The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-03-05
A NEW WAR INVENTION.

! From the New Orleans Times-Democrlt
Now that military matters are attract
ing so much attention in the United
States, and the minds of our inventors
have been turned in that direction, we
are surprising the world with some of
our new discoveries. Europe has been
arming itself for century, and half its
people have been studying the art of war.
1t has changed its guns half dozen
times, and has perfected a number of
important improvements. The progress
has been uninterrupted, and scarcely
one invention was made before another
followed TO take its place. But, although
the United States has gone into the bust
ness rather late in the day, it is doing
wonderfully well. The American is a
natural inventor, and it was to be
expected that the moment he turned
his attention to military matters he
would show his ingenuity, and so
he has. The British critics pick out
few flaws in our plans for our
new men-of-war, but admit that
they are excellent and show remarkable
ingenuity and many strong points. They
admit also the superiority of the Amer
lean patients of mixed plates for IRON
81
smok eless powder which possesses some
points of superiority to the German
and French powders. Our pneumatic
gun promises in time the best results,
and we have done much lately IN the
fact there is scarcely week that some
new discovery or invention is not an
nounced.
The latest invention is what is known
as the Brown segmental tube wire gun,
which claims to be an uneXplodable wire
wound gun. and which showed that it
was all it claims by recent experiments
with it at BirdsbOro, Pa. The gun was
subjected to pressure of $4,000 pounds
to the square inch, and the cylinder not
only withstood this enormous strain,
but did not show the slightest indica-
ton of having been subjected to it.
The lining tube, the breech plug,
the segment5, the Wire windings, the
gun checks, and indeed every por-
ton of the gun was uninjured, and the
bore unaffected The gun consists of
thin lining tube, with twelve segments
and about two inches of wire wound
around it in thirty odd layers. The
trial was a thorough one, the charge in
the gun being increased at each expert
ment, until finally the gun would hold
no more, and the powder was level with
the nozzle The explosion was some
thing terrific, and which would have
entirely destroyed any other gun, but it
was without the slightest effect On the
wire one. The highest pressure per-
mitted in ordinary army guns is 10000
pounds to the square inch, aud it is
estimated that the wire gun was sub
jected to pressure OF 10000. The ex-
pertinent is regarded as so thoroughly
satisfactory that work will be begun at
once on their construction.
While a doubt still exists as to how
large guns of this kind can be made, the
invention promises good results under
all circumstances.
The tendency of guns to explode has
been marked of late, and that is found
to be one of the most serious obstruc-
lions and difficulties in the way The
very finest guns have been found defec-
tive on trial, and more than one serious
accident has occurred from sudden ex-
plosions. Nor can the guns be fired for
any length of time without becoming
dangerous. The wire gun, however,
seems to meet all these objections, and !
may, and probably will, prove of great
value in warfare. IL is another evidence
of American invention. II we ever be- /
come involved in a foreign war 1t Is /
quite evident that the United States in /
ventors will turn out something that /
viii enable us to compete on the most /
favorable terms with the enemy, since /
the encouragement given our army and I
navy has already provided such excel /
lent results