Sunday morning globe., 1901-10-06
A Terrific ARM
In Rihed Cannon Invented by Captain
Cullen,
THE CUBAN FILLIBUSTER.
Tested BY Ordnance Officers and Stands All
Trials Description Of Tho Gun and The PrIn-
opos Of tho luYenlIOn-SOms Facts About
tho lnVentOn-SOms Facts About the Inventor
Who Fought the Spanlards Before Late War.

The technical description Of the Cul-
len gun, which follows, was kindly
furnished The Globe by the inventor,
Capt. Orlan Cullen. The captain is a
young man Of striking appearance and
most modest demeanOr. Clean, we'll
cut features, mild blue eyes, fair com
plexion and above the medium height
he looks more like a divinity student
in his tall silk hat and Prince Albert
coat than the warrior he proved him
self to be while commanding the Gu.
ban artillery, previous to our war with
Spain. He is Of good stock and an
American OF the genuine type, being a
nephew Of the late Senator Cushman
Davis, than whom no superior or more
patriotic statesman served his country
The terrific gun, or rather the new
principle In gunnery invented by Cap
tain Cullen will reyolutiOnize gun man
ufacture, and when adopted, especially
by the artillery and naval arms Of the
service, will place the United States
in the lead OF all the nations Of the
world in the superiority OF and dis
tinctive character Of its cannon. The
principle is applicable, too, to small
arms, and is just as effective In i'm
proving their character as In the heavy
guns or cannon now In use.
THE CULLEN BALL.BEARING RIFF
LED GUN.
The advantages OF this weapon are
summed up as follows:
The ball-bearing grooves give a rO-
tary motion to a smooth-walled projec.
tile, something that has been long
sought for (but never attainedl by ord
nance experts.
Smooth Pr0jectiIe.- smooth.
walled projectile is much cheaper to
build, as It obviates the necessity for
the expensive copper band, and in ad-
dition the energy that is consumed by
forcing a banded projectile through the
grooves Of an ordinary stiff rifled gun
is added to the force behind the projec-
tile in a ball-bearing gun, thus greatly
increasing the velocity penetration
and range.
Life Of Gun.-The strains Of the
walls Of gun are reduced rs per cent
Except over the breeCh, where initial
explosion Of propellant occurs), thus
obviating the necessity for two, at
least, Of the Jackets that are shrunk
over the tube of an ordinary stiff-rifled
gun.
This is to be accounted for in two
ways the elasticity OF the balls and
the smooth walled projectile; second
from the fact that the projectile gets
away from gun )calculus will prove
this in addition to actual trials that
have been made) in one-fortieth Of the
time it takes to get away from an or
binary gun, same charges Of propel-
liant and same weight projectiles being
used. The life Of the gun is prolonged
indefinitely.
When one set OF balls is worn out
another can be substituted and so on
during elastic life or metal fatigue
limit Of the walls of the grooves.
Calculus shows that it Is possible to
renew sets OF balls four times. The
average life Of one set OF balls is 5000
rounds (minimum). Thus a life OF
1900 rounds is assured in guns OF
from two to six inches inclusive, and
the life decreases in proportion one
sixth per inch In calibres Of from six
to sixteen inches.
When the life Of a 16.inch gun Of
present stiffrifled type 600 rounds
maXimum) is taken into consideration,
the superiority of the ball-bearing gun
Is obvious.
The trial 2-pounder which has been
subjected to the most severe tests,
shows results as follows Durability
The piece has been fred 2,311 rounds