Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1889-06-27
The PNEUMATIC GUN.
1T Is Now Very Popular and Many New
Vessels Are Applying for 1t.

The Government has now invested
enough money in the system of firing
dynamite shells by means of the ex-
pansiye force of compressed air, to feel
much interest in the results of Satur-
days trial at Fort Lafayette. II has
made. to begin with, an Appropriation
of $500, 900 for these compre ssed air
guns, to be mounted in forts on land,
as tyey can safely throw huge bursting
charges of dynamite where gunpow-
der can not. 1t has also invested
S350.000 in the Vesuylus, built express
ly to use such guns. 1t has provided
for coast defense vessel. to cost
probably $l,750, 900, and in the pend
ing Navy bill it will have a submerg-
ing monitor to cost %l,500,000, exclu-
sive of armament, in each Of which
big dynamite thrOwer forms part of
the main battery. The same Navy bill
includes an appropriation for another
vessel of the Vesuvius type, to cost
$4,000, using of course, pneumatic
guns, and several other bills have been
introduced which contemplate their
use in harbor or cruising vessels. In
short the pneumatic guns are already
so popular as to appear even in the
plans of vessels which they seem to
have no specially appropriate place.
According it becomes desirable to
know exactly what can be expected of
these weapons. Saturdays expert
ment with the l5-inch pneumatic gun
mounted at the Narrows in New York
Harbor showed that projectle con-
tanning over 800 pound of nitro-glycer-
inc and 200 pounds of dynamite, max
ing an aggregate of over 500 pounds Of
high explosives, can be safely dis
charged by the use of compressed air
as the propelling power. 1t is true
that this capability had not been seri-
ously questioned. The success of
previous experiments with the pneu-
matte apparatus had indicated that this
enormous bursting charge could be
Just as safely fired as n small one,
since the steady and slowly acting
force of compressed air substituted for
the sudden shock of gun-powder acts
in a tube Of fifteen inches in diameter
precisely as in one of eight inches.
Still, since up to Saturday no official
experiment had been made with
pounds of the high explosives, the sue
cessfGj discharge of 800 pounds is a
remarkable occurrence. The design
for the Yesuyius requires that her
three 15inch guns should throw pro-
jcctiles containing 600 pounds each.
They are TO be little longer than the
tube used in Saturdays experiment.
1t is fair to infer that in the system Of
throwing dynamite projectles origin
ally invented by Mr., Mctford, and I'M
proved by various persons since, any
required weight of dynamite can be
discharged with safety.
But there are other elements of
effectiveness required by the contract
with the Fesuyius, namely. a range Of
"A mile, a rapidity Of one shot in every
two minutes, and a specified accuracy
of fire. As to the first, Saturdays iir-
ing showed that this can be secured,
since although the second shot fell
nearly one-iifth short of the mile, tho
first, with a preliminary bursting
charge of only 200 pounds, had gone
seventh of a mile beyond, and at tho
second shot the air valves had
been disabled. As to the stipulated
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