differences between cartridges in-
tended to be of one size and power, although their
general superiority over the former state of matters
must be readily and properly admitted. Further
improvements both in the manufacture and use of
y called upon to witness
gun-cottonby Mr.
pi we w
Dixon, at
atetrhe lately called
of Messrs. Bussey and
Co., of New Oxford-street. Every inventor holds,
naturally enough, optimist opinions of his own in-
vention, and is always disposes to claim every pos-
sible advantage for it. Many claims thus put for-
wardlil)aixpPirilscable to any other
patent gun-cloth
cartridges on bme halfgb t
be of
equally
kind of gun-cotton, such as its general superiority
in certain respects to gunpowder. But there are
two principles involved in Mr. Dixon's ammunition
which merit commendation, and are decisive steps in
advance of anything that has been submitted to us,
or that we have seen by other makers. The first is
that Mr. Dixon takes as the foundation for the
chemical operation an already woven calico or
cloth, varying in fineness or coarseness according
to the purpose for which the explosive product
will be ultimately required, insteading of weaving
the fabric after the cotton fibre had been converted
into pyroxlin, as hitherto had been done by previ-
ous manufacturers. Thus a more even and regular
explosive material, if the cloth be properly chosen,
must necessarily result. The second improvement
is the inter-winding with the strip of gun-cloth in
making the cartridge of a corresponding strip of
paper, the prolonged end of which is wrapped round
the central pellet of gun-cotton, and made to form
the enveloping case. The commencement of this
paper wall between the folds of the gun-cloth is
brought nearer or farther from the centre of the
cartridge according as the combustion of the car-
tridge is desired to be quicker or slower, and thus
by a proper adjustment of the paper to the gun-
cloth the propelling gases can be caused to feed the
bullet, as it may be described, with force during the
whole of its passage along the barrel, or for a half,
a third, a fifth, or any other portion of its length.
The thickness or thinness of the interposed paper,
or its saturation with a variety of chemical sub-
stances, will of course modify the rapidity or the
retardation of the explosive combustion of the gun-
cloth, and bring it under any practical degree of
control. One very important safety results from
the last improvement—namely, that as each car-
tridge takes a certain definite time to burn out, say
so many seconds, whenever anylarge
of such ammunition takes fire accidentally the mass
accumulation
must burn out, and cannot, so far as one can judge,
explode. Indeed, we hear that something like a
proof of this view has really arisen,
and that between
4,000 and s,ooo'cartridges in being stove-dried
got scorched and took fire, burning out in flame,
near a boy in charge, who escaped entirely unin-
jured, while no damage was done to the building,
as would certainly have been the case had the
equivalent quantity of 321 b. of gunpowder been ex-
ploded under such circumstances.

After admitting the value of these improvements
we may fairly say that the merits Mr. Dixon claims
for his patent gun-cloth charges have a legitimate
foundation, and these particular merits are their
freedom from the common risks and dangers inci-
dent to loading sporting guns with gunpowder, " on
the simple ground that (except when confined in a
gun-barrel or bomb-shell) they are non-explosive :
they burn and do not explode ; if lighted and held
in the hand they are harmless ; and they may be
dropped down a red-hot barrel without fear of dan-
ger." With regard to the amount of recoil, which
is always less from any kind of gun-cotton than
from gunpowder, we do not think it an essential
point to dwell upon in the present case, for much