The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-09-09
SOME JAPANESE
ENGINES OF WAR
THE SECRETS OF THEM ARE sED.
ULoUsLY CONCEALED.
Destruction of Russian warships Due
to Shimose Powder and oda Subna-
rine Mines Tremendous Power Of
the New Expiosive-New Quick
Firing Gun for Field Artillery and
Infantry Rifle.
Rrook1vn EAGLE.

Brooklyn Eagle.
Much has been written about the
valor of Japanese troops IN the war
known of the new arms and devices OF
Japanese contrivance and manufacture,
the secrets of which are sedulously
concealed. Four Of these engines OF
war have proved wonderfully efncIent,
and they have made the names OF their
inventors honored at home and famous
abroad. These are the Arisaka quick
firing gun for field artillery and the
infantry rifle, the lguin fuse, the Oda
submarine mine and the Shimose pow
der.
The shimose powder is not used as
propellant in guns, but as an expio.
sive in shells, and is said to be inferior
only to blasting gelatin in its deadly
effects. 1t was first used In action py
the Osama in the destruction or the
Variag at Chemulpho; LII; -
said to have blown up the Petropa-
ylovsk, is a wonderful invention, which
automatically adjusts itself to any
depth of water and carries an enormous
charge of explosive, insuring destruc-
ton to any vessel SO unfortunate as TO
The Arisaka gun is three-inch
| niece firing either common shell or
shrapnel, the latter weighing thirteen
| pounds. and carrying 230 balls: In
actor it fires many shots per minute.
| The breech is closed by screw lock.
The gun weighs 1900 pounds, and with
the carriage complete only 3,ooo
pounds, giving it great mobility.
modification Of the Mauser, with very
small caliber, .05 Of an inch less than
the Lee-Enfeld rifle. It has proved
very efficient in "stoppiTg" men in
action. .>--
The Iguin fuse was invented by Vice
| Admiral Iguin, second in command OF
It's merit lies in it's simplicity and its
certainty of action at the proper: time.
It is said to exceed anything in use
by other nations, as far as is known.
| Not long ago DIR. Shimose, the in
ventor of the new powder bearing his
name, delivered lecture in Toxic IN
which he explained the nature and use
, that, according to their use, explosives
!, were classified under two headings,
namely, those for mining and those for
military purposes, the latter being
: again classified into those for discharg-
. ing and those for destructive purposes.
: "Shimose y belonged to the latter cate
g CORY andvwas never used for the pur-
9 plosiYes used by the European powers
: for waFhke purposes was guncotton.
t But manifold inconvenience attended
the use Of guncotton. For instance,
when dried too much, it exploded even
by slight friction. .
q Among the explosives in the world
4 the American gelatin has the greatest
y destructive power. Shimose comes next,
" guncotton and dynamite following in
order. To illustrate the explosive power
of Shimose, a small quantity placed
upon an iron plate one or two inches
thick would, when exploded, perforate
the plate for the area covered by the
: powder e-,~ a. ~
At an experiment carried out at
- lKugenuma. Soshu, 8 six-inch Shimose
shot was fred at coal store protected
with armor-plate similar to that of a
certain cruiser. The shot made a hols
of about three feet in diameter. where
as in the case OF the ordinary shot the
diameter Of the hole was only six inches
, while the other exploded only when il
had travelled about three feet after pas
sing thru the place. The Shimose shell
was blown into two or three thousand
pieces, while the other broke up only
into ten or fifteen fragments.
This tremendous power was testified
to by the fact that blueiacket on tht
Variag was struck by more than 16(
fragments of shell. The placing of ont
such shot on a deck would mean tn,
wounding of all the crew there. Blu
the explosive was not intended for tn,
killing Of men, but for the destruction
of warships. One more noteworthy fea
ture of the Shimose powder. concluded
the doctor, was the fact that it's cos
was about half that of guncotton.