Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-01-07


mable,substances far and vide. Thus single
one bursting over town would Sc. whole dis
.rict on fire at once. In fact this extraordinary
device represents the latest civilized improve
ment on the method practiced by the savagef
of the Gran Chaco, in South America, who.
preliminary to an attack on a village. pour
! flaming arrows into it from huge bows held by
the feet. Tho spectacle afforded by besieged
city in campaigns Of the future will be alto
| gether novel, illuminating shells thrown by the
! enemy lighting up its Notifications at night
with glare equal to 100, 900 candle power for
| each she'll while fire distributing projectiles
| exploding overhead sprinkle the houses and
| streets with a shower of diabolcal combusti-
| bles. These informal contrivances are also in
tended for burning hostile ships a. sea.
| Another wonder of future wars will be smoke
less gunpowder. The ordnance bureau of the
navy has been devoting much attention lately
to the manufacture Of preparation Of this kind
| for Uncle Sans use. Many such powders have
been produced by European governments. The
| basis of them all is gun cotton dissolved in
| nitric acid the latter element being afterward
| eliminated. Not the least remarkable thing
about them is the queer shapes in which they
| are turned ont. / have on my desk At this
moment a couple Of small sheets of thin
| yellowlsh-brown paper. There is nothing
| about it to distinguish it from any other cheap
paper apparently. tear off piece of it and
| eSush OiIc cru Win ilRutcu ufttCu, "Icu io'
1t flares up brilliantly and IL gone, leaving not
a trace of ash or smoke 1t is gunpowder-the
! French smekeless ''poudre 3.
| CURIOUS SHAPES OF POWDER.
Another specimen on my desk looks like a
| thick string of black india rubber so flexible
tina: it is readily tied in knot. This is the
English smokeless powder, called "cordite" on
account of its shape. 1t takes that form from
being forced in semi-liquid condition through
n colander. Here also are several little square
| sticks. They bits Of the best German
smokeless powder, which is manufactured in
| the shape of rolls like maps The rolls are
| sliced into such sticks. which are packed in
bundles like toothpicks for loading machine
guns. For small arms the sticks are chopped
| up into cubes. The Swedish 'apyrite." another
kind OF smokeless power. has grains which are
| triangular prisms. Yet another French smoke
less powder closely resembles old-fashioned
molasses candy pulled out into thin strips that
one might easily be cheated into biting it. A
smokeless powder called ''gelbite" was used
during the recent war in Chile as ammunition
for rifles. 1t looks like thick yellow paper.
Not being content to copy any Of these odd
patterns this government is making its smoke
| less powder in the likeness Of maearoni. For
use in rapid-fire and other machine guns it il
made up into faggcts. Il must be understood
that smoke is an indication of imperfect burn
ing. Accordingly the problem Of making a
| smokeless gunpOwder ia simply to produce q
powder that is susceptible Of perfect combus-
ton. The discharge must transform the entire
| mass into gas. With this result the shape OF
the grains has something to do, and the queer
| forms spoken of are all devised with the same
end in view. Ordinary gunpowder and like
| wise high explosives are used in very odd
shapes. For example, the powder employed
for the huge steel guns is compressed into hex
agonal prisms an inch in diameter, with hole
through the center Of each one These are
packed solidly in cloth bag and thrust into
the ammunition chamber. Gun cotton is
formed into solid blocks of the shape and size
| OF the projectile that is to be loaded with it,
while other high explosives are poured into the
projectile in liquid state. The ordnance bu-
reau will soon manufacture smokeless powder
on o large scale. and there is no doubt that it
win befole long take the place of ordinary pow
der for the rapid-fre guns which are destined
to play 50 important part in future wars
Meanwhile the engineer corps Of the army
has been actively engaged in experiments with
submarine mines. These explosive traps, de-
| signed to blow up hostile ships that enter har.
bors, are of two kinds-sunken and floating
They are steel cases holding dynamite that be.
ing the explosive regarded by this government
as most suitable for the purpose. Dynamite
| consists OF IS per cent of nitro-giycerine which
! is too dangerous to be used by ITSELF absorbed
by % per cent ola highly porous infusorial
earth called 'rottenstone." Other substances
besides rottenstone have been utilized as an
The sunken mines are lowered to the bottom
of the water, where they are held in position by
their own weight. Each of them contains a
battery SO arranged that shock communi.
Gated by the bull Of vessel will set off tho
charge. probably sinking the ship by blowing a
hole beneath her water line. Internal ma
chimes of this description have the disad van
tage that it is hardly possible without great dan.
| ger FOR those who put them down to take them
up again. More serviceabie in general way are
| the floating mines, which are anchored out and
connected by wire with stations on shore. So
| long as no danger is anticipated the electric
currents smut off and the steel cases roll
about on the waves as harmless as 80 many bar
| rels
| WHEN TIE SYSTEM IS ALIVE.
But let the warships of an enemy approach,
and in an instant the whole system is alive.
| From two stations on shore which are con-
nected with each other by telegraph. teiescones
are trained upon the hostile vessels As quickly
| as one OF them comes sufficiently near a mine
she is blown up By touch OF an electric button.
| II preferred the floating mines may be ar
ranged so as to go off like the sunken ones,
bursting on being touched. All Of the princi.
| pal harbors OF the United States have been
! carefully studied with reference to defending
them by this means. The actual position to be
| occupied by each mine is plotted on charts now
| filed in the War Department, and force Of en-
gineer officers and soldiers has been thoroughly
| trained in the loading, planting ard operating
of these formidable engines of war. However.
| such instruments do not alone constitute an eff.
| fective system for the defense of harbors. They
must be supported by shore batteries of high
power guns and mortars. The mine fields are
intended to delay hostile ships while the heavy
batteries on shore get in their work. At the
| same time the rapid-fre guns should protect
the mines from being interfered with by the
enemy. At present there is most urgent need
Of high-power guns and mortars for such serv-
ice. Naval experts are Of the opinion that the
true function OF the electric torpedo. the move
ments OF which in the water are controlled by
| . wire from land, is to defend mines.
During the last month OF December nine
frightful accidents with high explosives oc-
CURED. that which killed so many people in
Brooklyn being the most disastrous As was
the in this latter instance, dynamite is re-
sponsible for most accidents Of the kind. 1t
has been estimated that 95 per cent Of oil fatal
explosions In mines are cansed by dynamite II
freezes at the surprisingly high temperature OF
40 degrees Fahrenheit, and frozen cartridges
cannot be set Oh by defamation. Accordingly,
the practice Of thawing the cartridges in stoves
or by means Of fire otherwise IL very common.
A rope Of dynamite mile long. detonatcd at
both ends simultaneously, requires only one
fourth Of q second to be wholly consumed,
This gives a fair notion Of tho rapidity Of COM
bustion exhibited by high explosive. Dyna-
mite is high explosive because each molecule
of the nitro-givcerine in il contains in itself the
/ All NH