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


Bits of En9ermution Interesting
in View oS the South African
War.
There are many terms and phrases used
In the description of the war in South
Africa WHICH convey little or no informa-
ton to many Of those at home who are
deeply Interested in making out what IS
happening 10 their loved ones engaged
in the field. An immense number OF peo-
pie are now deeply interested in the events
of the war who want simple common
sense explanations about the terms they
read, such as "Creusot,' "krupp'
'shrapnel," 'Common She'll '94-pound-
ers," "4-7+inth guns, Mausers, Lee
Enfield and SO on
We have been told that the Beers have
brought up some very heavy guns to fire
upon Ladysmth and en- Mafeklng, OUT
there is q dispute as to whether these are
"Krupp'' guns or "Creusot' guns, and Il
want first to explain what the discussion
means says Maj. Gen. Mauria IN the
Nineteenth Century. ,Creusot or lie
Creusot" is a place in the department OF
Saone-at-Loire in France, which has long
1t does not follow, however, that a "Creu-
sot'' gum was made at Cruesot, because
that name is now applied to all the guns
that are manufactured by the great
French firm of Schneider & Co., who in
1888 became possessed of the WORKS at
Cruesot, which, after being employed by
the state Under the revolutionary govern
ment for the manufacture of guns, were
1o1 hon ok n
owners. In 1867 Messrs. Schneider made
themselves famous by being the first hrm
fully to apply and adapt to the manufac-
ture of both plates for armured ships and
guns various inventions, chiefly English
notably the great invention OF Bessener
for the cheap manufacture Of steel. From
that time onward their works have been
steadily developed. They have applied
new processes to manufacture, including
the use of various aloys-notably Nickel
of which in it's 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 neighborhoOd OF
Havre, and have there created gigantic
workshops almost on as large q scale as
their wnrks at CreusOt. Thus, when we
speak of q "CreusOt' gun, we mean q
gun of Wha tever size made by the great
French firm Of Schneider & Co., whether
it has in fact been made at Creusot at
Havre.
On the other hand, a "Krupp' gun
means that the gun has been made by the
great Prussian firm of Heron Krupp.
whose works are at Essen. An ARM
strong gun means that the gun has
been prOGuc 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. A '"MaXim' gun means, as far
as it's Eame is cor cerncd, that it is the
invention of Mr. Maxim, an American,
many of whose patents have been bought
by Messrs. Vickers Il eco. Maxim
NOrdenfelt' is q combined product of the
inventions of Mr.. Maxim and Of those that
We're brought to this country by Mr..
NOrdenfelt, a SWede. "Shrapnel' is the
name given to a particular form of
'shell." 1t takes it's name from Gen.
Shrapnel, who during the Peninsular war
invented a form in which it was appli-
cable to the spherical shells which were
fired from the guns we then used.
When, by the force Of gunpowder or
other explosive fired behind it, a body,
which we have placed in q 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 re-
sistance that it meets with is due to the
opposition Of the air, While it is all the
time under the influence of the force by
which it has been propelled and of the
attraction of the earth known as gravita-
ton. Obviously, the resistance is dimin-
ished if the same weight of metal can be
put into an elongated body presenting a
relatively very small surface to the air
as compared with a round shot. If, how
ever, we were to fire out of a smooth.
bore gun an elongated body without any
other precaution, 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. Expert
ment has proved that when once a pro-
jectile has been started with a 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 irrelevant for my purpose
yet remains very constant. Now If, by
any one of MANY methods, we impart such
q shape to the gun and to the projectle
that, as this latter passes up through the
bore of the gun, it has to turn round on
Its longer axis certain number Of times
It is obvious that it will leave the gun
with an impaired tendency to spin round
at the same rate with which it had to
spin during the brief time it was in the
gun. f"Rif1ing'' takes many forms and has
many varieti> IS, but essentially it con-
sists in the modification Of the shape OF
the gun or projectile, or BOTH by which
we thus make it spin in tie bore in order
that it may afterward have this spin as
1T goes through the air, and, therefore
here relative flxedness of position during
Journey on which we can make calcula.
tons. We send it out of the bore Of the
gun at a certain pace of motion, ard this
pace as it leaves the muZZle we call its
initial velocity" The effect of the rifins
in enabling us to send it through the all
with less resistance than was met with
by the round shit of the same weight
keeps this initial velocity from dimin
iShing nearly as fast as it did with the
round shot. Therefore, we are able to get
very much greater ranges with rif1ed
guns than we did with the old round shot.
furthermore, we get much greater ac-
curacy because the old round shot as it
went through the bore was accidentally
set spinning in some way that we could
not at all calculate upon, and all sorts OF
Irregularities of flight resulted from this
MoSt OF the varieties Of projectile which
A7eTe used with the old smooth bores have
oeen adapted to suit our present guns A
SLlell IS prOjectile which is intended
DS means of some explosive matter inside
II to break up into fragments. Before
Shra2nel invented his shell, which was
toaoed with a number of large bullets in
tended to scatter among the troops at
Whlcn II was aimed, the common form
smell was charged with mass of pow
DER. and 1t had two effects. 1t broke IN
INTO such large fragments that these. re-
tanning most of the velocity remaining
2 the shell at the moment it opened and
having certain fresh force impaired to
Ihem by the charge within the shell,
sss}ack with great effect AGAINST any solo