Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1902-04-18
ca HE testing Of the great guns cast
for use IN the American navy ana
- the coast dpfenses is an interest

CO HE testing Of the great guns cast
for use In the American navy ana
- the coast defenses is an interest
ing feature of the stations at Sandy
Hook and Norfolk. No gun Is ever
placed "in commission" until its capacl-
ty has been thoroughly approved by the
most rigorous tests. If defective III
material or construction these tests will
reveal the weakness. If they fail to
carry shot or shell the prescribed dis
lance and with perfect accuracy the
guns are thrown back upon the hands
of the makers and new ones demanded
in their stead. The manner of making
the tests is thoroughly systematized,
and though simple, are not susceptible
to error in even the slightest degree.
No clock ever was made fine enough to
denote the minute fragments of time
that are occupied in the flight of a shot
from a modern, high-powered weapon.
The best stop-watch in the world is
many hundred times too slow to do it.
Even If one could be made fine enough
for the purpose the quickest man in
the world couldn't stop it In time. Be
fore the sharpest eye had passed the
knowledge to the nmblest brain, and
that in turn had passed the command
to the quickest finger that ever moved,
a half-ton of metal would have hit its
goal ten miles away Ordnance offi-
GERS have to deal not with half seconds
or eighth seconds, but with the one
thousandth part of second In the
office in Sandy Hook is a queer instru-
ment of polished steel. Day after day
it records instants of time too small for
the mind even to conceive. To measure
and record the one-thousands of a sec
ond is play for It, 1t is always set to
do that But 1t can measure millionth
part of a second.
Yet the work of recording the course
Of big shot is beautifully simple The
real work, that demands many years of
preparation and study, is to know what
to do with the records after you have
them.
that it is entirely possible on Sandy
Hook to record the speed of a projectile
in every foot of its course, if such
knowledge were necessary, which it is
not
AS one stands by the long line of
taper cannon one can see large frame
supports scattered at uniform distances
down the range. Each of them is hung
with wires and looks Il great deal like
the weighted wires hung over railroad
tracks just in front of overhead OBJ
structlons to tap forgetful trainmen on
top of freight cars gently and warn
them that low bridge" demands an
immediate duck II they wish to reach
the other side of the obstruction with
their heads where they belong. All
these wires are electric and each is
connected with Instruments in the
office. AS the flying projectile breaks
them they record the fact instantly.
When gun is tried at Sandy Hook
every item of its behavior must be re-
corded. What pressure does the DOW
der develop in the chamber? With what
violence does the gun recoil? What
speed does the projectile develop in the
bore before it leaves the muzzle? What
speed does it develop within second
after leaving the gun? What is its sus-
tanned speed Mt various distances from
the gun?
When a gun is to be tested. after all
Its parts have been inspected carefully
and cleaned and oiled small copper
plugs are fitted in little holes In the
breech. These are pressure plugs.
When the powder explodes it com.
presses them and thus is recorded ex
actly the pressure exerted in the DOW
der chamber.
After the plugs are in wire is fitted
over the muzzle. 1t connects with one
of the instruments in the office and
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