St. Paul daily globe., 1888-01-29
ZALINSKFS DYNAMITE GUN.
Congressman Thomas Talks About
the Inventors Success.

ZalinSki, of the Third United States
artillery, who has achieved worldwide
fame and rapidly increasing bank ac-
count by the success of his pneumatic
dynamite gun, is the personal friend of
Congressman JohnR. Thomas, of Illinois,
now stopping at the Grand Pacific.
They have known each other for over
twenty years, each having served in the
late war, and Capt. Thomas having
always been on the committee of naval
affairs has aided the government more
than amy one else to acquire a'meanS
by which Frank Lawler's fertilization
bill and scheme to build navy and de-
plete the treasury has been relegated to
a Washington rag store. 1t was to Capt.
Thomas that the noted authority on
gunnery unfOlded his desire to have the
government aid him to experiment with
and operate his dynamite gun, and it
was Capt. Thomas who had S350,000 APP
propriated for this purpose. Capt. Thomas
was one of the gentlemen who accom-
panied the secretary of the navy on the
United States ship Dispatch when the
dynamite gun was successfully expert
mented with, and when the explosion of
the prOjectile hurled hnlk that was
laying over a mile away about 100 feet
in the air; and everybody was so de-
lighted at the havoc it caused that
Lieut.. Zalinski, even if he was born in
Poland, is the pride of the army and
navy.
Il saw the plans for the gum" said
Congressman Thomas yesterday, ''long
before they were made public, and, as
have always had confidence in Edmund
ZalinSki, [ believed in it. have also
felt that our sea coast defenSes were
not what they ought to be, and when l
EnQW ta np N 10
gun realized that it was just what this
country wanted. We can manufacture
those guns as fast as we will need them
in any event, and the cost is nothing
compared to the expense of building
cruisers and line of battle ships and
equipping them. Why, when got up
in the committee On naval affairs and
asked for an appropriation of $3.50, ,0O0to
build a dynamite cruiser my colleagues
on the committee thought had gone
crazy, but [ convinced them that Lieut..
Zalinskfs invention was going to revo-
lutioniZe the mode of naval warfare
throughout the world, and the item was
inserted IN the appropriation bill"
"But you have incurred Congressman
Lawler's displeasure,"
THAT may be; but at the same time
the dynamite cruiser precludes the pos
SIbillty OF any foreign man-of-war enter
ing any of our harbOrS and placing our
great SeacOaSt cities under subscription.
When you explode 400 pounds of nitro
glycerine within seventy feet Of man
Ofwar there will be very few men on
that man-0f-war who will live to relate
their experiences. Ed ZalinSki is an
unaSSuming gentleman, ,and he isquOted
as an authority throughout the world.
He has achieved success against the
criticisms and ridicule of aImy officers,
who never lose an opportunity to belittle
the efforts OF an officer who rose from
the ranks. They pooh-poohed his inven-
tion as visionary affair, out now that
it has attracted the attention of the
world, they are saying IL told you sO,''
and Zalinski is their idol. The dyna-
mite cruiser has been demonstrated to
be marvel, and she can blow anything
out OF the water, and go anywhere
station. The cruiser is manned
with three of the dynamite guns,
each of which is sixty feet long,
and each of which can throw the pro-
jectile containing 400 pounds of nitro
glycerine a distance of mile and half
and blow up anything in the vicinity.
There is no vibration to the firing, the
prOjectile being thrown by compressed
air admitted through a valve and oper-
ated by machinery. The dynamite is
exploded by three means, either by sub
mersion, the wetted cotton causing a
current, by impact, Or by time-clock.
The cruiser is almost an invisible foe,
as it is only three feet above the water
line, and fights end on. A mile distant
from ship it is "a small speck on the
water, and the deck being oval almost
any shot from the enemy would glance
Oft it. Another point is that the cruiser
is built to speed twenty-four knots an
hour, and fighting end on with only
three feet exposed above the water-line,
the average man-of-war could do it little
damage. The gun itself is not Ed Ia
Hnski's invention, but he invented the
methods of exploding the dynamite,
which was an inSurmOuntable obstacle
prior to his successful efforts"
''How is the range fixed?''
''Either with Gatling guns or iu any
other way gunners usually ascertain
the distance. The dynamite gun. is
specially true to its aim. being sixty
feet long, and the triple method of al
most instantaneOuSly exploding the
nitro-giycerine is its greatest advan-
tage."
''Will the government build any more
dynamite cruiSerS?"
Il hope so. They are the cheapest
sea-coast protectors, and have solved a
serious difficulty. 1t took So, 100000 to
build a cruiser and line of battle ship,
without equipment, and it only took
S350,000 to build and fit up the dynamite
cruiser which has brought Ed Zalinski
the reward his genius entities him to.
He got from the navy what the army re-
fused him and ridiculed him for, and I
hope his inventions will make him rich.
have known him for twenty years, and
have admired his retiring and unassum-
ing disposition, and he cannot be given
too much praise by the American
people,