The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-04-15

When armor was abandoned much Of
the energy Of the arquebuse went with it.
and the musket OF old Brown Bess. was
gradually developed much lighter and
handler weapon than the arquehuse, and
with less recoil. which still delivered a
tremendous blow at close quarters. The
energy of the bullet from Brown Bess was
about 1900 foot pounds or about forty
times as great as the blow from hard
hit cricket ball, and twice that delivered
by the dum-dum or expanding bullet fired
from the Lee Metford rife at short range.
Moreover, the wound made by the musket
ball was nearly six times as large as that
made by the ordinary -Metford bulht,
and probably decidedly worse than any
thing that the dum-dum bullet can do. 1t
is most unlikely that modern war viii
ever produce such terrific effects as were
caused by the delivery of a volley at close
quarters from old Brown Bess. Those
struck were in a moment violently hurled
to the ground. and the dreadful volley, in
Variably followed as il was by a bayonet
charge. must have been far more trying to
the spirit than the prolonged contest and
Continual fire that mark the modern bat
tlefeld. Is il wonderful that under this
stress one side or the other usually ssxe
way before the bayonets were eser
crossed2
II is extremely doubtful II the destruc-
ton caused by modern artillery will ever
come up TO that wrought by the smooth
bore guns Of 100 years ago-not because
the modern guns are inferior TO their pro-
totypes. quite the contrary. but because
the latter fought at such close ranges and
The target was also far more favorable
The disappointment which was felt by
many as TO the effect produced by common
shells with percussion fuses is not alto
gether thing OF the past Only short
time ago there appeared in the papers a
statement that the Boer shells we're very
inferior, one had struck between a man s
feet and burst. and had done him no harm
Now this was just what was to be eX-
pected from a thoroughly efficient com
mon shell. the man between whose feet
the shell struck was almost bound TO es-
cape, whatever may have happened 10 any
one else.
The Preparation Of she'll.
In order TO explain what happens on the
percussion fuse Of a common shell acting,
Il is necessary to describe the shell itself
and its properties. A common shell for a
field gun is in shape and size very like an
ordinary pint bottle; the head. however,
Is dome shaped. so that il the neck OF the
bottle be knocked of the similarity is
greater. The metal Of the shell may be
either cast iron or steel. II the former is
used there is less room for powder. be-
cause the weakness OF the castir0n neces-
states thicker sides TO the shell than II
It was made Of steel. Cast iron, however
breaks up we'll What is required in a
shell is that it should stand a heavy pres
sure from outside safely and yet burst
readily into large number Of pieces. Il
is also desirable that il should hold as
large a bursting charge as possible. The
metal most in favor in England for the
manufacture Of shells is cast steel, il is
much stronger than cast iron. and there
fore allows Of the walls Of the shells be
ing made comparatively thin so as TO ad-
NIT OF a large bursting charge. II also
breaks up into numerous fragments on the
burst taking place. Forged steel has also
been used; but it is too tough. so that =
shell made OF this metal only tears up into
8 few large pieces. much as II it was made
Of leather. The preparation Of a shell Is
q very simple matter; IL is simply filled
with powder as full as it viii hold. and the
fuse Is then screwed in az the top. Some
shells such as those used in the naval r.
FOUNDER. have a solid pointed head In
that case there is a hole through the base
CORRESPONDING TO the bottom OF the bot
tle) through which the she'll is filled and
into which the fuse screws. The fuse is
Invariably made OF metal. and acts as
plug FOR completely closing the she'll
When a shell bursts the action is not by
means instantaneous. After the ignition
Of the fuse the bursting charge OF the shell
takes some little time 10 develop sufficient
pressure TO burst the shell. This Is owing
10 the comparatively deliberate way in
which gunpowder behaves on being ie-
niteti There are many explosives thar &C.
tomato in one-millionth of d second OF
Whereabouts. but a shell charged with
gunpowder will take some FIVE thousandths
OF a second TO burs, The time does not
appear long. but il the shell be travelling
at 600 foot seconds 81 will have moved
i've feet from the point Of impact before fl
bursts II the velocity be as much as = 600
foot seconds the shell will not burst till
Il has gone ten from the point struck
Hence a shell which glances of the OBJ
ject struck flies from five 70 ten feet IN
the new direction before exploding and
then bursts well clear OF the object
Effects of Explosions.
And what is the effect OF the burst?
Our bottle-shsped she'll breaks up into
fragments not very dissimilar TO those into
which q glass bottle breaks. Il is common
20 find the base OF a shell entire. though
II sometimes breaks into two or .hree
pieces. 4 bottle behaves in much the
same way The sides break up very IN
evenly. there are some large spliuters
each one constituting. say. Une-twelfth OF
the original shell while there are some
tiny fragments smaller than q pea. The
head like the base sometimes remains
entire and sometimes breaks into TWO or
three pieces. The distribution Of the
fragments depends IN the Grsi place ou tl-
velocity and direction Of the shell al The
instant when il bursts.
Most shells ia the field are exploded by
striking the ground. II the ground be
hard and the range be moderate. so that
the shell is not falling al a very steep an
gle. il rebounds from the ground. common
by turning TO the right as Il does so. and
bursts when il has risen a foot or two.
The effect Of the burst is that the head
and base continue 20 travel in the same
direction that the shell was taking before
n eXploded-that u.s. they continue 10 rise
sharply. The head goes somewhat faster
than & did before the base somewhat
slower The pieces from the walls are
thrown 10 either side Of the new track Of
the shell. at varying angels and 81 yari-
Gus velocities But al continue TO travel
onward with about the same velocity ar
which they were going when the shell
burst The result is that the fragments
diverse from the place OF burst forming
a cone, the angle a. the apex being about
Is degrees. Outside this cone there is alb
solute safety while inside il there is come
chance OF being hit depending mainly on
the number Of pieces into which the shell
breaks and the distance from the point o.
burst An ordinary common she'll may