The Savannah morning news., 1900-06-14
CANNON TO AVERT HAIL.
CUSTOM OF BOMBARDING STORM
CLOUDS REVIVED.

Qualifications in Ordnance-AIbert
StiSer'S "yOrtex Rings" Seem to
Protect syrian District From
Damage.
From the National Geographic Magazine.
The following is an abstract from an ar
ticle in the Wiener Abendpost by Dr. J.
NJ Pernter:
/ In 1896 the Hon. Albert Siger, Mayor of
Windisch Feistritz, in Syria, revived the
old custom Of the preceding century, usu-
ely termed weather firing" Formerly
the firing was from ordinary mortars, but
| Mr.. Suger introduced several modiica-
| tons. He found that by the use of a fun
mel attached to the mortar the efficiency
of the shot could be greatly increased
His machine was constructed on the fol-
/ lowing lines: A heavy block of oak or
tough wood was followed out so that it
could be fastened securely to its mortar
by iron clamps, and an iron funnel was
then screwed to the block of wood. The
funnel is made of sheet iron two MILNE
tiers thick and has a diameter of the up
per opening Of seventy millimeters, while
at the lower opening its width is only
twenty millimeters. In 1897 as many Is
lhirty-six Of these firing stations were es-
tablished.
At first Mr.. Suger's experiments were
sneered at and made the sport of both the
scientists and the unscientific. But never
theless, the severity of the hail, which
every year since the seventies had wrought
great damage in Syria, ceased in Win
disch Feistritz, while in the neighboring
districts it became even more destructive.
Gradually the belief in the efficacy of
''Wea her shooting as a protection from
hail spread to the Wine-9rowing districts
in the vicinity of Syria. Here also the
experiments proved a success, and were
then taken up by Lombardy, Piedmont
and the other provinces to the south. Then
the Italian deputy DR.. +. Ottaviri visited
Nindisch FefstritZ and became also a ton-
vert 10 Stiger's system OF weather shoot
ing. He re- urned 10 Italy. and under his
leadership similar apparatus, called Stiger
cannon, were rapidly manufactured and
set up, especially in Tuscany. and Emilia;
also the astonishing number of shooting
associations sprang up each with its in
dlVidual station. In The summer of 1899
the first in which the cannon was used ia
Italy, no less than 1900 stations were
equipped on the Stiger pattern. and all
were very active during the season The
Italians, in fact, became so enthusiastic
mat a congress was summoned and met
Nov. 6-S, 1899 in Casale Moutercito.
Italians Adopt the Idea.
Al this congress the Minister of Agli-
culture was represented by the Ind
Secretary of State, and the Minstr e of
War and the Interior also sent DELEGATES
Five hundred participants in the congre- S
appeared some of them the most distin-
guished scientists Of Italy Mr.. Stiger WIS
elected honorary president, and a commit
tee of four eminent professors repre-. ent-
ing Syria. Piedmont and Veni e. were
appointed to report on the results of he
Siiger method for preventing dam ge from
nail The committee unanimously ag e
that "if the shooting was commenced in
time the damage from the han was always
aVerted.' number of iuStanc 5 we e
cited showing that in the towns where
there was no shooting the destructive VIC
lence of the hail continued unabattd
whereas in the districts where the shooting
was done no hail occurred.
Mr.. Stiger, the inventor, however, pr
ticulary warns the public against reirg
oversanguine, as he asserts that, in lite
of the many successful results obi ined
by his process, there is not yet the cor
tainty if its effectiveness.
Every one is naturally asking The ques-
sion: How can the formation Of hal lie
Influenced by "wea ther fringe" l emf SIS
thai 1 am not able 10 answer, but mus
assert that because We cannot comprehend
its existence. In explaining the action II
The cannon, two points are to be 90 sid
ered-the effect of the explosion and The
force of the vortex ring that rises from
the gun barrel. In the sultry, disre 5 ng
calm that precedes violent storms it is al
most ma tural necessity to make a noise,
and as loud a noise a. possible. One feels
that from the sulIry calm before the sto m
misfortune is to come, and that by dis
turbing the stiffness the misfortune is
turned away. Mr.. Stiger states that ne was
guided by this thought when he began
his experiments in 1886. THE obssrva-
ton" he says. that every hailstorm is
preceded by an absolute stiffness of he
cir. accompanied by heavy oppre sion,
suggested to me the idea of disturbing this
calm which seemed essen ial TO the fer
nation of hail. and therefore | tried
weather shooting, which has been known
for centuries"
That vibrations can destroy the forma-
ton of hail has no foundation in phy-cs.
AS far as our knowledge reaches-for we
do not yet understand the hail-formng
process-the explosion could not affect the
process, either through changes in The
clouds or by the premature freezing Of
dropes through conclusion, or through
a considerable conclusion.
Inventors Hypothesis.
We must therefore turn to the second
ring from the cannon prevents the forma-
ton of hailstones. Mr. Stiger has from
the beginning ascribed the successful re-
suits from his machine TO the effectS OF the
vortex rings. In an official report of an
expert from the Imperial Institute, who
was sent to investigate the experiments
made by Mr.. Stiger in 1897. the following
statement Is made: 1T was shown that
by the discharge of a shot vortex ring
similar TO the common smoke ring is pro-
duced and can be seen in reflected sun
light. The ring rises rapidly with a dis
tinct whistling, which is audible at a great
distance. Observations showed that this
whisthng could be heard for thirteen sec
onds and in Gains for more than twenty
seconds"
swallow which was once struck by
one of these vortex rings fell dead, such
was the tremendous force. Mr.. Stiger est-
mates the effectiveness of the shots and
the shooting apparatus from the duration
of the whist ing of the vortex rings Step
by step the size of the mortar, the depth
and breadth of the bore, the form and
hight of the barrel, the weight OF the
powder, have been carefully determined
by experiment. until most effective com
binaton has been attained. In some ex-
periments. at which l was present, l saw
the vortex ring shoot upward against the
clouds ike a shot from a gun barrel. and
distinctly heard the whist ling for twenty
to twenty-eight seconds. The astounding
force of the vortex rings was best demon