Wheeling times and advertiser. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1839-1849, 1843-03-11

Oh repentance and heavenly hope.
NEW PROJECTlLE.-rhr ubanv
Evening Journal gives mn account Of a
new description Of hollow shot; the in.
ventinn Of Messrs Scott & B irdick, me
,ch mics Of that city A number Of ex
Perlments have been tried in the pres
ence OF General Wool, Major Baker and
other officers Of The army, the sh Ills be
ing loaded with a composition which ex
Pludes them at The instant OF strikinr
any object a which they may be aimed
The } 'urnal thus describes one of their
experiments.
A 2l pbunder howitzcr was paceI on
one side of Il hollow and 'arge. on the
opposite side Of the hill, distant, perhap,
$50 yards. The target composed of
heavy timber. was eight feet square anu
thirty~two inches in thickness. One of
the proJeciless, in appearance precise,
like solid ball, was then placed in th,.
cannon AMI the piece fired. The sho
passed. through the upper timber OF the
target and glanced OF, but without ex
ploIlng. A second and third was made.
but with no better success. Ii was then
stated by the inventors that in prepar.
+nS the shot for the days experiment
they had changed the proportions of the
: charge and they could account for their
failure (the only one they had IN 1 with
IN the entire range Of their trialsI on no
other ground thu the supposition that
there was too much power in the shell
20 a low he composition to axe effect
Search was then made for the shot
nd hnnn
were fourd, unbroken, in the side Of the
opposite hill. 1t was proposed TO try
these shot a second time. and they were
accordingly placed in the cannon and
| hired, one after the other, and in both in
stances with perfect success The first
shot pissed through the target and ex
/ PlOded as it rcbounded INTO the air. in
interval letween the impact and the ex.
! PIosiOn being nearly n second, The &C.
cond shot struck fairly in the centre of
the target and exploded in about half a
second after impact, tore the target into
a thousand fragments.
The effect Of this single shot upon a
iarg" ship would have been to sink her
almost instantaneousy, and exploding
IN or near a body Of troops il would
! H"'' IlONCb dWlully utStl uCllYe. This
result establishes the efficiency Of Mcssrs
Scott & BIrdick's projecti'e Offs safe.
ny in handing and packing thew
gave the s.OngeSt assurances thongb
no means were at hand Of TESTING
this point thoroughly. But a DOM,
had been cast upon the certainty Of these
shot by the failure Of the first three fri
ais. The inventors met this objection
/ by the averment that out Of gre,,
number Of experiments these were the
only ones that had not succeeded per.
| iectly, aud they attributed the failure n
the change which they had that dlv
made IN the charge. They expressed
the most unsouJllng conviction thar
these failures could not recur.
| We hope, as we verify believe. tina,
Messrs Scott & Burdick will be G1,Iv
| justified by results in the coufIep -
which they entertain Of tho merits Of
7 their invention. more effective mis-.
/ silo we cerainly never saw. And as
I the inventors have exhausted their mi.
vate means and spent a great deal Of val.
liable time in periecting their shell. we
sincerely trust that they will be so FAR
able to satisfy the General Government
Of It's value aud utii ty as 20 obtain sore