Evening star., 1900-12-15
THE GATHMANN GUN
An Aerial Torpedo Thrower That
Will Make War More Awful.
A TALK WITH THE INVENTOR
He Compares His Tremendous
Weapon With Other Ordnance.
AID TO ARBITR ATT

Sandy Hook, N. Y, will soon be the abid-
ing place of the most powerful weapon in
the world, the aerial torpedo gun invented
by Louis Gathmann and recently completed
at Bethlehem, Pa. The preliminary tests
at the place of manufacture We're all highly
successful. and no doubt Is felt that those
to be made at Sandy Hook will be equally
satisfactory.
Mr. Gathmann is an interesting gentle
man, and was quite willing to tell a Star
reporter about his terrible Columbiad when
a request made.
Tell me something about your great
gum" suggested the reporter.
There were many early experiments
leading up to it," answered Mr. Gathmann
land during those L built four guns the
largest Of which was 51a-inch, g2 caliber
In the last four years the government as
sisted me very literally, and contributed
100000 toward carrying on the expert
ments on larger scale. We used nearly
1000 pounds of gun cotton, and the War
and Navy Departments loaned us various
types of guns with which to make expert
ments. In 1899 Congress appropriated S75.-
000 so that my ideal weapon might be Duii;
under government supervision.
This aerial torpedo gun" continued Mr.
Gathmann, is now completed. 1t weighs
81 tons, Is Al feet long, with 1S-inch bore,
being about the same weight and exterior
dimensions as the Pinch guns now being
constructed 1t can be mounted on any
modern 12-fnch gun carriage. The tota
weight of the torpedo shell is 1,S00 pounds
including 62o pounds of wet gun cotton.
Did the recent tests meet requirements
satisfactorily?
Entirely So" was the reply.
The government contract called for a
mLzZle velocity of 1,S)O feet per second
for 2,noo pound projectiles In the recent
tests this was exceeded by 100 feet. A pow
der charge of 200 A
markable uniformity of velocity was OBJ
tanned, the projectie varying in weight
from to pounds. In rounds. each fired
with 300 pounds OF powder, the lowest
velocity obtained was LISTS feet per second
After several rounds. the gun becoming
warm, the velocity reached 1905 feet per
second. In no instance did the pressure ex-
ceed tons. The gun, being built OF nickel
steel. can stand pressure of 1G tons with
out suffering damage from strain. The
members of the board of ordnance and for
son, Henderson and Captain Rogers. United
States navy, We're present at the tests.
and greatly pleased with results.
Why 1t is the Ideal Weapon.
II call this my ideal weapon" said Mr..
Gathman, las 1t has been my aim for years
to construct guns Of this type so that it
would not be necessary to hit a target or
object more than once. even should 1t be
the heaviest Of battle ships.
1.-The present batteries are not adequate;
for instance. in the naval battle at Yalu
two Chinese battle ships received over 20D
hits from projectiles of various caliber and
still were not disabled Had one side been
equipped with my torpedo guns of the
capacity suitable for the ships, such an en-
gagement could not have lasted four hours,
as nothing would have been left of the hos
tile fleet in the fraction of one hour. A
number of our ships received hits from
Spanish projectiles without suffering
terial damage. but had each shot fired been
an aerial torpedo our navy would now be
comparatively small
Interesting Companions.
1.-THE battle ship Of fifty years ago carried
over 100 cannon" he continued. Naval
constructors forget that the ship Is but a
guns carriage, while the gun Is actually
the SOUL None of those ships with their
hundred guns would have been able to COM
bat successfully with the monitor designed
by Ericsson: still, the monitor carried but
two guns. History repeats itself in the
present colossal battle ships. They carry