The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1854-12-23

TIE LANCASTER al y.
The Allies are u>in. 4 new c7anrn a s.
ha,tcIoi. Tor lone >ho.s Tie following : 4
description Of II. W., i .yc find j., ~. Non.
rca! Gazette. Tie article was written IN
reference 10 another il an En.ii>h print. All
Nv way OF correction OF n:i,s:a:cmcl.t:
The writer in puc>'io, commences lr say
M. The oliec; of boring the Lancaster Gun
into M ri.i~i> i ~ prevent the lail II Il. IA,
king rotary notion. a,l therein: on he rails
Is the question whether the rlli,-.ral iaN. in
,a>>in. thlou.h m cliirt;-al trrc. l,.;;.r ,,~c-
vented from taking rotary motion. has not
a da:,-c~"c> tendency Ia hi.r>t Ia, Gun So
far from Ii. premises hcia- correct. ;hr ,cY,
rcvcr>r is :hc :i;Ic >:l:c al The case The ell
!ip,ical bore is in'crdrl 10 Give the
hall a rotary motion. for IA this motion of tn,
!a'l upon liz own axis consists the >uperiori-
" OF tins can over The ordinary cannon Il
i wcil-known :act. la. il Is impossible to
east balls or lu.ict> in such a WAY that out.
side will not .c heavier than tie o;lrr and
it l. also We. known that this circumstance
Il, i,..":> The i,rnir,.t!ir from IL li.ht liuc
Nv the groove in the rifle barrel. which. he
III. spiral. acts upon the >o:t substance, of the
lta,cn ballet. and ewes II d rotary motion be
fore leaving the muzzlc OF The ride. which
continues until the lall * stopped Ev TIL,
means the heavy SIDE is alternately turned in
all directions. that any tendency in one
direction * Immediately ,ountr. lala.a.td is
a revolution Of the ball. which change. the
position of the heavy SID. and tn. r,srI, j.
tia, the ball lis IN ,ircr: inc. Now. how
ever well this plan r';,v answer Tor small arms
and lca'!rn balls. the groove i m,1acticablc
iar cannon ard cas-: iron balls. ana it has
long been problem to discover some ,ncer>
OF making rilcG cannon.
The Lancaster Gun Processes 20 lay" ac-
compli>hrd this hv means OF an cllriical bore
OH oi which is to he thrown an clli,.lir..! pro
icctilc. either shot or she'll. Wilton; iilatt>
We NAV no lc able Ia make all our readers
understand our explanations. bui We hope
most q. them viii 20 50. The gun i lar.r.
because * at . long ran.c that lis rrca: pc
ci>ion OF ann tells best over the common Gun,
and lis appearance i that OF an ordinary large.
cannon. except that Tx. mouth. instead Of
hcing circular. i elongated Ike an COO. ilav-
inc one axis longer than another We will
suppose that the mouth is the LARGEST az, and
down-tla; Is. tina, the longer AXIS i vrr;ica!.
that the iattcncd ball fitting 1t would stand
on il %: but the bore winds gradually
from the moat! 70 The hrccrh of the GUN. 80
tha; when the ball i driven home 10 ;h..
proper position, whrn the cnn l. loaded. il
VIII have turned one fourth around. ana will
l.. horizontally -iha Is. at RIGHT an.lcS with
the longer axis oi the mouth Of HE .'n. and
on is side When the run i fired. The ball
RMS, make one revolution for every i lengths
of the -uu. and thereby courtcriqancc any
i!n,,err''l"n in IL :iapc. which would other
wise defect it. Several OF thee cu:is have
burst. This is perhaps Attributable 10 the
fact that they are used al very long ranges.
and were probably overloaded. although IL is
quite possible. an': i'll fac; probable. that for
eng III" bal TO take :. rotary motion wcuN