St. Paul daily globe., 1892-09-11

ingredients were picric acid and yellow
prussiate of potash. with paratfine. It
would burn without exploding. and
would not explode by conclusion. It re-
uuired strong illuminate cap to eS'
plode it, but then it was like little
demon.
About year ago the writer witnessed
some experiments with it in the eXcava-
ton for the ship canal in the upper part
Of SftS the ssna Shb sbog s yen sRgS;nt und
were put into bank of holes that WOULD
ordinarily require over fifty pounds of
forcite, and broke the rock just as the
workmen wanted it, without scattering
pieces all over the works, and similar
result was reached the following day,
though the holes were wet and the
powder not confined in cartridges.
One charm of this powder was that it
was that it was easily made and re-
Quired no large works for its produc-
ton. At cost of about $3.50 all the ap-
paratus necessary to produce what
like that of ship canal. could be
erected right alongside of the work. and
the powder made day by day, just as it
is wanted. So. too, OH board of q man.
of-war magazine would be unnecessary
as, with only a table, having water
jacket, heated by steam from the boiler,
and four basins. side by side on the
table, the powder could be made as it
was needed-nOne of the trouble, time
and danger attending the manufacture
of black powder or other high eXplo-
SiveS being present.
The best SmokeleSs powder so far pro-
duced seems to be that made by Hudson
Maxim, brother of the inventor of the
Maxim gun. This seems to be abso-
lutely smokeless; its products of COM
bustion are not deleteriOuS OF unpleaS-
ant; it is perfectly safe to manufacture;
it is perfectly stable under all cOndi-
tions of temperature or exposure; it is
not injured by water; it will neither
foul the gun nor cOrrode the cartridge
case; it is sure to ignite, and is attended
with very little recoil. This would
seem to be the ideal powder, and it
probably is, when the proper gun and
cartridge are found with which to use it.
The difficulty with most of the best
smokeless powders is not in the pow
der, but in the gun, for the conditions
are so different as to require an entire
change of arm. In the first place, the
necessary initial velocity will not be de-
veloped unless there is sufficient press
ure of projectile and a perfect gas
check is used. Then the velocity is so
high in the gun that leaden bullet
will not take the rifling, but will rip off
the lead, and the bullet will leave the
gun shapeIess mass; therefore a new
bullet has to be devised.
Col. Burlington, of the Ordnance
Corps, United States army, while work
ing in conjunction with Mr.. Maxim, at
the Springfield armory. Mass, invented
a steel-covered projectile filled with
lead, which he blackened by inter
! process to prevent from rusting. There
are grooves for a lubricant at the base
of the bullet which prevents the lead
filling from bursting through the steel
casing and leaving the latter in the bar
rel, as sometimes occurs with the Aus
TRAN and French prOjectiles when using
the smokeless powder. This bullet has
of the British army, and his prOjectile
has produced better results than any
other that has been tested.
There is really no such thing as a
noiselesS powder, though nearly all
SmokeleSS powders make noise that,
being at a much higher pitch and of
less volume than when black powder is
used, cannot be heard at so great dis
tance.
With the noise and smoke of the bat
tlefield eliminated from an engagement,
and nothing left but the deadly weapons
of precision at great distance in the
hands of expert marksmen. and the
still more deadly machine guns pour
ing ceaseless torrent Of missiles from
which there is no possibility of escape
by concealment, war is quite another
affair from what it was in the good old
days. There will be few survivors of
future battlefieldS, and consequently
shorter pension roll, SO that the inven-
ton of wonderful engines of destruc-
ton does not make war more terrible :;
it simply makes it impossible.