The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-09-24
NEW HowITzERs FOR ARMY.
Guns Now in General Use Are Be hind the Times.

The army IS to nave an ent1rely new outfit of field guns and seize guns. which will be of pattern wholly different from any weapons hitherto employed in the service.
 They will be of the quick-f1re kind, and will shoot twenty times as fast as the guns now in use.
 All of the field artillery at present in use in our army Is out of date. and the Ordnance Bureau of the War Department is anxious to replace it as quickly as pos- sible with a thoroughly modern equip ment of the rapid-fre cannon.
 The new guns now being turned out at the arsenals are of a novel kind. and will be superior to any possessed by foreign military establishments.
 They are able to throw twenty explo- sve shells per minute, or one every three seconds, and have an ingenious ar rangement for taking up recoil. so th>t they do not jump backward or throw their wheels off the ground, like ordan- ary cannon when discharged
 When one of these guns Is fired its barrel. which is held in place by power full spring, makes a jump backward( thus taking up the recoil) and thereupon i'm mediately resumes its original position.
 Recoil and recover are accomplished in side of a couple of seconds, so that the weapon ulStHdTBcS COHlllluOuS BtIcdIli of projectilee, which are fed to 1t by the help of a special mechanical contrivance.
 The shells are supplied by two men who occupy seats on either side of the gun carriage at the back. and the stability of the cannon is such that they are hardly disturbed by jar.
 The new cannon. if turned upside down an accident that often happens to field guns in actual service--will run just as well that way as right side up.
 On the rear end of the carriage is a sort of spade which sticks into the ground and helps to prevent the weapon from moving backward on recoil.
 In front of the pair of wheels on which the carriage is mounted are two comfort able cushioned seats, intended to be oc- cupied by a couple of men in ordinary traveling.
 These guns are being made in two pat terns-ritles and howitzers. The chief difference between the two is that the howitzer has a shorter barrel and is capable of being elevated at an angle of 45 degrees. so as to throw bursting projectiles over a wall or parapet.
 The caliber of the rifles are 3-inch. 3-s inch and 4.7-inch.
 For the howitzers the caiibers are 3S- inch, 4.7-inch and 6-nch.
 The 3-inch gun, which Is the most mo- bile. is for light artillery, to go with cav airy ordinarily.
 Such a weapon is able to knock down walls, but cannot throw it's projectiles over them.
 For the latter purpose the smallest of the three calibers of HowitZers is vel adapted, firing thirty pound shells, where as the 3-inch rife shoots only fifteen pound shells. usually shapnel. ! The 3-inch gun is specially for use against animate objects-that is to say men and horses-but at a pinch. if the | enemy be intrenched. 1t can employ shells loaded with a high explosive. | As the caliber of the weapon increases | the proportion of explosive shells utilized becomes greater.
 The 6-inch howitzer throws a 12O-pound shell filled with maximite. which is the | particular form of high explosive choser | for the new cannon. 1 Maximite. the composition of which is 6 | Government secret. is about three times as powerful as ordinary gunpowder, ana | Is a powdery substance melted by heal and poured into the shell. The latter is exploded on impact by g | fuse.
 The rifle of 3.S inches and the howitzel of the same caliber. being heavier anC | less mobile. are intended to accompany column of infantry in ordinary cases As for the heaviest rifle and the two largest howitzers. they are seige guns, de signed for battering down Notifications and other such works. When a breach has been made in thu walls of fort shrapnel, which are pro jectiles filled with bullets that scatter when the shell bursts, would replace thu maximte bombs for use against the sol diery unless they had surrendered.
 One hundred and thirty-four of the new S-ineh rifles have already been built ol are in process of construction.