The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1900-01-13
MODERN GUNNERY TERMS

the field, and even, if they hit it fairly.
damaging, though not SO often. to tho
gun itself. They were particularly effec-
1--WE against buildings, earthworks and
as .1l walls IN which it was desirable to
make a hole or breach. They also. from
the larse quantity of powder within them
prouuced a body of flame which tended
-. -. create violent CONGREGATIONS wherever
they stuck any bodies easily ignited.
Il.ere was also another form of pro-
!ecule, then called "Canister' and now
case without any serious difference in
>helr essential characteristic, This was
ana IS the great defensive weapon Of ar
.llleiy. Inc case or canister very soon
breaks to pieces after leaving the muzz1e
| ol the gun, scattering the bullets it CON
la'lis IN great cone Of dispersion.
1t is thus only effective for short
ranges against bodies of either cavalry
or infantry actually closing on the ems
| TO attack them; but at these close ranges
- .'elttily sweeps over all the ground
~: ~. tlonl OF the guns, and is appalling in
US obstructive power The shrapneI re-
| .iulreu much more careful adaptation to
the rlfled-gun shell. To the best of nv,
NnoWledge and belief the man from wbo,,,
al nations have borrowed the invention
oI the rlned shrapnel is COL Hope. v q
Ile' wishing that England should have
| .'le EXCLUSIVE use of his invention did
not patent it, but sent it to ono WIZ had
| / Ssh
| service. The recipient did 50 intrn5,,on
IT, and the rif1ed shrapnel so introducod
| remains the great projectiIe Of orr howe
ana held artillery. For the experiences ~
me war between France and GERMANY
| led to the conclusion that a nroioat;is
which dealt out Destruction an,nno Jen ,,.o'e
was more effective. for general nurnoses
| tilan one which only smashed motorio1
tlilhss. Hence both the Germans and
~ q. one end of the campaign gave IN
e ene use OF the common she'll" and now wv
III , "ur wagons and limbers with shran.
nel while for defensive nnrnoses ., ~, s'llap-
few rounds Of case W. Neep
NeVertheiess, we have recently adontod
al exceedingly powerful weanon ~
| r m IMAM replaces the common shall
DurlnS the Peninsular war the Guns IT,
s we're tnen used chiefly employed for the
snort ranges at which thew were frad
| soma shot, which did not break IN H.
smell; but we had also another forr,
| u weapon the "howitzer," which u,aa
| only hred with shell much larper +ho,'
lne solld shot of the gun. In order to
eeouGe the weight of the piece, and to
~ ."uie ~ 20 De drawn easily by horses
vi mules IN the field. it was made .1-erv
"uch shorter than the gun, and 90 this
/ "ould nave caused great recOjl from, Tho
retcClon when the shot was dischor,ad
ne ho"ltzer, instead of being laid like
me gun, approximately horizontal was
t t 1ireu at high angles so that it's shells
travelled IN very high curves. con,ino.
down on the enemy from ahove 1uhiIe
| the reco1l was largely downward and w,e
received on bed prepared for the mr.
1 oss;~W men shells came to be so uniformly
eelllpioyed by the ordinary field guns.
no%llHers gradually dropped out of use.
ana ceased to be any part of the ordinary
equipment of field batteries. Circum.
stances nave, however, restored them tn
favor. All nations have for great MANY
years been trying whether thew could not
introduce a more powerful explosive than
sullpo"uer as means of bursting their
smells. 1t happens that there is 2 Vow
powerful agent, long known to chemists
Whlch, II it only could be made Dractica1.
~ available, seemed to promise to oi1e
very decisive results. This was nicric
| aclu. us compounds were very powerful
ana eHectlVe as long as they were quite
tresh. but so tickle was the CT feature tha +
the compounds rapidly changed their
character. deteriOrated, and became dan
gerous Nevertheless both Germany and
france set to work to create a comnound
OF Whlch a picrate should be the basis.
5 T as could be safely used in the field.
| france uses composition of picric acid
known as melinite' T do not 1,po1,
whether it is the case now or not but
4 rev years aSo France met the diff cultv
OF It's rapid deterioration by making nm
tresh mellnite and refilling the shells with
~ every year. For us, more especially for
our shlps. liable always to be recalled
from distant stations to form f1eets at
meme, 1t was exceptionally important to
get over this difficulty of rapid deteriroa-
tlon involving danger in storage. After
iong experiments form of picrate was
devised which we call "lyddite" because
the experiments were carried ont at T1,dd
one OF our great practice grounds From
Etrlal in various climates and for long
periods 1T was found that on the one
hand, 1T was possible with this ,nateria
TO secure adequate permanence, and on
the other that it was not safe to make it
up for small Shells Yet it was ne,es.
sary, If possible to have weapons employ
ing these shells with US in the field
lthat is to say, light enough to be drawn
by horses, so that they could be moved
about to a reasonable extent with other
troops 1t was for this purpose that re-
Ecourse was again had to the old
method of the howitzer. A "battery' i.
six of these howitzers, short pieces firing
Fat high angles of elevation, each drawn
by six horses, ard able to move alone
roads and on good ground at a trot but
usually Obliged on difficult ground to
move up into position at walk. we
have now three of these batteries, eigh-
teen howitzers in all, on their way to thu
FCape. Meantime, by the ingenuity of 2
naval officer, Capt. Scott, a substitute 70,
them has appeared at Ladysmith The
navy have on board ship a number OF
guns which are not placed on carriages
for moving about with horses, and being
fired from the carriages on which they
thus move. Though not broadside OF
lturret guns, they are intended to be fired
from fixed Platforms They, though
somewhat heavier than the field
IhowitzerS, fire a shell of about the same
size. These are the ~ inch guns, the
arrival of which at Ladysmith made at
one time so great a. difference in the
situation.
We call these guns 4.7-inch because tn.
measurement of the diameter of length
taken across the mouth of the gun is foul
inches and seNen-tenthS of an inch. 1t
is evident that for a projectile of given
length this diameter represents the weight
OF the shell which the gun can throw as
we'll as II we said, what is the fact, that
the weight Of the shell is about fifty
POUNDS. Ihere Is a possibility that yet
more powerful naval guns are being used
namely, 6-inch. They would throw a shell
of over one hundred pounds weight. W.
are told that the heavy Boer gun called
Long Tom" is a "94-pounder." Tha.
would mean that it throws shell ninety
four pounds in weight. It is of muck
the same character as the 6-ineh, not easily
movable. The shells are made to burst
by means of two kinds of fuses" A
fuse IS an Independent body put into the
shell and travelling with it through the
air. One kind, the percussion fuse" is
filled with a composition and mechanical
arrangement, such that when the shell
strikes amy object sufficient to bring it to
a stop, the she'll is exploded by the fact
of impact. The other kind known as a
time fuse Is a much more delicate in
strument It contains a composition
which burns at fixed rate, and the
amount of composition placed ready t.
burn being indicated by figures outside
| the case of the fuse, it is possible for the
gunner, who sets, the fuse before it is
put into the gun, so to regulate it that
1t will explode the shell after it has trav-