The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1885-11-06
(T b Co,stiapedl
TIE GUN OF IKE FUTURE.
Awful Possibilities of warfare In
VOlVed In the Use ofIhe Dyna-
mite she'll

mite shell.
The fearful ravages wrought by the
explosions of dynamite, says the London
Times, leave no one unable to conjecture
what ght be the consequences Of a
bombardment in which missiles charged
with dynamite should be employed.
The difficulty has also been easy to
anticipate. The shock of explosion of
the gun charge would under the old sys-
tenn in all probability fire the shell
charged dynamite being easily ex-
pLOded by mechanical shock, and the
gun and shell might naturally be expec-
ted TO destroy the gunneEs rather than
the enemy.
The Americans who seem rather fond
of trying the supposed impossible first
began 70 experiment on dynamite mis-
SHES and an officer Of the American
navy contrved what may be called a
colossal air gun, in which the shell
charged with dynamite might be started
on It's hight with an easy hut sCcelerat-
ing motion, avoiding the shock 50 Ger
talnly productive of premature explosion.
and obtaining by a high air pressure
through a long bore the velocity re
q,Iisite.
The idea had been foreshadTved bv
the Lyman aCcelerating gm, which.
starting the shot with a small charge,
followed 1t up by successive explosions
of accelerating charges placAt along
the bore, and giving II the highest initial
velocity ever attained by any gun. The
Lyman gun failed, as might have been
anticipated; through the weak spots in
troduced into the system by the mechani-
cal arrangement for securing the scoeie-
rating charges from exploding prena-
tureIy or not exploding at all, and the
great relief gwen to the gun by the
modification Of the explosive qualities of
the powder has probably put an end to
the experiments ia acceIerating charz-
es. The success of the experimental air
gun IN throwing to effective distances
shells filled with dynamite OF even nitro
glyCerine was such that a gun of eight
inch cahbre and calculated to throw a
shell three miles was planned. 1t was
perfectly correct in theory, and was
made apparently on the safe method,
but while the scientific officer who
conceived it was following out the de
velOpment OF his system by mathemati-
cal calculations one of the more charac-
teristic practical inventors had attacked
the problem from the other side.
Instead of making his propelinC force
more elastic, he gave the elasticity TO
bis missile, and by wad or cushion Of
csoutchouc of the requisite quality so
took up the frst impulse given by the
explosion that shell filed with dyna-
mite was fred with complete safety and
an affect which can be imagined more
easily than calculated. shell fred
from any ordinary battery gun and car
rying II pounds of dynamite striking a
ledge of gneiss which formed the target
blew out cavity 20 feet in diameter
and six feet deep. No fuse is required
as the shell eIPIodes by conclusion a. it
hits its mark; and it was easy DO per
ceive that single shell of this descTip-
ton striking the zde of the most solid
ironclsd in existence near the water line
would be likely to send her TO the bot
tom. Thus far no accident Is reported
In the experiments which are to be, If
they are not by this time, repeated with
guns of much heavier cahbre. But the
calibre of the gun is of secondary i'm
portance; its range and the capacity Of
the shell for carrying dynamite are the
chief elements to calculate on; and II
shell carrying hundred pounds Of the
explosive can be fred from ono of the
heavy guns now in use, the first hit de-
cides. any conflict as between single
ships, and one of our steel unaTmored
cruisers viii yield no quicker than the
Infiexible to the shock of such an eI-
ploslon-