The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-01


Principle, Receives Impulse From
Force within Itself, While the
Spinning of the Gun Gives the Ro-
tary Motion Necessary TO Accura-
cy.
Derby. Conn, March 81. L. briggs,
of the briggs Seabury Gun and Ammuni-
ton Company, stated to-day that mis- COM
pany had received a half-million dollar or
der from the government for ammunition.
The foregoing little news item appeared
in the telegraph columns of the Morning
News of Thursday. Considered in Itself
there was nothing 10 distinguish 1t from
the other emergency orders of a common
place sort for war supplies being given
out by the government. The majority of
readers, therefore, probably merely glanc-
ed at the item and dismissed it from their
minds. the only impression made being
that the administration was determined
to lay in an ample supply of shot and
powder.
AS matter of fact however the little
news item conveyed to well informed per-
sons the information that the government
is providing itself with ammunition to be
used with a new engine of warfare, and
one of the most terrible ever designed by
man.
The new arm, which embodies an old
principle applied in a most unique and
modern manner is known as the Howell
rocket torpedo gun. The following ex-
tracts from an article on the subject in
Golfers Weekly, prepared by w. Nephew
King, are descriptive of the wonderful
gun:
Military and naval men will now de-
vote their undivided attention to the de-
Velopment of the torpedo for offensive
and defensive operations-and 1 am sa fe
| IN predicting that in this our country
VIII lead, as it has in perfecting the IRON
| clad, the rified-cannon and the swift
cruiser. Already the ordnance shops of
the Driggs-Sea bury Gun and Ammunition
Company are working night and day upon
| new high explosive gun that bids fair
| 10 reVolutionize modern warfare The
| fact that Rear Admiral J. A. Howell II
). NJ, to whom the world is indebted for
| the most effective automobile torpedo, is
| the tather OF the new weapon will do
much 10 inspire confidence in the posi-
oillties of this. his latest invention
FOR many years experts have been
striving TO produce an instrument that
oouid throw a great mass of high explo-
slVe with safety and accuracy. Owing to
| the destructive effect of dynamite. It has
been used, instead of gunpowder as an
explosive in ordinary shells. The shock of
uischarge, however, has more than once
caused premature defamation which
completely destroyed the gun. Seven,
pounds of high explosive is the maximum
that 1t has been considered safe to use as
charge 1or shell fired from a poyyAer
gun; and this diminution of explosive mai
urally lessened the destructive energy of
! the projectile.
experts then came to the conclusion
tnat the only solution to the problem Law
| IN a proJectile which might receive imn,,Ise
from forces residing within itself-thrs
performing the twofold function of piece
ana proJectile. These peculiarities as can
pe readily seen, fulfill every condition for
t.aV"Ins' WIN perfect safety. masses of
nlsh explosive, but the advance IN ono
direction was outweIghed by several in
superable objections in others. This car-
rled eXperimentists back to the rocLat
winch was used for signaling, display. and
even as a weapon of war before the dis
coVery of gunpowder. And upon these Unes
rear Admiral Howell had been Investigate
ing until he succeeded in producing a gun
that VIII give to the rocket the accuracy
short of 1t in range.
Before describing the new invention n
might be interesting to trace briefly the
evolution of the Notwithstanding whv II
has never been In general use for war pur-
poses and later how American genius has
made 1t the most formidable weapon for
/ both attack and defense
AS early as the ninth century rockets
were used in China and India, but owing
TO obtain accuracy of flight, their use for
military purposes was restricted, and their
sphere of operations limited to incendiarv
purposes. As the initial velocity is 0. and
this increases with the density Of the gas
generated the rocket, after the gas has
| ceased to escape, loses it's distinctive char
acter, and becomes, so far as its motion
10 concerned, an ordinary projecte. AS
the propelling force changes its direction
with the axis along which 1t moves. It
naturally follows that, without some
means of giving stability to this axis. the
path described will be very irregular-in
fact, the detection has been SO great that
rockets have been known to return with
great velocity at the very troops who fred
| them. An example of this erratic motion
may be seen in a class of pyrotechnics
known as "serpents.' which are really
rockets without guide sticks Another
cause of inaccuracy is the constant change
of the center of gravity which takes
place as the propelling charge is burned.
Many attempts have been made TO impar.
rotary motion to the rocket, 50 that
the -gyroscopic principle that keeps the
rifle ball straight in it's path might be
utilized. This was first tried in the Hale
war rocket, where rotation was produced
around the longer axis by the escape OF
gas through five vents situated obliquely
to 1.-THE resultant of the tangential forces
acting around the posterlor extremity of
the axis of rotation. Another experiment
consisted in attaching vanes, which, ow-
ing to the resistance of the ATMOSPHERE
fight as the feathers do an arrow.
I'm 1904 Sir William Congreve took up