Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-10-18
SCIENTIFIC.
l8E DYvAxfrE.GUN TEST.
karu,dss we'shims One Hundred Pounds
FIRED.


FIRED.
New York world
here Is no longer any doubt that
hundred pounds Of dynamite can
afely fred from the pneumatic gun,
Lieutenant Zslinski did 1t yester-
after noon at Fort Lafayette.
AZ | o'clock Inventor Windsor
,fd together his fellow-inventors aud
number Of other distinguished guests
boarded the tug James ID. Nicol al
lat. wharf Of the barge office and
,t,d for the experimental station.
mong the guests were MIR. Yung
,ny the Chinese Minister; Signor
,ysdor de Mendonca, the Brazilian
nsul: and Mr.. 7. b. wilmont,
,sil's attorney; General Santiago
0o,,s. from Mexico; Dynamiter S. r..
~polonlio, Of Philadelphia; w.
Buckley and W. G. Benc-
1 AZ, Boston bankers; Colonel
~ ;lliam Shafer, who knows all
Kant All sorts Of guns, and President
D. Schuyler, Of the Pneumatic Dy-
.m;,e.Gnn Company. Nearing Fort
.fayette the passengers saw long gray
lie sticking I'D at an angle Of 20 de-
rees with its narrow end pointing to-
ards an imaginary target two miles
ou,hwsst by west Of Sandy Hook.
,erybOdy climbed ashore over pile
loose rocks and an old boiler
ION that Lieutenant Zalinski pelts
5rp.mite at when life at Fort
Hamilton becomes monotonous. The
,,namiie sir.gun looked just like
H. Fire-Department water-tower paint
"a rrav and swollen to twice its ordi-
o,y size. and as il lay slanting heaven
yard brave men peeped through its
sbiuipc interior and said they could see
The stars. 1t is sixty feet long, seven
and three quarter inches in diameter,
made Of an exterior shell Of wrought
ron thirteen-sixteenths Of an inch
! thick. lined with a quarter-inch tube Of
nolished brass. When it is charged
With force of compressed air Of 1000
mounds pressure it can throw q ZOO
|. pound projectile distance Of two
! miles.
Lieutenant Zalinski told his helpers
10 put a 2O0-pound slug Of iron into it,
\ and they did so. Then he twisted
i little wheel and took half turn on a big
one. and finally pulled lever, which
made things hum. The slug sped away
with a shrek Of escaping air and q
4 cloud Of gray vapor, and struck the
water a mile and quarter away.
4 Then il was discovered that the safety
| tran had become loose and let out all
| the compressed air, instead Of only
900 pounds, as intended, and
thus necessitated delay of
four hours, till 1000 pounds
more we're compressed. While wait
! inc the guests strolled inside the crum-
bling walls Of the fort, where the 100
pounds Of dynamite gelatine lay in its
|irass case like giant capsule and ex-
amned its black steel cap weighing 100
hounds, and its prettily- carved wooden
|iall.piece which keeps it to its course in
/ Its fight. The Lieutenant pushed beck
a little plate in the middle Of the car
fridge and explained all about the BIZ
chromate battery inside. When the
projectlle struck the water, he said
/ it would start tue battery; this
would fuse bit of platinum wire,
which would explode illuminate Of
mercury cap, and then the dy-
Mantle would show its force. The spec
Itators all looked on admringly, no one
SHOWING in his face that he felt any
fears that the battery might start of it.
self. But when they learned afterwards
ethat LOO pounds Of extra strong dyna-
Eniie were piled in q cistern under their
btet they stepped around as though
walking on pins. In order to furnish
liule innocent merriment, Lieutenant
Ealinski set off two eight-ounce charges
|of jy Mantle that blew big holes in thick
|kheets Of boiler-iron. Then the specta-
|tors became nervous, and he stopped.
The setting sun was glistening on the
|tides Of the white police-boat Patrol,
(which had come down to take look
hround. when the visitors clambered
aboard their tug and sailed off TO a safe
Distance TO see the l00-pound cartridge
Bred. Lieutenant Zalinski waved the
led warning-hag and pulled the
ever again. The gun shrieked
Rercely, the dynamite cartridge
histled away for mile and a half,
Struck the water with splash and
hat was all. Lieutenant Zalinski said
hat the bichromate battery must have
hllen out in the cartridges flight
hrough the air, because it wasn't riv-
Ned, and this was the reason the cart
bdge had not exploded. Next week he
bill rivet it on tightly and try again.
pystermen will probably be careful in
pc use Of their tongs till the cartridge
) fshed up.