The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-04-18
A NEW GUN BREAhs RECORDS.
AN Invention which Puts America In tho
Load In Ordnance Making.

n NEW GUN bhEAA S 1NGCOnOos
An Invention which Puts America In tho
Load In Ordnance Making.
BIRDsBoRo, Pa, April 17.-The first
public test of the Brown segmental wire
wound gun WAS made Saturday in the
preserc, OF Government experts, repre-
sentatives of foreign powers, and q
number of invited guests from New
York, Philadelphia and other cities.
Three shots were fired and the gun
successfully withstood pressure which
the experts declared would blow any
other gun in the world to atoms. The
test to day broke al records, and
marked decided step forward in gun
manu- facture, placing tho United States
in tho van in gun making, as it already
is in armor- plate manufacture.
The tests to day were in charge Of
Lieut.. &c. n. Whistler, of the Fifth
Artillery, United States Army. John
Hamilton Brown, the inventor, assisted.
Lieut.. de- Cloth, of the French navy,
was present as representative OF his
government. Among tho others present
were: Gen. e. P. Whipplc, U. S. A;
Lieut.. j. N. Hageman, u. S. N; Lieut..
Billinger, Elizabeth, n. j Ii. nj. Mum
son, of New York; A. w. Porter, of
New York, general manager of the
company, and number of stockholders
and others interested in the gun.
The gun was mounted on fiat rail-
road car and taken by special train
wi b two coaches filled filed with guest
to the proving ground, which is
an old stone quarry two miles from
town. The first shot was fired at 2:ii
p. m. charge OF twenty pounds OF
special slow burning powder was used.
The projectil weighed sixty pounds.
The gun, still mounted on the car, was
pointed at the stone quarry, and when
the spectators had retired to q safe dis
lance the electric connection was made.
There was a sharp report and a big pGtI
u smoke and cloud of dust and broken
rocks rose from the stone quarry. The
gun recoiled about five feet on the car
and the car itself moved dczsn feet
backward. The test gauges showed
pressure of 25.200 pounds per square
inch.
The gun was cleansd and reloaded
with twenty-five pounds of powder. The
second shot was fred at 3:l9 p. m. The
recoil was ten feet. The pressure
gauges showed pressure of 33 500
pounds. The gun was carefully eX-
amined and sho we'd no sign of injury.
AAO vuli0 auu maj tCou hoo tAOh
made. The charge was thirty pounds
of powder. the projectile sixty pounds
weight The shot made a louder re-
port than either of tho others. The gun
recoiled about fifteen feet, and Sec
ton of the stone quarry rose in the air
rs the projectile struck.
On examination of the test gauges,
which were set to show pressure be-
tween 10000 and 10000 pounds, it was
found that the pressure had gone beyond
tho larger figure and exceeded the
means at hand for measurement The
actual compression shown was 1856
quired to do this may bs inferred from
the fact that pressure of 60, 900 pounds
produces compression of only .CS41
inches.
The pressure was declared by the ex
perts to be something above 10000
pounds. The gauge will be sent to
Frankfort for accurate measurement.
AS the standard army requirements are
only $1,000 pounds, it will be seen that
the wire gun has far exceeded all ex
pectations.
The gun had just been finished as q
sample for the United States Govern
ment. 1t was built at the Diamond
Drill Works, at this place, under tho
PorSOua1 superNlolOu VI oOHH Idulltou
Brown, the inventor. It is built on q
new system, which is the winding Of
steel wire around a segmental core of
steel. The core is made of twelve
pieces of steel nineteen feet long and
with cross section like the key Of an
arch.
The core is three irches in thickness
at the breech and three.ouarters of an
inch at the muzzle. This is wound
with thirty. three layers of steel wire
seven one hundredths Of an inch in
thickness. The gun is about fifteen
inches in diameter at the breech and
ten at the muzzle. The total length Of
the wire used is thirty-seven miles.
Tho gun is nineteen feet in length and
weighs three and one. third tons. Its
cost is less than that of built-up gun
and requires less timo to manufac ture.