The morning call., 1894-09-20
THEY WORK WELL.
Guns Built to Throw
Dynamite.
ACCEPTED BY UNCLE SAM.
Wonderful Results Shown in
the Tests.
ONE BATTERY FOR THIS HARBOR.
When Ii Is Mounted the Golden
Gate Will Be Safe From
Approach.

WASHINGTON, Sept 19.-The War De-
parlment has been notified by Manager
Phipps, president of the Ordnance Board,
which conducted the recent tests of the
dynamite-gun batteries at Sandy Hook,
n. u, that the guns worked well and that
all the requirements of the contract had
been met. Consequently the battery and
plant will be accepted and The Pneumatic
Dynamite Company will be paid $160, 000
for one S-inch and two 15-inch guns. with
all of the boilers. compresserS and ma
chinery, the shells used In the test and ten
reserve projectiles with each gun. This
experiment having resulted well WORK will
be pushed on the dynamite-gun battery for
San Francisco harbor.
During the testing of the guns, as last
experiment, 15-inch full-caliber proiec
tile. containing 500 pounds of nitrOge atm,
one of the strongest of explosives. and
weighing 1160 pounds, was fired 2400 yards,
or about one and half miles. to sea, from
a pneumatic gun at Sandy Hook. The cap
in the end of the pTOjectlle had been set to
explode two seconds after the cartridge
struck the water. aud in that time it was
figured that the gigantic affair would sink
at least IS feet from the surface. For a
moment after a thin stream of spray told
the watchers at Sandy Hook that the pro-
jeciIe had struck the water there was a
dead silence.
Then low roar could be heard, and a
second later the earth fairly trembled, as
the army experts and the men who have
spent nearly million dollars in psrfectiug
the pneumatic gun saw IuIl acre of water
rjc in eOlI - l.
at anywhere from 100 to 800 teet, and then
slowly fall back again. For three minutes
after the explosion the air over tine spot
where the projectile struck was filed with
spray, and ten minutes after the haze had
disappeared the water for half a mile
around was seething mass of foam.
The experiment was only one of FIVE,
made before the officers of the Board OF
Ordnance and the Board of Fortifcations
of the United States army, but it was the
most important one; in fact It was the
most important experiment of its kind
ever attempted in this country. No
one else has ever dared to attempt 10 ex-
plode 800 pounds OF dynamite. either from
a gun or in any other way. and the expert
ment marks the beginning of a new era in
the history of explosives
The idea of the pneumatic gun originated
some twelve or fourteen years ago, and
from the start nothing has been spared to
make the invention a success. Lieuten-
ant Zalinski was the first to design the
gun, and he formed company which
spent hundreds or thousands of dollars
trying TO perfect it.
Four or five years ago the gun was so
gaFfN II.
with the Government 10 put three Of them
at Sandy Hook For tle past few weeks
experiments have been going on before the
United States army officers.
The guns were handled by Frank Creel-
man, the young West Pointer who han
died the pneumatic gun on the Nictheroy
during the recent Brazilian troubles. whiIa
Captain J. Rapieff, well known Russian
engineer who designed the perfected
pneumatic gun, superintended the loading
of the huge weapons. The members of
the board of ordnance present were: Ma
jOr Phipps, Captain Heath and Captain
CroZer. the inventor Of the Crozier disap-
Dearing carriage, while the mem bers of the
fOr!ifcaiions board on hand were General
II. L. Abbott, General b. NJ Cutcheon
Colonel Ii. w. Chosen, Major Phpps ana
Captain j. {. Ayres. Other army officers
at the tests were Major j. w. Riley and
Major Arnold, while among the scientific
men and others there were Il. Il. Kink-
land, Il. S. Darling, DIR. Daniel, Mr..
Quinby. d. B. Wilmot, Mr.. Spicer and
John Duffy.
lThe wonderful mechanism of the pneu-
matte guns fairly delighted the scientific
men. Only two of the three were used,
but both worked with wonderful pre-
cisiOn. The guns ara worked entirely by
electricity, and as the name implies the
power to send the enormous projectiles is
gained from compressed air. The guns
and gun carriages weigh together forty
two tons, and arc set on a depressed fOun-
dalton. Beside the gun is a little stand on
which the man who works the weapon
stands. By means of two cranks and a
lever he gains complete control of the
enormous mass of iron and steel, and
with one twist Of one of the former can
send the entire quo, carriage and all,
noiselessly and smoothly around com plete
circle in fifly-two seconds. Another crank
will set the gun proper at any angle. while
a twist OF the lever releases the COM
pressed air and sends the projeclile flying
into space.