Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-27
THE WIREWOUND GUN
GEN. CROzIER GIVES HIS INvEN-
TON TO THE PUBLIC.
he Says This Is to Aid Persons Who
Desire to Make improvements
The Gun Described.

Brig. Gen. William Crozier. chief of ord
to the public his invention concerning GER
tain improvements to the wire-wound gun
used in the army and in military operations
throughout the world. The action Of Gen.
Crozier was taken for the purpose Of giving
persons who desire to improve on his gun
the. opportunity to use his inventions as q
basis for their work In his letter to the
commissioner Of patents defeating the In
vention to the public, Gen. Crozier states
that in order to throw open for the free
use Of all persons his invention for wire
wound guns, he relinQuishes all rights to
the patent and freely gives the use Of his
invention to the public. This letter has
been placed on file with the transfers Of
patents and serves as a deed OF transfer.
The gun which Gen Crozier SO generously
gives to the public Is described by him as
follows:
The Gun Described.
''My invention relates to the class Of guns
In which central tube Is REINFORCED by
layers Of wire. It is fact well known to
constructors Of ordnance that in guns Of
the class mentioned difficulty is encoun-
tered In securing proper longitudinal
strength Of the cannon, the wire envelop
having no resistance in the direction Of the
axis OF the bore. A feature Of my inven-
ton consists Of the manner of so locking
together the parts Of the gun that they
cannot separate in longitudinal direction
under the action Of the forces to which the
gun Is subjected. at the same time inter-
rupting in very slight degree the con-
tinuity of the wire envelop.
1T Is also fact, not so generally recog-
.nized, that wire-wrapped gun cannot be
made OF any greater theoretical tangential
strength than can gun built up of con-
CHI f1ar
the outer cylinders being of the same ma
terial as the tube. provided the radii Of the
cylinders be properly proportioned and their
number be not less than four, for with such
q built-up gun the limit of the compressive
resistance of the tube under the action Of
the outer cylinders when assembled and Of
its resistance to extension under the action
OF the powder-pressure can be attained
without overstraining any Of the outer cyl
inders. and more than this cannot be gained
either by greater strength or greater SUBJ
division Of the said outer parts. 1t is pos
sfbie, however. to so assemble upon the
central tube a wire envelop and cylinders
Of solid metal to cause the wire to sus-
tain large proportion Of the tangental
strain, relieving THE solid cylinder or cyl
fnders which can then be made of weaker
and cheaper material without causing the
strength Of the finished gun to be in any
degree less than If the solid cylinder or
cylinders were OF the finest quality of ma
ter1al. The manner Of effecting the combi-
nation so as to produce this result forms
another feature of my invention.
1T is also fact, again not so generally
recognized, that In a gun constructed as
to utilize the full resistance Of the tube,
both to compression and extension, the
tangentfal resistance to the owder-pressure
in the bore is an increasing function Of the
total thickness of the continuous wall sur
rounding the bore. so that II any portion of
the wall of the piece be detached from the
other portions, the continuity not being
perfect in the direction of the radius for
the purpose of separately supporting the
whole or part of the longitudinal strain
such detached portion. adding to the weight
Of the piece and contributing nothing to the
strength to resist the principal strain which
it has to support-viz., the tangential-is
to a certain extent wasted. The manner of
avoiding such waste forms feature of my
invention"