The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1862-11-28


sides several fine batteries under process of
construction They are riAed gun, and,
like the Dahlgren gun, have heavy weight
Of metal at the breech. The Parrot gun,
which is now universally used in the Amer
lean Army, is an iron piece of rifed ord
nance, small at the muzzle, with slight
taper toward the breech, which is strength
ened with shrunken band of wrought
iron, extending some four inches beyond
the vent, and terminating abruptly. This
gives the gun peculiar appearance, but
the idea is a good one, as it not only pre-
vents recoil, but it strengthens that part
of the piece which is most subjected to the
explosive pressure. These Parrot guns
range from G-pounder to 24-pounder guns,
and, so far, have proved one of the most
effective pieces of ordinance which we have
in the service.
HOwITZERS.
Howitzers are short and light guns, es-
pecially adapted for field service, and made
to throw shell at an elevation of from -
deg. to 80 deg, to be fixed on carriages
mounted like cannon. They are cham
bered ordnance, and their caliber, as 8;
general thing, does not exceed S inches.
These chambers, which are provided for
the reception of the cartridge, are of less
diameter than that of the bore for the piece
where the ball or shell Is received. For
siege purposes the howitzer is invaluable.
Compared with the "a FOUNDER gun of
1S1 caliber, weighing As cwt. and charged
with Spounds of powder, the a FOUNDER
howitzer weighs 10. cwt., and is charged
with only q pounds of powder. So the
s inch shell gun, of IS inch calber. weighs
65 cwt., while the s inch howitzers weigh
20 cwt
There is howitzer which has been but
little used in the American service, and
principally in the navy, but which is an
excellent piece of ordnance. 1t is an iron
howitzer, constructed by Mons Paixhan,
and commonly termed the Paixhan gun.
For naval purposes it has proved an admir-
able gun. The bore is longer than the Or
binary howitzer, and the windage is de-
creased An so FOUNDER gun of this kind
the hollow shot Of which is S.4 in dame
ter, may, by q single discharge, cause the
destruction of ship of the first class, and
that such result may be produced, either
from the bursting of the shell, and the in
stan@neous injury thereby caused, or from
fire; and it further shows that in every
case in which a shell struck the vessel, the
injury sustained was very important
Since the introduction of iron-clad vessels,
the Paixhan gun could only be effective by
changing it into a ritled projectile, with
elongated shot
HEAVY ORDNANCE.
In the United States service great I'M
provements are being made, both in the
construction and practice Of artillery, many
guns of very heavy caliber having been re-
Gently made. Since 1910, we have had
the immense Stockton gun, the Rodman
and Dahlgren shell guns-the latter of
which are now being manufactured of Is
and 2O-inch bore. The 20-inch, when COM
pleted, will be the largest and heaviest
gun ever manufactured An immense
number of 15-inch mortars and mammoth
shell guns are now being constructed for
military purposes.
PROJECTILES.
The projectiles now used in artillery are
solid shot, grape, canister, shell, shrapnel
shell and chain shot, the latter, however,
being only used in naval gunnery, and be-
ing nearly obsolete. A definition of some
of these projectiles will not be uninterest-
ing to the reader:
Solid ShOt-The solid shot is g sphere
CT iron, designated according to its wei ght,
and is something less than the diameter Of
the bore, to allow for windage, which, in
English guns, is One-twentieth of the cali
Der, so that, in this way, between one-third
and one-fourth of the force is lost Be-
sides the spherical shot, elongated balls, of
a conical shape, are used in the rifled ord.
nance of the present day, and which have
proven very effective in artillery service
Solid shot weighs from six pounds to three
hundred and twenty-five, according to
the caliber of the gun from which it is pro-
.ected.
SheNs.-Shells are hollow spherical Or
conical globes of iron, filled with powder,
which will burst at any intended distance
by means of fuse, which has been cut
to certain length, and communicates to
the powder within the shell, causing it to
explode. The fuse is a wooden tube, made
to fit the hole in the shell, and filled with
a composition of sulphur, saltpeter and
mealed powder it burns about of an
inch in a second. The time of the flight
of shell being known, the length Of fuse,
and consequently the bursting of the shell,
are easily ascertained. Shells are gener-
ally made to burst just as they would strike
the ground sometimes the fuses are cut
rather long, so that shell may fall into a
house, or breach, and, by it's exploding
under ground, may act as small mine.
Percussion shells for rifed guns are of a
cylindrical form, pointed at the end, and
conical shaped. As they have polar
movement, the conical end always strikes
first. They are adapted to percussion
printing, which, placed in the point Of the
cone, explodes as the projectile reaches
the object against which it is thrown.
Martins shell, most commonly used in the
light field batteries of the army, is a spher-
ical shell, with an iron screw stopper. Mol
ten iron is poured in, the hole screwed up,
and the projectile Immediately introduced
into the gun and discharged. The new
time fuse, with an index register, is now
substituted for the old fashioned fuse.
O..Lo n