The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-03-18
TINE GREEK FIRE,
Mr.. J. J. OHara Experiments with Ess
illuminating Prof ecstles.


About $50 people were present Mt Frogmoor
yesterday to see the experiments with Mr.. J. y.
0'Hsra's proiertiles. The attendance would
doubtless have been much larger. but that the
weather was far from In viting q ptein air enter
tainment
Whilst the main experiment proved nothing
1t was nevertheless highly interesting and
promising of good results.
The experiments were conducted under the
supervision or special board appointed by the
Federal government. consisting OF Capt. Nc
Glnsay, commander and Mr.. Foster. master OF
the United States monitor Canonieus. and Col.
J. b. Walton, Col W. Miller Owen and Capt
Frank McElroy of the Washington Artillery Of
this city.
The flrst experiment was with the explosive
bullet invented bv Mr.. OHara. performed by
himself with an improved Springfield rifle.
firing at caiss on al ,h- distance Of 900 yards.
Through an error In sighting the two first bull
lets missed their aim but the third one struck
plumb In the bulfs-eye. penetrating through
the board OF the caisson and setting fire to sosne
powder and straw inside tho casHon. II should
be said that the inner side Of the caisson. oppo-
site ,hat which was penetrated by the bullet
was lined with sheet iron. probably TO smasb
the bullet aud spill It's inGammable contents
upon the powder. We say probably, because
Mr. O'Hara does not explain his methods nor
divulVe the nature II hi IL iDHamnable ~ sterial
which In contained In the piOl aetila. Tho bul-
let Ia to oil appearances like An ordinary coni-
col bulet attached 10 the usual metallic cart
ridge 1t ID provided with percussion cap or
ments thai followed with the common ehell
must contain liquid of Substance ingam-
mable on contact with the atmosphere.
Whatever p1ay be the value OF this exrlosiye
bullet 1t can never be used In warfare accord
Ing to the laws Of nations. which excludes all
urojectleH or tho kind under one pound weight
The cannoH experiment was made with one
Of the Washington Artllsry's three inch parrots
Command imam p Of CAPT MoEIroy NJ oHsras pro.
| iectile IL Q ten pound shell, conieal In shape
with steel point screwed into the fuse.
The target, eigh feet by eight. was constructed
| NJ heavy scaptliog and clad with railroad IRON
| The first shot WINS fired with a one and quar-
| tho gun A second shot did not prove more
| suoeessful. the shell exploding few Yards from
| the m outh of the gun. third shot. however.
with q reduced Charge OF three-qu atters OF a
| foot Of the target and rieocheting struck tts
| rip ht edge, perforating the armor. but the shell
| failed to explode. A fourth ATTEMPT and the
| shell again burst before II had gone many yards
In order to exhibit the qualities Uf hts invention
Mr. O'Hara made several attempts 70 explode
shell BY dropping It with u Suitable appliance
| piece of sheet iron but without effect.
Since Mr.. OHara still keeps the secret Of his
invention. there ia little more that can be said
| about II than TINT each shell contains two or
| more tin tubes filled with some highly inflam
| mable ingredient into which sulphur IL o com
pone nt part and that II will burn for several
| minutes after coming In contact with even the
| wet cod. That much was satisfactorily eetab-
| lshed. The premature explosion OF the shells
| the gentlemen supervising the trial ascribed TO
| the want of thickness of the casting. partcu-
| Mr.. o. Iara, we understand proposes TO remedy
and tho OK pertinent will be made again.