Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1886-05-15
2o,oso FEET IN A SECOND.
Cfent Speed Given TO Projectiies-sev
Thickness of Boiler Iron Pierced.
New York SUM-

New 0rk Cun,l
A little man with dark mustache,
who stood in the sand out at Sandy
Hook, diyed one hand into his coat sud-
denly and flashed out a metal cartridge
two inches long. 1t was packed with
powder, and had hole through the
center from end to end.
IF you lit that" he said, SIT would
fizz away harmlessly, just like Fourth
of July fowerpot. Watch what it
does when let it of in this gun barrel.
A common smooth bore, breeeh load
ing gun barrel that the man had bought
in town for So lay in the sand. 1t was
Just feet long, and had bore 5-16 Of
an inch in diameter In front of it,
resting right against the muzzle of the
barrel, was little square target. 1t
was made Of nine sheets of boiler iron
screwed together tightly. Each sheet
was one-quarter of an inch in thickness.
The little man fitted the cartridge in the
breech, and right ahead of it laid thin
rod o. tempered steel. 1t was nine
inches long, and weighed nine and
half onces.
There is nine-tenths of an ounce of
powder in that cartridge, he said as he
got into boom proof on the sands"
''and here she goes.
He yauked string that was attached
to the gun hammer. There was an ex-
plosion and then thud. The little
man came out from the shelter of the
bomb-proof and picked up the
little target He got a hammer and
wedge and pried it apart. The steel
rod had been forced straight through
seven thicknesses of the boiler iron,
then it had been turned upward and
broken off. The broken piece was
wedged between the last two boiler
plates. The topniost inch of it had
penetrated the fiber of the iron perpen.
dicularly. The little man gazed at the
ruin of the target in admiration.
THAT beats the record all hollow"
he cried, exultantly. THE best that
anybody has been able to do heretofore
with cartridge of that size is to drive
a steel pre-, ectile through an inch of
boiler iron. 1t would burst the gun to
put it to such test with cartridge of
ordinary make. "
He lodged behind the bomb-proof
again and tried it with an ordinary
coarse grain cartridge. There was a
big explosion when he yanked the
string, and through the peep-holes of
the bomh-proof the spectators saw the
gun barrel blown to flinders. The little
sman fshed up another of the new
tangled cartridges from his pocket and
said
'This thing was invented by the man
who invented the multicharge gun. The
idea consists in the character of the
powder used, and in the boring of a
hole through the middle of it after it
has been packed in the cartridge The
superiority of the cartridge over any
thing that has heretofore been gotten
up in the same line is the immense
power it imparts to the pro ectile, and
the great reduction of the strain usually
caused upon the gun by the force of
the explosion necessary to fire a pro.
Jectile. These results are secured by
arranging the powder so that the force
generated at the moment it is ignited
will be comparatively small, and will
increase continually until the whole
charge is consumed, This arrangement
starts the projectile gently at first, and
then imparts to it gradually increased
motion, and equalizes the strain upon
the walls of the gun.
"Toaccomplish this, the powder, which
is of very fine grade, is packed in the
shell in a solid mass, and then perfor-
ated with the central hole, so that when
it is ignited by primer it will throw g
stream of fire downward through this
Eperforation. The stream of fire ignites
the powder along the internal walls OF
the perforation, and, as this perforatior
is comparatively small, the volume o.
gases generated at first is correspond
ingly small; but as the combustion pro
ceeds the fire surface continually in
creases until the entire mass of the pow
der is consumed. By properly proper
tioning the size and shape of the powde
cake relatively to the ro.ectile to b,
used, and to the length of the barre
through which it is to be driven, thu
force exerted upon the projectile by tn,
powder may be regulated practically a
will, and so as to do the most effectiv,
work in any given case.'
"Can this principle be applied to can
non as well as small armsN was asked
Certainly, the little man replied
'All that is necessary is to pierce tn
solidly packed powder longitudinal,
with number of holes instead of one
and then make corresponding holes i,
the head of the shell, and arrange tn
head so that the holes can communi
cate with each other. This can be Sc
cured by the introduction into the pow
der cake perforations of number Q
tubes pro iecting rearwardly from tn
cartridge head, so that they will res
against the breech-lock of the cannon
and leave space between the lock an
the cartridge head. The constructio
insures the instantaneous and sim
altaneous ignition of the powde
perforations at their head 1t
essential that the powder cake b
hard and dense, so that the fire can nc
penetrate into it, but will burn only O
dts surfaces-that is, as distinguish
from cakes made of granular powder
which, though solid in form, are gran
ular in structure, and burn in all diret
tions through their mass. This metho
will maintain the maximum pressur
uniform all the way to the muzzle, an
overcome the inertia of the proiectilt
instead of applying maximum pressur
suddenly before the inertia of the heav
proiectile is overcome, and suffering
reduntinn of velOnitV tharahv