The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-05-11
VALUE OF WET COTTON.
Great Cannon Blown to Bits, But the
Explosive Found Intact

New York, May 1-LOuis Gathnann,
the Chicago inventor, achieved q re
r7arxa HE triumph today down al SaIdy
Ho0I- A big cannon loaded with a gun
---+0r shall IN which was attached one
of his special fuses, was Hred- LH9
was blown to pieces, but lhe 7Lelt t
manned intact. showing Lndt LII -
+ba 1az-ica of Mr. Cfathmann. gun cottoLl
Sbs1Is can he safely used in war as en-
+as ~ 5as+r7Icti0n The experiment
further demonstrated that guh - ~ =
will not detOnate when dlScndrs10 ~
means of high explosive -
# was believed the cruiser NeSuvlu7
had made a new era in naval %arLat : :
when gun cotton shells were dIschaFseA
by pneumatic pressure IN tou scI, -
periments the gun was purLsoSeIy -
nIoded in order to demonstrate tnat gun
cotton could be used with the MINIMUM -I
Of danger The element OF sa1ety Wa
which. as demonstrated today, rehuer79 ,
the EXPLOSION of q shell Impossible UIlI1A
it has passed through the air
HOW THE TEST WAS NAA DE--
For the purpose of experimenting d
15-tnch smooth bore Rodman gun was
buried in the sand The gun was - o6o
teen feet long, and Welgnea 4S'o9S
rounds In il was placed a charge u
ii00 rounds Of fine grain suokeless gun
powder Then there was added tTaLLI-
mann shell containing elghtE -tFO
mounds Of so per cent wet gun COTTON
To This shell was attached the cain
Mann "a fatv fuse a cylinder contain
ing nine and one-SIxteenth ounces q
dry gun cotton and thirty-hVe grams
of illuminate of mercury
In theory the movement OF TINS she4
through the air causes revolutions
which will force the Gathmann fuse
into the middle Of the charge OF wet
gun cotton A terrific explosion reSu
when the shell strikes the mark II Is
asserted by the inventor that gun cot
ton shells, fitted with his fuse can De
used safely on board ship, and they
will not explode in a gun, even II the
powder hack Of them should be pre-
rnatureIy ignited-
BIG CHARGE OF POWDER
In order to demonstrate this Mr.
Gathmauu insisted that the government
should give his appliance a thorough
test He certainly should have no
~zusa for complaint as to the thorough
rass of the trial made today at the
1-~o@-inr grounds at Sandy Hook The
service charge for 4 three-inCh gun IS
one and one-quarter pounds OF the
grade of srnOkeIess powder used today
one hundred pounds for a hfteen-inch
1T1r was an excessive amount, and
sufficient to insure the bursting OF the
gun In order to make the danger as
small as possible, Major Heath ordered
the gun to be buried in eighteen feet
Of sand after it had been loaded The
bore of the gun was filed Up with vet
sand Two layers Of tiTnbers were also
placed above the gun before the sand
was filled in The powder charge was
fired from tower mile away, by
means of a wire
For forty feet sand and timbers were
hurled into the air. After ths explosion
the place where the gun had been buried
was a circular pit resembling the crater
of a volcano.
SHE'LL NOT BROKEN
To the right and to the left, within
distance of forty feet in either direc-
ton. were found fragments of the gun
from six inches to two feet in length
The experts maintained from . study
of a fra gTnent that the shell had ira
versed q foot or more Of the bore with
out being broken Small fragments of
the wet gun cotton were also found
Mr.. Gathmann said that none of the
gun cotton and detOnated otherwise
there would have been no unexplained
fragments He said the large size of
the pieces of the gun which We're found
indicated that only the powder had ex-
ploded. IF the gun cotton had detonated,