Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-08-07

AuAICueS. II a perfect pOWder could De
 manufactured, the pressure in the barrel of
 the gun would be constant from breech to
 muzzle, as represented by the rectangle 1, 3, 3, 4. A gentleman employed by the Aus
 trIan Government to make experiments with gunpowders, determined that the con- stant pressure on the base of the proiectile in an English rife would have to be TAB
 pounds throughout the 3711 inches it tray eled in the barrel in order to give it veloc- ity of 1,4OO feet per second. With the
 slowest burning powders hitherto made the minimum pressure in such q gun is more nearly represented by the line 50, for it is 2,226 pounds on the base of tho proiectile, while the pIeSsure where rifle powders are
 used runs as high as 4,452 pounds, or 1,134 atmospheres.
 ln trial made with shot-guns not long
 ago, drams of fine-grained powder and 1k | ounces of shot gave a pressure of 6,720 pounds on a lead plug in the barrel directly over the powder, while the pressure six inches down the barrel was 1,261 With l coarse powder the pressuse directly over the
 powder was 3 480 while six inches down the
 barrel it was 1,166. A celebrated gun-mak- or of Birmingham having turned down the muzzle of one of his guns until the metal was no thicker than the line dividing these columns Is broad, fired number of regular service charges from it without in any way bulging the thin place in the metal. After
 Wardhhe took common pocket knife and ripped the thin metal of the barrel with ease, thus showing that the pressure on the shot must have been very slight indeed when passing that point; and yet the best quality of powder then made was used.
 To determine mparatively the maximum pressure of the new powder, number of cylinders were cast with a bore equal to that of twelve-gauge shotgun, and equal charges of two kinds of standard powders and the new powder were fired in them. The expansion of the cylinders showed the comparative maximum pressures of the gases from each powder. With Curtis & Harvey No. i, a coarse black powder the ex- pansion was 36 inch; with the Explosive Companys nitre compound, the expansion was .34 inch; with the new powder nitre compound the expansion was II inch.
 These and other experiments to test the maximum pressure of the gases showed. that the now powder gave only about one third as high maximum as the old. But when shotgun, loaded with an ordinary service charge of each powder and No. 6 shot was fired at target, and the figure of merit was reckoned from a series of shots, where the number of pellets on the target and the force with which they struck it were taken into account, the new powder received 472 as its figure of merit, while the old got 462.
 The results of the experiments made with rifles have not been made public at this writing, but great things are expected from the new powder. By compressing it into @; hollow cylinder, which will be placed in the cartridge behind the projectile, and ignited from the center, an almost uniform pres sure on the base of the projectile during it's flight down the barrel will be obtained but because of the larger volume of gases the flight will be much more rapid than when the old powders are used. The muzzle velocity of the bullet from British miN- tary rife averages 1 ,295 feet per second, 4S0 grains of lead and S5 grains of powder being used. An express rife using $50 grains of powder and 270 of lead, the oalibre being the same, gives the projectile an average velocity of 1918 feet. But no army could use such a cartridge as that, because of the kick of the gun, if for no other reason. But if the strain on the barrel and the sol dier's shoulder be done away with by the new powder, then a cartridge giving a velocity of 1900 feet is certain to be adopted. Greater ranges and lower traject- ories will be thereby attained.
 The matter of trajectories is very inl- portant If a soldier armed with an ordi- nary military rifle supposes the enemy to be POO yards away when the distance is but 100 (not at all violent supposition in the excitement of battle), and aims at the enemy's breast, the bullet flies harmless over the enemy's head. With an express cartridge, loaded with powder that did not make the gun kick, the bullet would hit the enemy in the mouth-possibly in the neck. All of which goes to prove the truth of Gen. erai Phil Sheridan's remark, that the inyen- tion of deadly explosives was likely to make war impossible.