The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-12-06

These plates are -sixteenths OF an
inch thick, and their curved edges ane.
covered with rubber cemented to the
plates. The bali elected from the mtz@A
zle grazes these fingers. 1t is thus re-
tarded on one side, getting in that way
the rotary motion, and the ball, in it's
flight, curves toward the side on which
its motion has been retarded BY the
false muzzle these fingers can be placed
in any position. Thus, IL placed on the
left side, they give an outcurye; on the
right an incurve; on top, a drop, and
on the bottom, rise, theoretically, but
in point of fact the ball from that
direction has a fiat trajectory.
The gun Is of the simplest descrip-
ton, but the results are surprising. In
space of seventy feet Mr.. Hinton gets
curve of fourteen inches. This curve
begins about twenty feet from the muz-
zle Of the cannon, and is sharp though
not a perfect arc, with a decided drop.
at the end. BY wind sights placed on
the cannon a person can get SO expert
in a short time that he can hit q small
mark four out of six times, and send
the ball over the plate five out of six
times, and this with the clumsy exper-
mental cannon now used.
When Mr. Hinton attained this end
the base ball men entered an objection.
They said that the great defect of the
gun was that the batSman had no
warning that the ball was coming. To
obviate this, Mr.. Hinton made the tube
through which the gas goes from the
rifle four feet long, so that there would
be an appreciable interval between the
swapping of the trigger and the dis
charge of the ball, and he is now at
work on an electrical apparatus to be
put on the gun that will signal before
the discharge.
The experimental gun, of course, is
Y1f of nd N1a-
other gun is almost finished which will
be used by the Princeton team for the
time being. This new gun consists of
g brass tube two feet long Under
meath 1t is the rifle, the ypewder tube
entering from below instead of from
above, thus leaving the top of the gun
proper clear for the sights. The man
shooting the gun places the stock of
the rifle under his arm, which will
bring the top of the gun on level
with his eye, SO that he can sight
easily. The weight of this gun will be
about ten pounds.
Some interesting experiments have
been made by which Mr.. Hinton has
determined the maximum speed of a
ball pitched by Bradley and Aultman.
the Princeton pitchers. He took q hip
chronoscope, a delicate instrument used
in psychological laboratories to meas
IRE sensations, particularly perception
breaking Of an electrical current ana
started again by making one. He had
a baseball wrapped in tinfoil. and
touching it were two little wires.
When the pitcher threw the ball the
connection between these wires was
broken. In the catoher's glove were
two copper plates conn ected also with
the chronoScope, and as soon as the
ball touched the glove the connection
was made again. He, found it took the
full 500 of q second to go a bit more
than sixty feet, or, in other words, it
went at a velocity Of siXty-eight miles
an hour. Mr.. Hinton has not yet ex-
perimented with his own curves, but
he is deviSing scheme to find out the
velocity of rotation and also to deter
mine how much more power it takes to
throw a curved ball than straight
ball. He says that there is a radical
difference, it being surprising to learn
how much more power it requires to.
send a curved ball at the same speed
as straight ball.
Mr.. HintOnS gun is a success in the
opinion of all that have seen it. At the
patent Office, where he has applied for
a patent, it is said to be the first thing
of its kind ever presented. The Prince
ton men are enthusiastic in their praise
Of it, but Capt. Bradley has raised two
points about it, The first is the easier
to remedy. 1t is that the fingers being
in full view of the batsman, he will
know what kind of curve is coming.
To obviate this Mr.. Hinton has devised
for his new gun metal hood that will
hide the fingers. The second point
raised has been already referred to.
The batsman has not the moving arm
of the pitcher to warn him Of the COM
ing ball, and in addition to that, there
is 'acking in the flight Of the ball
certain movement due to the swing of
the arm. Mr.. Hinton says that he will
fix this in new machine of the cata-
putt order that he is working on He
is not yet ready to give any of the de-
tails of this machine. He says how
ever, that the chief difficulty-how to
make the curves-he has solved, and
new he is devising a scheme how to
stor, the moving parts of the catapult
SO as to produce quick but steady
stcppage without jostling the ball.
Mr.. Hinton does not expect that his
gun will ever take the place of hui
man pitcher, but if his catapult should
be a success, let rebellious Rusies be-
ware! They may lose their jobs