The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-11-16
GATHMANN'S GUN FAILS.
RESULT FIRST TEST OFTHE NEW
 INTENTION.
Krupp Plate Which Was to be De- stroyed by the Shell from the Gun Not at All Injured-Gathm mann Declares Officers Diner With Him but Another Test is to be Made.
Test is to be Made.

Sandy Hook, N. J., Nov. 15.-The fail ure of Inventor Claimants theory of
 his ordnance invention in the test made
 here to-day Is ascribed by him to an i imperfect detona ton of the fuse in the
 interior of the shell. The army officers,
 however, aver that they have found l convincing proof to the contrary, and
 say that everything in connection with
 the test was as perfect IS 1t was possi
 ble to make it in accordance with the
 inventors ideas. The bord has decided
 to give second trial, to which the in
 ventor Is entitled, tomorrow morning. | The second Gathmann shell for to-mor- | rows test will be overhauled in the
 presence of MT. Gathmann for the pur-
 pose of guarding against imperfections. l On the other hand, the test made later
 in the day with the regulation gun on i the duplicate target was a complete
 success.
 The Gathmann gun test took place at | 2:15 o'clock this afternoon When every
 thing was in readiness Lieutenant Nor
 ton, of the ordnance department, press
 ed the electric button. roar from the
 gun was followed immediately by the explosion of the torpedo against the eleven-inch Krupp plate, fragments of the shell flying in all directions. The plate, however, was found uninjured, except for 8 slight indentation on the face of the metal The position of the target was slightly changed, but the change was not material
 The gun used to-day was a specially built piece of ordnance, six inches larg- CT in bore and several feet longer than any now in use, being of eighteenth inch bore and forty-four feet in length. The projectile was a shell eighteen inches in diameter and six feet in length, con- taining a charge of five hundred pounds of wet gun cotton, the whole, including the shell, weighing 1850 pounds The contention of the inventor was that, with charge of BIO pounds of powder, his shell or torpedo would disable any battleship in existence at distance of $500 yards.
 The target used in to-day's test con- sisted of a Kruppized steel plate eleven inches thick, backed by five feet of steel At the rear of the target was bank of sand eight feet high and sixty feet long. The gun was mounted upon a temporary structure five hundred feet from the target, which was located sev- eral hundred yards belowe the regular proving grounds, pointing out to sea in a southeast direction The powder charge was reduced in this test so as to represent the distance of thirty five hundred yards
 The duplicate target for the regula- tion twelve-in inch breech-loading rifle with a twelve-inch Midvale armor- piercing shell loaded with the govern ment high explosive ID" was tested at 4 o'clock. The projectile pierced the eleven-inch Kruppized plate It made a perfectly clean entrance and exploded after passing through the plate, making | a most deplorable wreck of the interi- | or A report of the final result will | not be made until after the test to-mor- i row. made were Majors Knight, Birnie and | Whistler, representing the ordnance de- | partment; Captains Hunter and Mar tin, representing the board of ordnance | and Notifications; Lieutenants Strauss and Davis, representing the artillery; | Captain F. B. Babbitt, commanding of- ficer on the proving grounds, and Ma jor General Joseph Wheeler.