The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-11-17
- TrRRIBLE THoRITE SHELLS.
that is known About Uncle
sans New Explosive.

.--, she st. Louis Globe-Democrat.
---gton. Nov. S.-The war depart
~ a. ontion. of thorite is the military
n5i' - me wear. Uncle Sam will see to
e''' M foreign power learns a jot as
.,s secret manufacture. These precau-
alone attest that it is precious stuff.
w ...s,sries have been conhded only to
,,l,I Of high military officers pledged
s5Ianu secrecy.
rto-,.e has solved vexed problems rack
,.a brains of our most skillful ord
.xperts for five years or more.
nc. sam during this time has secured
.,r.b for a man able to furnish him
.,grjv explosive shell capable of accom-
atrg TWO things, viz: % Alighting
Pm high-poWer gun without danger
l.-y,losioa from the shock in the breech
o. hl ueap0n; (2) striking its mark with
d 'D.,.1oding from the force of impact,
w. M any desired time after impact.
w. =, WAS during the past summer that
~ Hiram F. futile, a wizard from the
~ western city of Tacoma, Wash,
.[i,rney,d TO The national capital and made
y'rr,nosition to the army's board of ord
a.r,s and fortihcadons that ne prove his
pHtt. fo furnish the desired article.
s5ar.lv afterward Gen. Miles issued an Or
a. fn-orcing to the letter an old
S,is barring admittance to government
%s A few weeks later the mysterious
+j7ar5 of the West did Wondrous things
'aaf sandy Hook. The official adoption
" thorite this week is the result.
Tb4r thorite could be fired with per-
tat safety and without possible danger
N gun or gunner was readily demonstIat-
- by numerous tests. II was flied by
snrs of numerous sizes by both black and
sroz4ltss powder. That intense heat
Ir,uebr i'm direct contact with it could
not affect it in any way was proved by
he inventor in a striking Test He heated
mixer redhot and thrust 1t into two
no1rd can Of the explosive without any
pereapube result. Other tests demon
sratel that not even the pressure of the
heaviest siege guns-40,OO0 pounds to the
onare incn-could affect ii. A twelve
inch service she'll charged with thirty
rna pounds of thorite was fired from a
huge seacoast rifle. No fuse was fixed
m exul7sive shell wi ,hstood the enor-
mons pressure caused by the explosion Of
40 pounds OF brown powder at lis base
and went out to sea without uttering a
s,gnd or suffering any destruction. Had
This shelf been fused it could have eXp.od-
ed exactly when it struck the water, and
Ibe force Of the explosion would have
baen sufficient to sink any heavily ar
mored latteshiD in the vicinity. Tests
If the safety of other high explosives dur
ing the fring process have resulted disas-
tr5usly at our various proving grounds
Several years ago a dynam te shell, fired
from an experimental Dudley gun, burst
the breech of the weapon and hurled it's
fragments in every direction. Gen.
Miles and a delega ion of officers that day
had the narIoWest escape of their lives,
and il was regarded as a miracle that
they were not all killed. During a test
at the Indian Head proving ground a 49,
4 inah gun was badly damaged by the ex-
4 ploson n its bre ch of 315 pounds of gun
cotton Al another time a gun loaded
with a 15-inch she'll containing 231 pounds
Of the high explosive, immens!te, burst
To spin Green's. Such experiments with
a high explosives were discouraged for a
While by an accident in 1897, when a Gath
man shell burst in the breech of a very
valuable gun, badly damaging the wea-
81 pon and the expensive hydraulic mount.
Tie explosion tore up the railroad tracks
at the proving ground, destroyed one of
The heavy bomb proofs used in the ex-
PeHment and damaged property in the
neighborhood. Fragments of the shell
baEkd mile away fell INTO the river a
short distance from a tug carrying ex-
Nrts Witnessing the trial.
That this new element of warfare would
not explode from the shock of impact, but
IA would reap its hellish harvest of death
at any other moment desired by the gun
ntr was proven in more fascinating
Sres OF secret tests. Ten-inch shells
hlel with it We're left without fuses nee
eSary to its explosion and were fired
entirely through huge chunks of Harvey
lied Steel armor-plate four and one-half
inches thick. Regardless of the terrific
Shock and tremendous friction these shells
NJ did not explode. In another trial, a large
ir1n shell of 1872 pounds weight and seven
mches in diameter was loaded with only
four pounds of the new explosive and
. Placed inside a square inclosure strongly
~ Nlt OF steel. Connection was made by
Fre between the shell and an electric cir
cut The purpose of the steel Enclosure
vas to collect the flying pieces of the shell
in other words, to test its "fragmentary
Nwer.' This power is necessarily an i'm
"a Mtant consideration. The explosive cap
oe of bursting it's shell into the most
hees is the most destructive in warfare
tace it endangers the greatest number of
IVES. An electric button was touched
nd after the explosion several men were
Htegated to gather the scraps of iror
MIL mtlIH lle measure Iney counted 2O,0n
1slDle fragments. To determine destruc.
NE power shells which had been fused
ere hred from a 2l5-inch Sims-Dudley
Gun down the beach at Sandy Hook
sreat "craters" left in the sand were suf-
( lent proof that thorite is as powerful
the strongest blasting gelatine.
lhorle shells cannot possibly explode
ave by aid of a certain time fuse or de.
enator devised by the inventor. Indeed
ms was the all-important fact brought
ll by the tests. In other words, it car
hammered and battered around during
4portation and subjected to various
tmpefatures, loaded in either cans oil
Iehs' No accident can occur unless the
elonator is attached and set. The new
Apl9slVe furthermore, needs no particu
sr make Of she'll, but can be put in any
another advantage is that its power does
ol weaken during long storage. Unlike
other high explosive it will last for ar
definite period.
'He Philippine insurgents will be the
= 10 suffer from the effects of thorite
lutte will be busy this winter al
auuy Hook. There he will erect a lab
M aloiF and manufacture his compound
l'' workshop will be shrouded in deeper
ls'iE Than were those of the alchem.
r3 gl ola, He will be aided by his sor
I leu. Charles f. Parker of the Sec
,,-. artillery, both pledged not to dis