The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-12-24

y
Charges masses e Of pIGbsf WEIGHING from
best that the iSincR u gun IN batteries in New York
ana san Francisco harbo,s can 90 400 S ,nI tH
Or pounds es ssoo Yards i' Sbou, mile and
half The Isham shell, in the. new 16-ineb mons
Yer building for the coast dssnse' WOULD ,n,s csfry s
far. The Zalinskf guns extreme range Of Less
than three milcg makes IL very inferior aniego.
the thIec-mile range and yet spout forth tons
Of death. healing explosives 49,, -. ..u,.-.,.
to NE sims,DSdiey gun, which did good service vic.
IN Gnbe and Por Rico and Is to ,h be y sGns
o Rf MS r sso Ssd one sseme snse
only little over a mile, but the English noun
tain guns will carry lyddi,e shells several miles
can gun uses a a compressed air cushion % pro-
tec, The high explosives from tn, shock Of firing
Be- snpe and about as e"en To-"
= but u is so conecdcdy TO inferior TO service hed
ofieers do not believe il viii be long used By the
i has we'll Giied the gap between the old ar,il
Thc Government INQUIRY after a way Of airing
high explosives has ben almost wholly devoted
70 consideration of shells and explosives, taking
the service cannon as ba'e TO work on Opinion
among the ordnance experts who have devoted
In the pas decade has been divided as 10 whether
| now explosive or new shell would solve the
problem, and rec n,ly b.torr yonng, lshsm came
: OF opinion was in favor OF explosives. SO dis
! astrous was a series Of eSperimcns with shells
Of various ingenious constructions, and SO prom.
isinE were The lists Of mw explosives, that 1t
! was believed that tho explosives had won the
results In thc last two " three wears 10 warran,
| ihr BOARD ~ Ordnance and Fertilization in recon
mcnding tb.ir abortion by ~" War ncpanm,nt,
no special high explosive shell for Srrvc" hril"ry
| has over had tho Endorsement 81 the beard and
thc Isham sho 4 edontcd by III" Goveinmcnt;
| In the army II II the long line IL failures with
ahrllsihatE gave prnmisc 81 success that now stands
| in The wnv Of the new diaphragm shell.
For a time great things were expected q thc
invention " Df. Justin ~ Syracuse lie believed
shaa pLsr,ure ,IplGS , q" hiTh e Sn,siin
| charge caused bv tho sudden twisting 81 the
she'll ~ II tool! III" rininr in III. bore This was
' pcrimcnts and the board got rotating mechanism
Ss"9 to turn hr n"nT Of GTd
including explosive sclatinc were rotated at o
! high rate of sp"cd ard a chronograph was uscd
, ,pnSd ndrn,o Eso"sss Srs'nr ; sn"s
and although. when the shells were opened, the
| explosive, charge was found 10 be greatly dis.
Thc verde, Of Gen Henry I Abbors committee
was that none of tho explosives tested exhibited
disturbance" hut nevertheless pr Justin and
other inventors went on cSrrrmcnting on The
idcs That all that was needed :" successfully fire
minimi,c the cfTrc, q The rife twist.
nr. Justin devised An ingenious carrier for the
!
b. turned in The Shell ~ hand wScn the "Ss
nS The s Srtus cv in W. H ~ ic sh ,"' s
camC hca '.l from friction IN ~ fight, the coppct
and caught tn" r"tatiom a." GRADUALLY DR. Justin
| and his friends spent, L., e money carving
out his cxp, yiments. arst q, range in valley
NJ Oneida Lake whore Gci, Miles and other army
officers saw the Syrscusc, invsn,ion fiIc csplcs,c
| and n o inch niAk"lcy rinr cnrtured at Charles.
ton in the Civil Wsr Dr Justin blew NJ a gun
! or two IN his experiments and had VARYING luck
when his gums were unscathad. but he never
CONVINCED the ordnance cSpcr's that he wes on
!" mekc any further nllGtmcnis tor. tests Of the
Justin carrier The ruth ~ II IL tho, pr Jus,
he ms nss s Ssndy nn
| hay" shown. Even eNpl'@ivr rrlc,inc. sensitive
nsW,tts has becn Grcd in ordinary sks,lls,
studying hTh explosive nrinrs at Sandy Hook
lhhccy ,riFa several weys a. .r.c.lns ,hc bursting
a me'Sssd Of racEirs ise shaIss in p.I.anS ana
ION, and one each q wax and paratlnc, The
packing vas poured between thr clunbs ~ gun.
GG%G Tn', snO4 wfs s%h%ed 5s the
made in small pellets wrapped in vanilla paper
nn sS ss .nS sT wed p sS s.e
Carl Juds.9 DID The pSctins. Ther", shells
mode Of packing could NO, bc trusted r1ccpi with
) explosives too dangerously sensitive 10 hr used
| in the ;rryicg Cant. Judson al,o tired packing
| with iuecs Of gciatnr. and Mr. Stevens sub
mim,,ed su, stance 10 put between The explosive
1inkcring with tin diaphragns was one IT the
IwaNs the "r!nnncI officers tried to protect tho
/ yidcd into four longitudinal compartments rs
two tn'crscctire plates ~ sheet iron. Then cir.
s .Ss shiI; wG PLACED across the axis q The
! divide house Finally enough sheets were used
! 70 make twelve COMPARTMENTS In the shell These
! VlRI IA aalt MT
When Can't Heath fired q charge II six rounds Of
explosive gelatinc in, a Inch AmrS rifle. The
With octagonnl cavities, ntt"d with Longitudinal
and transyerse diaphrngms Two shots we're
The gun was ruined Cen Hhfoi, rrp rrcd Ia.
! ~" cNp.ns" 81 further "NrCrmcn, with *.
used sutJividcd Nv such di"phrnem.' nv" Was ., nov
warranted hy the results obtained" After tha.
danhragms wcrc pooh p"h"d and new tangled
work Of The Sandy Hook experts since then has
hen t" Gcvclcp explosives 70 such poin, Il sta.
the like would NOT hc needed This is why thoriic
is 50 fnyorOrly rcceivc'i whil- The Isham sh"I.
is locked upon with some dSirus'
The, Yankee engineer uses diaphragms in his
Hm sc Nv, H., ne I%s1 put ,h"m IN ty guess Or
cast With the shell AMI their number and thick.
ness Il" dct'rmin"s hS 1na'h"marica! formulas.
Bursting my Sh"rsSs n 'rc .,n IN usnE
Weight, because a small mass ~ high explosive
h hc y" nH br ssm IN a" SId,y Sh B
IL raised then the danger begins, for tho TOP tx,
pl"siv" is forced downward by the shoe: Il dis.
rharg". and M whole mass is commcssed vic,
lent against the base NJ the she'll The natural
result is IN" explosion u the charge Nj
sham d"i'rmlnes how high column can safely
y" used IA n Shcll under u given firing pr..surc
then mahcs / g factor of safety, ana divides
his shell up In,o small safety columns Tn"
, principles apply 10 hclt artillery and coas, dc.
fcnc" monsters equally. Applying his princi.
PIES Of diaphragm construction TO IL inch
shell h" has done what nobody ever dreamed
81 dong before he has successfully fired more
than hundred weight Of explosive gcatino
from q 2inch gun un1'r service conditions
While tho Government rrintains secrecy re-
Rhrding the details Of construction Of the IshAm
mis- much is ~ lwn about the design Of Tho H. inch
she'll Tie Slcll Us o. inches long much Longer
thhn the ordinary ~ inch shell LohFrd with
100 pounds Of cNrl osirc gelatinc it weighs O5O
pounds \ central steel a.incl pillar runs through
the length OF the shell cavity, At right angles
70 tbs pillar ar" nine diophrogms % haliinch
steel, dividing the interior NJ the shell into len
annulaI chamfcrs each about inches wide
In the base ~ the shell is the fuse and running
rom II. through the centre ot the PILLAR a hin
nus" hole on from this run The little fuse holes
IT, the ten chambers. Access ~ each chamber
!; hAd through two holes bored through the walls
OF the shell an inch thIck Through these
holes tic gelatnc Is loedrd into the chamlcr