Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-05-01
DYNAMITE .SHOT WITH A POP.
GUN.
Compressed Air FIfnging ProjectiIes
From Fort Hamilton to Fort Wads-

Compressed Air Flfnging Projectiles
From Fort Hamilton to Fort Wads-
worth.
Three shots, one with projectile
weighing nineteen pounds and two
with projectiles weighing seventeen
pounds each, were fired across the
Narrows yesterday from Fort Hamil-
ton to Forth Wadsworth with the
new dynamite air gun. The gun is
merely seamless brass tube a quar-
'er of an inch thick and forty feet
'ong, with a four-inch smooth bore.
The propelling power is simply an air
compressor, supplying about five
hundred pounds pressure to the
square inch. The projectiles used
were four feet long. They were
loaded with lead instead of dynamite,
and feathered with a stick of wood
not unlike a brass-covered base ball
bat
This gun is the invention of D. M.
Mefford, w. A. Bartlett, and George
III. Reynolds. The patent is owned
by H. D. Windsor Of the American
Torpedo Company, The experiments
yesterday were part of an elaborate
series ordered by Secretary Lincoln
of the War Department, and carried
out under the direction of Col. Ham
ilton by Lieut.. E. L, Zalinski of the
Fifth Artillery. The experiments
yesterday were witnessed by Col.
Hamilton, Major Randolph, Capt.
Weir, Lieut.. Wood, Lieut., Ruckman,
and Lieut.. Roberts.
The same gun at a previous test,
sent 4-pound shot across the Mar
rows, with 500 pounds air pressure.
Another sh OF, with the same pressure
went FIVE yards to the right of the
target. The projectile is new, the
the protelling force is new, the gun
is new, SO that many details are to be
learned by experience; but the fact
that a 24-pound shot can be sent
across the Narrows with a pop-gun
opens a wide field of possibilities
when the use of increased air pressure
and improved projectiles is taken into
consideration.
The advantages claimed fof the new
gun are simply stupendous. In the
first place the ammunition is much
cheaper than powder. In forts and
aboard steam ships the steam power
to compress air is easily avail
able, and for field work the compressed
air can be easily transported in cas-
kets. The gun will not need to be
cleaned. There is no smoke and only
a pug of noise like the starting of a
locomotive. The propelling force
can be measured as accurately as a
gauge can measure, and the force of
the ammunition does not vary with
dampness of the weather.
The gun costs only about one
twentieth as much as other guns of It's
range, and can be built in almost any
machine shop. The Delamater Iron
Works, which built the one used yes
terday, could turn out one like it
every day in the year. In an emer-
gency the entire coast could be studd
ed with such guns in a few weeks.
The propelling force used yesterday
was only about one-fiftieth of the ex
plOsive force of gun powder. But the
gun can be adapted to an air pressure
of 1900 pounds to the square inch.
The projectile is a torpedo in the
air, much more dangerous
than torpedo in the
WcNOC13 OCS1CAoO IL Sc1A1 No oOAAG
accurately and more swiftly.
The next dynamite air gun to be
tried will be a six-lnch bore, and will
throw dynamite shot weighing 112
pounds. Such shell, it is caleulat-
ed, would destroy any ship af1oat and
dismantle any fort. The experiments
thus far have b en- made with a
smooth bore, but latter on a rifle bore
may be used. Already some attempts
have been made to rifle the feather of
the probe title so as to secure accuracy
of aim. 1t is not SO necessary for the
projectile to penetrate the object as
with an ordinary shot, because it is
the explosion of the dynamite, and
not the conclusion of the projectile,
| that does the execution.
The new gun looks very much like
a telescope In the vicinity Of the
experiments yesterday there were
many of the old-fashioned BIG
Dahlgren smooth-bore guns mounted
in the fort. The contrast in the APP
pearance of the two guns was as
striking as that between the Monitor
and an old fashioned frigate.