The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-09-07
PNEUMATIC GUNS
NEW LOCAL PRODUCT
THE DICKSON MANUFACTURING
COMPANY Is MAKING THEM.
Has Received Contract for Furnish
ing Two of These New and Terrible
Engines of war--Detailed Descrip-
ton Of the Guns and Their Powers.
will Throw Thousand-Pound
Projectile Nearly Three Thousand
Yards and Smaller Projectiles
Twice That Distance.

Pneumatic dynamite guns can here
after be added to Secretary Atherton's
boom" list of articles manufactured
in Greater Scranton. The Dickson
works is making them.
This week the Penn avenue shops
will begin work on contract for two
of these new-fanged engines of war,
which are finding such great favor
with the ordnance department of the
government. The contract was secured
from the Pneumatic Torpedo and Con-
struction company, of New York, which
has been engaged by the government
to supply large number of these guns
for use on the coast.
The guns are the same as those
planted at Sandy Hook and San Fran
cisco, with some wly-discovered i'm
provements. 1t Is a breech-loading,
smooth-bore gun, fifty feet in length
and fifteen inches in diameter at the
bore. The barrel is made of the best
quality of charcoal iron, in three sec
tions, flanged, bolted together and sup
ported upon a truss The breech block
is much lighter than in powder guns.
having the form of a convexed disk
and the breech mechanism is exceed
ingly simple, but two motions being
necessary to open the block or close it
again. The low pressure at the bore,
1000 pounds to the square inch. makes
it possible to secure the gun firmly to
the carriage without recoil.
MOVED BY ELECTRICITY.
The carriage is mounted upon a cir
| cular racer ring and can be traversed
| through $50 degrees. An electric motor
| located beneath the gun platform
| serves to rotate, elevate or depress the
| gun.
The compressed air is stored in steel
reservoirs, located in chambers under
| the platform. Pipes fitted with rotary
joints, which prevent any leakage, con-
vey the air to the large casing sur
| rounding the barrel of the breech
| Pulling a lever opens a valve, the air
bursts into the breech and the gun is
| discharged.
| A popularity of the gun is that the
range can be changed without moving
the gun, by simply controlling the pres
sure of the air.
Since the angle of discharge is
usually above is degrees, and some
times as high as 35 degrees, the gur
can be located behind a parapet and
entirely covered from the horizonta
fire of assaultng guns.
Projectiles weighing 500 pounds car
be fired from this gun once a minute
The air compressor can be located 8
mile from the gun.
Two types of projectiles are used, &
full calibre, which fits the bore closely
and sub-calibre, which is smalle
than the bore of the gun. The full
calibre projectile is ten feet in lengtl
and has a capacity of 500 pounds o
explosives. When ready to be fired tn
cartridge weighs 1000 pounds. Thi
can be thrown 2,700 yards at a 35 de
gree elevation.
THE SMALLER PROJECTILES.
Two sizes of sub-calibre projectile
are used, one ten inches in diameter
carrying two hundred pounds of higl
explosive and having a range of 400
yards; the other eight inches in diam
eter, carrying one hundred pounds q
explosive and having a range of 500
yards at a 35 degree elevation.
The sub-calibre projectiles are cen
tered in the bore by four blocks carrie
on the point and a sabot or packing a
the base, which fills the bore con
pletely.
Rotary motion is given the projec
tiles by vanes placed at the rear.
To mechanics the fuse is the mos
} interesting part of the whole affair.
is a cylinder twelve inches long, 81
inches in diameter constructed of bras
and weighing twenty pounds. Its ir
terror is a mass of complicated CLOCK
, work, and can be so regulated that
] can be set off by impact or at a certai
: time after entering the water. 1t ais