The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-06-20
THE aRECIAN FIRE.
The Successful Experiments With Mr.
OHara's Proiectile.

The Successful Experiments With Mr..
o,Hara's Projectile.
As previously announced. the experiments
With Mr.. o. j. O'Hara's projectile we're repeated
Mt Frogmoor, with the assistance Of Lieut..
Dudley self and a detachment Of the Washing
ton Artillery. and In the presence Of Gen. Beau
regard and the representatives Of the prees.
The first experiments, 1t will be remembered.
were unsuccessful In SO far as the common pro-
ieetiles were concerned, owing. 1t was aimed
BY Mr.. oHara. to the fact that the shells. nearly
all Of which exploded before reaching the tar
get. were not cast OF sufficient thickness. The
others missed their aim. This claim Of the In
ventor proved to be well founded yesterday.
Mr.. O'Hara using shells Of improved thickness.
producing surprising effects.
Al brief description OF the inventors claims
and that OF his Rrojeettles may be repeated here
iron cylinder, and In this case to fit o three-inch
or t4n-pounder Parrot CUR, the shoulder or
point OF which is semi -spherical,. The fuse or
cap T. substtnte s oy p9e aha
half an inch thick--from base to apex. This
cone. which is Of highly tempered s.ee'. is
Shape. presenting much similarity to q screw.
hole rennae7, the junction OF which 1t Indeed
performs. The shell, contains some LIQUID
shell Into fragments, the liquid ieniting any
thing infiammAble with which 1t comes In CON-
several inches thick. ana from Its peculiar con-
struction will enter iron plating placed at q
The target used yesterday. however. was a
vertical one. eight feet square. and composed Of
four-ineh pine scantling. clad with street rail
il thickness. Behind the target d lot Of shaw
tnRs, chips and other eombusible matter had
been heaped.
the first shot striking the target. .perforating
the iron and WOOD and breaking the shell into
fragments and igniting,. instantly. the combus-
NOR, were protected q distance Of one hundred
bore the we'll defined Imprint q one o Of the
second shot missed The mark, probably
owing to the fact that the fianges Of Mr..
O'Hafa's shells are not wide enough to fl1lthe
the requisites OF momentum and accuracy and
yet the shell exploded on striking the ground
beyond the target. The third shell pierced the
yards beyond It. and scattering, the fnfiamma-
Bile LIQUID among the grass and weeds. where
Il continued to burn for some time. -
water Of Bayou st. John, at q depression of
about twenty degrees. the shell striking the
water about, seventy yards from the gun. OK
and ricocheing only the fanRe. which whirred
it's way into the swamp. This last experiment
was made in the presence of Col, ]. b. Walton.
who had been prevented until then from at
tending the tests.
As to the result Mr.. O'Hara has the assertion
OF Gen. Beauregard that 1t Is success. Mr..
O'Hara having performed with his projeetiie
all that he claimed to be able to do under the
Regarding the capability Of Mr.. O'Hara's
proJectils to pierce armor at an angle in other
words. to avoid glancfng-and his assertion
that on shipboard orin classmates 1t would be
impossible to extinguish the material contained
In his projecttles, there are no means OF deter
mining at present; but yesterdays experiments
will doubtless promnt such report TO the Sec
rotary Of War that ought to afford the inventor
an opportunity of experimenting with his pro-
lectiles scientifically and thoroughly, and on q
large scale.