The Topeka state journal., 1903-06-22
THE TORCH SHE'LL.
A New and Deadly Weapon of War
and Details of Its Use.

A new and important function has
been added TO the already deadly shell
visibility Of its flight at night BY
means of torch attached to the base of
the shell. 1t is possible to watch il
throughout it's entire course. and 70 see
clearly the. exact point at which it
strikes. With the automatic guns now
fast coming into general use and firing
one-pcunder shells at the rate of four
shots a second, a practically continuous
stream of IRE is thrown. which can be
directed like water from hose, without
using the sights of the gun and without
knowing the range.
The Illuminated shell was invented
and developed by Mr.. J. B. Senple Of
Pittsburg, Pa, who owns all the patents
and it has been taken up for extensive
tests by both the army and navy of the
United States, as well as those of Eng
land, Germany and France.
Although much of practical value was
learned from the naval battles of tEe
Spanish war. there was no opportunity
to prove the effectiveness of the modern
torpedo boat in the hands of daring and
competent men. In repelling the attacks
of these feet little vessels. it is easy TO
imagine how difficult is the work of the
gunner, when suddenly the Searchlight
of the battle ship picks up an lncom-
ing torpedo boat, where but moment
before the sea was blank. There is no
time to find the range or elevate the
sights. The swiftly moving destroyer
must be hit, and hit hard, before it
reaches the S00-yard mark, where it viii
discharge its first 1S-inch Whitehead.
The time allowed the gunner in which
to strike some vital part is a little over
one minute. Behind him are the lives
of 500 men. his own life, a four million
dollar battleship, and the cause FOR
which he is fighting; in front IS the
desperate destroyer, certain OF accom-
plishing it's end unless stopped before
it gets too close.
The knowledge of the result If ne 1alls
/ the short time, the SuGdenneSs with
which he is called into action, all tend
to make his work extremely difficult
I The combined attack of several destroy
/ ers at once would, under present conul-
tions prove almost impossible to resist.
4 It is for these emergencies, when ac-
! curacy and extreme rapidity of fire are
demanded that the Illuminated shell IS
expected to be most effective.
Exhaustive tests by the army nave
shown that by its aid field batteries can
go into action at night without any pre-
vious knowledge of the range, and that
it promotes the effectiveness OF flre from
/ coast artillery by showing the exact
/ trajectory of the shell. the drift by the
wind, and the amount of lead neces-
Sary to strike a swiftly moving Nessel
at long range. Without the DATA gam
I ed by watching the flight OF the nlSt
shell the corrections for wind and speed
/ of a moving target would be largely a
matter of guess, and while the range
can be correctly given and the slShls
/ accurately set it still requires UNIFORM
velocity Of the shell for accurate work
It IS now well known that a charge
of smokeless powder If exposed 10
j dan1Dness does not give the required
velocity, while. on the other hand,
powder that has been stored in dry
place for a long time is apt to give
velocities higher than the standard ana
may cause a miss by overshootinS.
although the correct range pc given
land the sights correctly set.
The object of a fort or battleshir
is to carry and protect the guns; the
sole object of the gun is to hit. Any
device, therefore, which aids in inereas>
ing the number of hits in a given time
cannot be too highly valued
An order for several thousand of the
/ Illuminating. attachments, called "trac-
ers' for sab-caiibre target practice
with the coast defense guns has been
placed with Mr. Semple, and it is ex-
pected that not only will the excellence
of the night work be improved, bun
considera Bile interest added to target
practice.-Harper' Weekly.