The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-29
MODERN GUNNERY TERMS.
THEIR MEANING EXPLAINED BY A
QUALIFIED EXPERT.

NJ
fury.
There are many terms and phrases used
in the description of the war in South AT
RIGA which convey little or no information
TO many of those at home who are deeply
interested in making out what is happen
ing to their loved ones engaged in the field.
An immense number of people are now
deeply interested in the events of the war
who want simple common-sense explana-
tions about the terms they read, such as
"Creusot," "Krupp" "Shrapnel," Com
mon She'll" "94- FOUNDERS, - "47-inch guns"
'Mausers," "Lee-Enfeld," and so on
We have been told that the Beers have
brought up some very heavy guns to fire
upon Ladysmith and on Mafeking, but
there is dispute as to whether these are
"Krupp guns or "Creusot'' guns, and I
want first to explain what the discussion
means. Creusot, or lie Creusot," is a
place in the Department of Saone-et-
Loire in France, which has long been fam
Gus for its extensive iron works. 1t does
not follow, however, that "Creusot'' gun
was made at Creusot, because that name
is now applied to all the guns that are
Schneider & Co, who in 1885 became pos
sessed of the works at Creusot which,
after being employed by the state under
the revolutionary government for the man.
ufacture OF guns, were under the Empire
handed back to private owners. In 1867
Messrs Schneider made themselves fam
GUS by being the first firm fully TO apply
and adapt to the manufacture of both
plates for armored ships and guns various
inventions, chiefly English, notably the
great invention of Bessemer for the cheap
manufacture of steel From that time on
ward their works have been steadily de-
veloped. They have applied new processes
IN manufacture, including the use of va
rious alloys-notably nickel of which in
its raw state the British Empire possesses
almost a monopoly-to the Improvement of
the quality of the steel of which they
make their guns. They have become the
owners of a vast area of ground in the
neighboThood of Havre, and have there
created gigantic workshops almost on as
large scale as their works at Creusot.
Thus, when we speak of a "Creusot" gun
We mean a gun of whatever size made by
the great French firm of Schneider & Co.
whether it has in fact been made at Gre
usot or at Havre
On the other hand, q ''Krupp- gun means
that the gun has been made by the great
Prussian firm of Herren Krupp, whose
works are at Essen. An Armstrong"
gun means that the gun has been produc-
ed by the firm of Sir William Armstrong
& Co.. the chief seat of whose work Is
near Newcastle, though they have large
factories elsewhere--in Italy, for instance
Maxim" gun means, as far as it's name
IS concerned that it is the invention of
Mr.. Maxim, an American, many of whose
patents have been bought by Messrs
Nickers & Co. A Maxim Nordenfelt'
is combined product of the inventions
nj Mr win md of
brought to this country by Mr.. Nordenfelt
Swede. A 'ShrapneP is the name given
to a particular form of "shel." 1t takes
its name from Gen. Shrapnel who dur
ing the Peninsular War invented a form
in which it was applicable to the spherical
shells which were fired from the guns we
then used.
When, by the force of gunpowder or 9TH
er explosive fired behind it, a body which
we have placed in a space like the barrel
of a gun, large or small, with only one
opening, that toward the muzzle is driven
forward first through the barrel and then
through the open air, the resistance that
1T meets with is due to the opposition of
the air, while it is all the time under the
influence of the force by which IL has
been propelled and of the attraction of the
earth known as gravitatlon. Obviously
the resistance is diminished if the same
weight of metal can be put into an elon-
ohtNd DONy presenting Il relatively very
small surface to the air as compared with
round shot If, however, we. were to
nre out of smooth-bore gun an elon-
gated body without any other precautlon
the body, or, as we call it, the projectile
would at once begin spinning about its
shorter axis according to a well known
law of nature which any child can verify
FOR himself. Experiment has proved that
when once a projectile has been started
with good spin round its longer axis
the position taken by the body though
the action of the air upon it is subject to
certain remarkable laws which are irrele-
want for my purpose, yet remains very
constant. Now if, by any one of many
methods, we impart such a shape to the
gun and to the projectile that, as this
latter passes up through the bore of the
gun, II has to turn round on its longer
axis certain number of times, it is obvi-
Gus that it will leave the gun with an i'm
parted tendency to spin round at the same
rate with which it had to spin during the
brief time it was in the gun. 'Rihing'
takes many forms and has many varie-
ties but essentially it consists in the mod
lhcation of the shape of the gun or pro-
lectile, or both, by which we thus make
II spin in the bore in order that it may
eIterward have this spin as it goes
through the air, and, therefore, here rel
alive fixedness of position during its jour-
Iey on which we can make calculations
We send it out of the bore of the gun at
certain pace of motion, and this pace
as it leaves the muzzle we call its initial
velocity" The effect of the rfiing in en-
aDing US to send it through the air with
less resistance than was met with by the
round shot of the same weight keeps this
initial velocity from diminishing nearly
as fast as it did with the round shot
therefore, we are able to get very much
greater ranges with rfled guns than we
did with he oIA CHI I1t1ff 1at.
we get much greater accuracy because the
old round shot as it went through the
pore was accidentally set spinning in some
way that we could not at all calculate
upon, and all sorts of Irregularities Of
night resulted from this.
Most of the varieties of proiectile which
were used with The old smooth-bores have
peen adapted to suit our present guns A
sAeH' is a projectile which is intended
by means of some explosive matter inside
u 70 break into fragments. Before Shrap-
mel invented his she'll which was loaded