The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-06-04
Col. Bells Method Of
Utilizing Old Cannon.
New Shot That Carries Accu-
rately and With Great Speed
Big Cities In Russia London Has a
Very Pure Water Supply.


lars worth of old smooth bore cannon ~
ing around his navy yards and his arsen-
ais. These cannon or many of them did
good service in the war of the Rebellion
a generation ago, but they were practi-
caly worthless except as old metal until
Col. William III. Bell assistant commits
sary general OF subsistence, perfected "A
method for making them serviceable
Uol. Bell has given the subject of prolec-
tiles much study and number or his
inventions have proved Of great practical
value. His latest invention has been sue
cessfully tested at the Presidio of san
Francisco where IL was fired from six
FOUNDER smooth-b bore gun, attaining u
velocity of little over 200 feet per sec
ond in steady flight. Tho construction
Of this projectile is quite simple, and its
principle readily understood. In share
IL Is an ordinary conical shot. In its bore
In is n hollow capable of holding a con-
siderable quantity of slow burning pow
der. A plug screws into this hollow,
holding the powder securely within. And
now comes the essential point of differ
ence between this and other projectiles
Around the edges of this plug arc series
of grooves leading into the powder cham-
ber and bored at an angle opposite to
the direction in which the projcctile is
expected TO twist or revolve on its lateral
axis, and thus bore its way through the
air.
The principle is an old one. The pow.
der burning inside alter tho projectile
leaves the cannon, exerts sidewise pres
sure through the slanted grooves and
twists the projcctile In the opposite direc-
tion. 1t is tho same principle exactly that
makes your Fourth of July pinwheel re-
volve when lighted. Now for the expert
ment. The chamber in the projectie is
filled with slow. burning powder, and
the plug screwed tightly down. A large
quick burning powder Is now dropped
into the smooth-bore cannon and the pro-
jectile pushed into It, The fuse is at
tached and the cannon fired.
The quick, burning powder on being
lighted, does two things. 1t expels the
pr, 10 tile with an energy dependent upon
Its quality and quantity, and it lights the
slow burning powder through the grooves.
Ih3 slow burning powder begins TO act
at once, acceierating the speed and ini
tiating the twist even before leaving the
cannon. But it is after 10 leaves the can
non. and begins its flight. that the slow
burning powder does its best work. Ii
actually increases the speed while in the
air by its reaction against the atmosphere
and until the powder is burned out the
rotary motion continues To accelerate
There Is no tumbling for this projectie
1t bores its way through the atmosphere
with the utmost precision. Colonel Bell
Is stationed at the Presidio. at San Fran
cisco. and it is there wnere he has made
his experiments and attained what no
believes Is a magnificent success His
first experiment. made n little over n year
ago, was TO compare the forces Of his pro-
io,tlle and common, solid, conical shot.
He fired common shot with certain
amount of powder and got the usual re-
suit.
He then fired one of his shots Of the
same weight and with the same amount
of powder The result was startling. for
the recoil was so great that the -
pounder was turned over AMI broken.
and the shot was carried far out to sea-
Experiments mado few weeks later only
served To strengthen the theory Colonel
Bells shots were fred three or four tmos
n far as common solid shot with the
same weight of powder Their accuracy
left nothing To bs desired. The sBot
showed the highest initial velocity, and
struck with the most remarkable rrecis-
ion, although the gun used was an old,
discarded relic OF the Rebellion, badly
rusted.
Although the official result of the pro-
liminary count OF the census of Russia
Will not be made known until the end Of
the present month, very interesting details
have been given out as To the population
of ST. Petersburg and Moscow. St. Peters
burg has population of million and a
quarter and Moscow is lust under orc
million. Nineteen other towns are re-
tnrned at 100, coo Thirty five towns have
over 5Q0 600 inhabitants each. The city of
Samarkand and kolkand in Russian
Turkistan, hayo very vastly increased In
population. The comparatively modern
town OF Lodz, which is the great manufac-
turing center of Poland. has increased
with great rapidity Ii now stands tire
fifth city of the empire. The inhabitants
OF l.odz are mostly Germans or of German
origin.
A medical paper published in Vienna
says that Mrs Mariana Helm, the wife
of spinner Of that CITY, though only forty
years of age, Is tho mother of t1irsy.two
ci i.drer, namely, twenty-six sobs aud
six daughters These children wero born
as follows: -Four, three. four two, three,
two, three, three. two, three and three;
or. eleven births In all. The mother has
niIrsod the whole OF her children. ana
they are still alive Mrs. Helm waS hcr
self one OF four children. born together
and her mother had thirty eight childr0n.
It is n remarkable circumstance that tiis
woman from her fifteenth year TO the pre-
sent time has suffered almost every week
from sn attack of epilepsy. but mono Cf
the children up 20 the present time have
been afflicted with tho disease.
IL Is tho popular notion that the water
supply OF very large cities is moro or less
contaminated. but London, ut least so
far a. its water Is conccrnCd. seems TO re
"a yeritahle sanitarium. 1ho report OF
Messrs. Crookcs and Dowar % the water
examiner for the metropolis has Just been
published. The report shows the compo-
sition and quality Of daily samples of VIZ
ter supplied In London during the
month of April. One hundred ana sixty.
eight samples were analyzod, and were
found 20 be clear. bright and well
filtered. " Very careful ARCHAEOLOGICAL