The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-04-01
SHOOTS GIN COTTON
Latest Thing is the Rocket
Torpedo Gun.
STRAIGHT AS A BULLET
1t Throws a Torpedo up to
Three Thousand Yards.
STRAIGHT AS A BULLET

New York, March 31.-The Herald says
An aerial torpedo, on the rocket princi-
pie, IS the latest invention Of Yankee gen.
ius. The idea has been materialzied by
Rear Admiral ]. A. Howell. By means OF
a new engine of death a three hundred
pounds Of that terrible explosive guncot-
ton, can be seen whizzing through the air
nearly two miles. A rapid rotary mot
ion impaired to the projectile insures its
direction and renders its aim as exact as
that OF rifle bullet.
The possibility of foreign war has not
only stirred the country, obliterated party
! lines and united the different sections,
but has stimulated inventive genius. The
Patent Office at washington is daily
| flooded with applications, some Of which
may play an important part in the next
great war. Among these is recent one
| filed by the commander-in-chief Of the
European station, now on his way to the
United States in the cruiser San Fran
cisco.
| Rear Admiral ]. A. Howell needs no in
| PRODUCTION to the American people. nor to
naval and military experts, for his great
| automobile torpedo has won for him a
world wide fame. The gyroscopic princi-
pie, which keeps the rife ball straight in
its path, and which he first applied to the
under water torpedo, has been extended
to the throwing through the air with safe
| vt, accuracy and velocityR of a great
| mass of high explosive. In other words,
the United States will soon be the pos
SCISSOR of an areal torpedo that will full
| fill all of the conditions demanded by the
most exacting critic.
The new weapon Of destruction will be
a giant 300-pound rocket that will go hiss
ing and sputtering through space with the
accuracy of a rife ball and falling but
little short of it in range. The means Of
imparting a rotary motion to the projec-
tile is simple. yet novel in the extreme
Ever since the discovery of high explo-
sives, ordnance experts have been endeav-
oring to produce a gun that could throw
a great mass of dynamite, nitro-gelatine
or guncotton with safety and accuracy.
The different elements were antagonistic,
throw 1T accurately could not do so with
safety, while those that could throw it
safely could not do so with accuracy.
The problem was soon given up as far as
the powder gun was concerned, for the
shock Of discharge communicated by
pressure of fifteen or twenty tons to the
square inch was so great that the high ex-
plosive was detonated before leaving the
muzzle of the gun, thus destroying the
weapon.
Compressed air at a pressure of a thou
sand pounds to the square inch, was then
tried; and, for a time, it looked as though
success had been attained-so much so
that the United States government built
the Vesuvius. a special type of cruiser
known as a dynamite cruiser. After q
series of exhaustive experiments, although
the guns OF the new vessel succeeded in
throwing five hundred pounds of guncot-
ton distance Of twenty-five hundred
yards, the idea was abandoned, owing to
many defects in both gun and projectile,
the expensive and delicate machinery
needed TO compress the air. and the i'm
possibility of securing a fuse that would
function when desired, and be safe at all
times.
A few years later another gun was in
vented, consisting OF three tubes. one OF
which contained a blank cartridge and the
other the high explosive projectile. The
third tube acted as a conductor for the
powder gasses, which compressed the air.
This served as cushion behind the base
Of the proiectile. and thus minimized the
shock Of discharge Limited range and
the heating OF the tube from rapidly Of
fire initiated against this principle, how
ever. so that the problem remained where
/; had been before.
Experts then turned their attention % a
weapon that had been used before the dis