Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-07-19

rvera Is or DESTRUCTION.
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A little man with dark mustschs.
Who stood In the sand Al Sandy Hook
dived one hand into his costrocsst
suddenly and nshed oui . metal car.
fridge two inches long. II was packed
With powder, and had hole through
the centre from end 90 end.
"ls you IN that he SAID, ST
would frE away harmlessly, just likes
Fousth-of-July nowef-pot. Watch what
Il does when 10, i OF IN this gun
barrel"
A common smooth bore breech-loai-
ing gun-bsrrsl that the man had bought
IN town for o. lay In the sand. u vas
inst four fee, long. and had bore i've
sixteenths Of an inch In diameter. In
mont Of u, resting right against the
mugsls Of the barrel, was = little
square target. II was made of nine
sheets Of boiler-iron screwed together
tightly. Each sheet was one-quarteF
inch In thickness. The little man
fitted the cartridge In the breech, aud
right ahead of Il laida rod of tempered
steel. II Was nine inches long, and
weighed nine and one half ounces.
There h nine tenlhs Of an ounce Of
powder In that cartridge" he said, A.
be- &C., into bomb-proof on the sands,
and here he goes"
lie yanked a string that was attached
b. the gun. hammer. There Was an ox-
plosion and then |. thud. Toe little
man came out from the shelter of the
bomb proof and picked up the little
target. lie got hammer and a wedge
and pried 4 apart. The steel rod hal
been forced straight through seven
thicknesses Of the boiler-iron, then u
had been turned upward and broken
off The broken piece was wedged be-
tween the last two boiler pilates. Tho
,opmos, inch Of Il had penetrated The
hbre q the iron perpendiculaflv. The
little man cared AZ tho ruin Of lho tar
get "a admiration.
That beats the record al hollos "
h. cried, esultantly The best that
ANYBODY his been able 10 do heretofore
with a cartridge 81 that size b. 20 drive
steel pfoleclile through on inch Of
boilcr-ifon. II would burst the gun 90
put II 20 such test with oartridga Of
Ordinary make.
lie lodged behind the bomh.pfoof
sgain and tried Il with on ordinary
coarse. grain cartridge. There va a
hig explosion when he yankrl che
string. and through the poop-holc. Of
the mb.prooi the spocta'ofs saN the
ruu.harrel blown o. flinders The l'-
dc man fshed up another 81 tho new
tangled cartridges from Dos pocket. and
said
Thi. thing va. invented hy thr
man Who invented me mul;icharsr run.
The idea consists ln the character of
thc powder used and Boz thc boring of a
hole through ihe middle of o. after DO
has been packed in lho cartridge. Tho
superiority of The cartridge over any
thing that has heretofore been gotten
up ln me Same line is tho immense
power d imparts tn thc proIc tile and
the great reduction Of the strain usually
caused upon The gun By the force of the
explosion necessary 10 fire proIccillo,
These results are secured by arranging
the powder so that tho force generated
at the moment b b. igntol Will
Ne comparatively small. aud will
increase continually until the whole
| charge is consumed. THIS ar.
ungcmcnt starts the prolectilc gently
~ FIRST, and then impafls 10 % gradually
increased motion. and equaliyes the
strain upon the walls Of the gun. To
accomplish this, The powder, which b.
Of very fine grade. b. packed Boz The
shell m solid mass. and then perl0-
rated with the central hole. so that
when Il is ignitcd by o primer % viii
throw stream 81 FIRE downward
through.this perioralion. The stream
Of fire igniies the powder along the boz
ternal walls Of the pefforation. aud,
IS this perloration Is comparatively
small. the volume Of gases gcnoratcd
Al first is correspondingly small .
but n the combustion proceeds the
fire surface continually increases until
the entire mass of the powder ig con
sumed by properly proportoning the
size and shape Of the powder-cake re-
lauvely 10 the proIcctile o. be used,
and 20 the length Of the barrel through
which Il Is TO be driven. the force ca
erted upon the prolecillo by The pow
der may be regulated practically a.
will, and 80 ~ TO do the most effective
work IN any given case.
Can this principle be- applied 20
cannon a. well A. 10 small arms p"
vas asked.
Certainly" the little man replied.
IAN that Is necessary Is to pierce the
solidly-paokcd powder lonriiudinally
with number II holes instead ~ one,
and then make corresponding holes boz
the head Of the she'll, and arrange The
head 10 that the holes can communicate
With each other. This can bc se-
cured by the introduction into the
rowder-cake periorations Of mum
Der Of tubes projecting rear.
vardly from the carifilgc-head, $50
that they will rest against the brooch
lock Of the cannon, AMI leave a space
between the lock and the cartridge
head The construction insures the 10
Simultaneous and Simultaneous ignition
= the powder pefforations Al their
head II Is essential that the powder
cake be hard and dense, 10 that the
fire cannot penetrate into u, bat
will burn only on its sur
hces-that H., a. distinguished from
cakes made Of granular powder,
which. though solid IN form, ar,
granular In structure, and burn IN al
directions through their mass. This
method will MAINTAIN the MAXIMUM
pressure uniform All the way to the
muEyle and overcome the inertia II the
prolectile. instead Of applying = maxi
mum pressure suddenly before the IN
ertia Of the heavy proiectilc is over
come, and suffering a reduction u
velocity thereby.
1--WE haven't tested the cartridge in
q cannon yet" the little man said,
"but with small arms we have pro-
PEELED q projectile 20,0sO fcet per Sc
cond. and that beats the record for
speed. A. the perforation Of the boiler