The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1897-05-28
NEW PROJECTILE.
Or WILL ENABLE UNCLE SAM TO USE
h OLD WAR GUNS.
Colonel Bells New Shell Neither wab-
bIes Nor Tumbles and Can he Used
Equally Well In Old smoothbores and
Kined Cannon-very Successful Tests.

Equnliy wen IN Via SmoothDOres an0
! Kined Cannon-very Successful Tests.
"a
Now and then, after years and millions
have been spent In developing enterprise
along newfangled lines, il is suddenly
discovCr that these lines were all wrong
and thai Jhe old notions abandoned a dec
ade or two ago were the true ones. This
does not happen often, but it does happen,
and Colonel William n. Bells newly in
vented projectle affords reason for sus-
lpicion that such has been the case with
the piGcd cannon, the highest development
of the century in heavy ordnance For
this prcjectile, which now seems to be the
cheapest, surest and most accurate by far
of all yet invented, is fred more easily
and more accurately and with far greater
economy of power and cost from the old
fashioned $1,000 smootbbore of the sixtiee
than from the magnifcently expensive
rified wonder of today.
What this will mean in case the govern
ment tests soon to be undertaken prove
the accuracy of the original tests may be
gathered from the fact that $4,000, 600
worth of the old smoothbores of rebellion
times arc lying loose around the United
States-so much old iron and nothing
more. 1t will be a wonderful saving II
these can yet be utilized
/ In order to appreciate what Colonel
Bells projcctile really does we must first
consider why 1t was found necessary to
Tiee cannon.
The old round shot that used to be fred
ts6m smoothbores were never effective.
There was great loss of power by the es.
cape of gases around the edges of the ball,
apd after it left the cannon the wind
6Apked up against it's sides and swerved II
vide Of it's mark. When conical projec.
A)fSs were substituted for balls, the first Of
Asoe difficulties WAS overcome, but not
6AS second. In order 10 give conical pro.
5eQtiles a rapid twist in their flight, thus
ehAbhpg them to bore their way through
the air without swerving, capnons were
Tined--thnt is, curved grooves were cut
to their bores. The operation was ex
l&esdinely expensive and demanded an sx.
<eedingly expensive quality Of steel, but
Rt solved the problem. Such are the great
weapons Of today.
But while rided cannon solved these
problems 1t developed great fault. Pro-
Stiles shot from them are cps 10 "tum-
Se"-thst Is, to whirl round and round
"a stick does when thrown into the air
from the hand. To remedy this expert.
Rents without num- Der have since been
made, all In the direction Of improving
tho Yrojectile 50 as to insure tss steadiness
ksisst.
h It is that problem which Colonel Bslla
nnpjeotile seen 3 TO have solved ut last.
And IL not only, ,olves that, but secures the
a1csssary rotary twist ip the air without
tie nsOeAity Of being fired from q riAsd
gun. ToEe SUR IL can Be fred from a
3Esd gun, but Z, st as good efscts-even
Sktsr, somo exp rts think-ean be OBJ
ta1hsd by using an old fashioned smooth
1horV gun.
The inventor Of this projcctile which
1nsnises go much Is Lieutenant Colonel
William H. Bell, assistant compulsory
general Of subsistence Of the United States
army and an ordnance expert OF great
ability. Colonel Bell has given the subject
of rrojectiles long and arduous study, and
q number of his inventions have proved
Of great practical value. His latest inven-
tion was recently successfully tested at the
Preside of San Francisco, where 1t was
fired from six FOUNDER smoothbore gun,
attaining velocity Of q little over 700
feet per second in a steady flight.
; Other tests are expected to take place
shortly both on the Pacific coast and In
uniformly satisfactory il is likely that the
war department will take favorable notice
of the invention by adopting it for use by
the artillery of the regular army.
The construction of this projectile il
quite simple and its principle readily
understood. In shape it is an ordinary
conical shot. In its bore is hollow capa.
BILE of holding O. considerable quantity OF
slow burning powder. A plug screws into
this hollow, holding the powder securely
within.
And now comes the essential point OF
difference between this and other projec-
tiles Around the edges of this plug are
series of grooves leading into the powder
chamber and bored at an angle opposite To
the direction in which the projectile Is ex
pected to twist or reyolye on its lateral
axis, and thus bore its way through the
air.
The principle is cid and simple. The
powder burning inside after the projectile
leaves the cannon oxerts sidewise pressure
through the s!Gnted grooves and twists the
projectile i'm the opposite direction. 1t Is
the same principle exactly that makes
your Fourth of July pinwheel reyolve
when lighted.
Now for tho experiment. The chamber
In the projectilc is filed with slow burning
powder and tho plug screwed tightly down.
A charge of quick burning powder is now
dropped into the smoothbore cannon and
the projectile pushed In upon it. The fuse
Ia attached and the cannon fired.
The quick burning powder on being
lighted does two things. 1t expels the
projectile with an energy dependent upon
its quality and quantity, and it lights the
slow burning powder through the grooves
The slow burning powder begins to act at
once, accelerating the speed and initiating
che twist even before leaving the cannon.
But it is after 1t leaves the cannon and be-
gins its fight that the slow burning pow
der does It's best work. 1t actually in
crsases the speed while in the air by its re-
Sotion against the atmosphere, and until
the powder Is burned out the rotary mo-
tion continues to accelerate. There Is no
tumbling for this projectile. 1t bores Its
way through the atmosphere with the ut
most precision.
Colonel Bells first experiment, made
little over a year ago, was to compare the
forces Of his projectile and common solid