The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-04-20
Great Guns.

L
| fitted to its Buffington-Crozier disappearing
| carriage in the United States ordnance
| shops at the Watertown arsenal will soon
| be shipped 20 the gun-proving grounds az
Sandy look, y. j.
| As the great 49-foot death dealer lies in
| the shops, its polished steel sides glitteriEg
| where the sunlight touches II, few unac-
| quainted with its destructive capacity
would believe that this, the largest and
finest output of the United States gun
| foundry at Watertown, near Troy, n. Y,
| will, when IN its position and engaged in
actual warfare, have a muzzle energy while
| firing of $3.50 foot tons.
Or that at each hoarse chriek from its
terrible throat a steel projectie weighing
ZOO pounds will be hurled through space
at velocity of 2.lOO feet per second.
The length of this chilled steel projec.ile
IS feet inches, and the powder chamber
of the gun, in which it is confined before
firing, is Just seven feet long.
The cha -ee which gives the projectle
force consists OF so pounds Of brown pris-
matte powder
The big gun is known as the '12-inch
hreech loader and Its maximum dame
ter is Is 4-10 Inches.
The projectile which it will hurl at the
enemy has a penetrating force at 1000
yards distance of D inches of chilled steel,
and at $500 yards will penetrate % 6-1c
inches
The Buffingt on-Crozier carriage upon
which il VIII rest weighs 10000 pounds. and
for the past six or eight months Major
Reilly, United States army. in charge of
the government works al Watertown, and
the men urder dis direction have been bust
Ia a--s,o
ness for the great test, which will soon take
place at Sandy Hook.
This BuffingtonCroz;er carriage, so-called
after the two army officers who designed
it, is so arranged by a system of weights
and hydraulic cylinders that it not only
receives and gradually checks the tremen-
deus recoil of the monster destroyer, but
lowers it into position for another charge
and raises il. in the position shown in the
illustration, when ready for firing again.
This carriage mas attracted the attention
o. military and ordnance experts the world
over, and as It is the only one of its sort
and size ever made the tests az Sandy
Hood will no doubt be largely attended.
The salient point in this carriage is the
fact that It raises the big gun high in the
air above the parapet of the fortiica ton,
and after firing lowers 1t so quickly out OF
sight behind the fertilization walls where
IL Is protected while reloading for another
shot that not half OF a minute is required
Along with the shipment OF this great
gun and its carriage the government is IS
suing i26 mortars of the big Pinch type |
for the coast defense artillery service. Sew
eral have been placed at Winthrop, and |
more are going up at once at points along |
the shores OF Boston harbor.
New York, Fortress Monroe and Charles |
ton haroor have received a number. which I
were sent there hurriedly during the recent |
Cuban scare.
San Francisco and points along the Pa
cific coast viii be supplied with these pro-
tectors. These mortars have the same bore |
as the gun, but operate differently. for |
where the gun is used 20 penetrate the
thick steel armored sides of vessels these |
are designed 10 throw a projectile
upward and outward TO a point where. on
dropping down, it will penetrate the steel |
decks of a war vessel aEd explode inside
Of IT,
The explosive used in the proiectiles for !
the coast mortars IS known as "smmen-
site" and It is non explosive on concus-
sion.
The weight OF the projectile Is 100 pounds
with reduced charges for ranges Of two and
. half miles. while a projectiie weighing
20 pounds for greater ranges is used with
maximum charge
The maximum charge consists OF 81 pound
II powder.