Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-10

ships side. A device for covering a vessel
with pockets to receive and hold projectiles
which strike the craft has not been found
available by the navy.
Castings for Cannon.
The most primitive type of cannon is
Chinese 1t is a log of wood bored out and
made strong with iron hoops. On record at
the patent office is the invention of James
Puckle, dated IT'S 1t is enc of the earliest
machine gins. working on the revolver prin-
ciple. The inventor introduces certain modi-
fcations which render 1t practicable to fire
square bullets at Turks and round bullets
at Christians BY the way ii was stated
al the War Department yesterday that be-
lore long metal cartridges, resembling rifle
cartridges en- a large scale, would be ex-
Ciusively adopted for cannon. BY this
chanSe loading will be made easier and the
ammunition will be preserved to greater
suVan,aSe' Such cartridges would not be
Spoheo py contact with water. Sometimes
1t happens that the magazine of a shin has
10 be Hooded with water In case of fire
ana IL Is most desirable to avoid spelling
the gunpowder.
The powder used by Uncle San, in b,s h,~
guns is queer-looking stuff Each grain is
an hexagonal prism an inch wide and two
thlrds OF an inch thick. with a hole bored
through the middle of It In appaaranca
1t resembles nothing so much as n chnnS
OF wood If you touch a match to it II will
take seven or eight seconds to go on slow
In
cannon, because IL does not strain the gun
so much. The quicker the explosion the
greater the shock and the shorter the life
or the weapon. The manufacture of first
rate cannon powder in this country Is com
parattvely a new thing. When the Dolphin
Chicago, Atlanta and Boston were built
the powder for them had to be got from
abroad A
Rapfd-Ffring Guns.
An important new departure in gunnery
consists in using fifty pounds, say. of slow
burning powder. where formerly only ten
pounds were used for a charge. The strain
on the gun Is no greater and the velocity Of
the projectile Is enormously increased
Slow-burning powder does not take several
seconds to go off In the gun. the tempera-
ture OF the powder chamber being raised
to 1900 or 1000 degrees Fahrenheit Tho
explosion under such conditions Is practi-
cally instantaneous. The finest gun cannot
be expected to be fit for further service
after having been fired $50 times What
wears Ii out Is the scoring OF the polished
inside OF the rifle barrel by the particles of
gunpowder. Once a few scratches made,
other such particles score them deeper and
the gun Is weakened and injured. When a
gun Is pulled to pieces the workmen all
scramble for the steel to turn II to use for
their tools, because 1t is so extraordinarily
fine.
The latest and perhaps the most wonder
ful OF devices for rapid-aring guns utilities
Ing automatically. The first cartridge hav-
ing been set OF, the force Of the recou
throws out the empty cartridge drops an
other into the magazine and fires It This
process Is kept up indefinitely so long as
cartridges are put into the hopper. A single
touch Of a button is all that is needed to
start the gun a-iring, and 1t goes on shoot
ing OF Its own accord. The bullets are
thrown In a perfect storm. In one type Of
rapid-fire gun they are shot at the rate Of
LOCO minute and they go so fast that one
may look through the tube through which
they are passing and see daylight all the
time. just as the spokes of a rapidly NOV
ing bicycle are invisible to the eye. Not
withstanding the use OF water-jackets and
air blasts to keep the gun COOL such a rate
Of firing, II kept up for a few minutes, will
cause the muZzle OF the weapon to become
red-hot and to bend downward of it's own
weight
Navy Yard Museum.
Recently an Oregon man named Catlin
has patented a rife which throws the
empty cartridges over the shoulder Of the
man firing it. Accompanying the papers
making record Of the invention in the pat
ept Office is a photograph showing Mr.. Cat
lin In the act of shooting, with seven
empty cartridge shells actually in the air
BEEF re the first one could fan to the ground
he had discharged six more bullets.
At the navy yard Is a little museum in
which are exhibited all sorts of curiosities
In the way of weapons, etc, most of which
are relics Of wars in which the United
States has been engaged. One of these In
the stern-post Of the Kearsarge, with .
shell from the Alabama Embedded in II
The projectile proved harmless, failing to
explode. There are several bronze guns
which were captured by Commodore De-
catur from the pirates Of Tripon. Another
cannon yet more interesting was brought
to this continent by Cortez II is furnished
with a sort of exaggerated fat iron which
is to be set into the breach in order to
close the latter up when the gun is to BE-
fired. In this museum are exhibited some
enormous iron balls, which were intended
to be fired from twehty-inch cannon cast
by Uncle Sam during the civil war The
weapon s. however, were found to be too
heavy, and 70 no more Of such great size
were made. RENE BACHE.