Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-07-29

nlr george Wood, who commanded
Lne brigade of artillery, had 1t not
| oeen Tor this shell it was very doubt-
| lui whether any effort could have
recovered La Haye Sainte farm house
ana hence on this simple circum.
| stance hinges entirely the turn of the
| oattie. Shrapnel labored necessarily
10 bring his invention to perfection
ana partially succeeded But he an.
pears never to have quite overcome
tne olfnculties connected with the
transport OF loaded Shells
Inc long peace was attended nv
the decadence of the projectile. The
lack OF proper range at Woolwich
prevented the young school of artil-
iery ofncers from obtaining the prac-
| tice necessary for acquaintine them
! serves with it's proper application.
Further, from motives Of economy.
the services of General Shrapnel as
inspector OF explosives were dis
pensed with and bereft of his SUPER
intendence the shell manufactured in
the arsenal became so inferior in dual.
lty as to lead to the wholesale con.
demnatlon OF shrapnel as more iniu.
r1ous to its own side.
Inc inventor was allowed ROYALTY
OF t25 per 1000 rounds in the East
inola company's service. Subsequently
tne BOARD OF ordinance broke this
agreement, and took to supplying the
sneil, when such was the depreciation
OF the shot that the duke was induced
10 alter his opinion of its value. On
thls account he declined to recon-
mend the family of the deceased in.
Ventor for public fayors
:. Died Disappointed Man,
ohrapnel died in 1912, disappointed
man In 1913 he petitioned that he
snould be recompensed for the many
thousands OF pounds of his own money
Wnlch ne had expended on this and
other inventions, notably the escaya-
tlons OF the rock galleries at Gibraltar.
the brass tangent slide and the disap.
pear1ng gun mountings. All he got was
pension Of $1,000 a year, which
grant was SO niggardly interpreted
That he would have been better off had
1t never been been made William w.
announced his intention of creating
MIN baronet, but died before giving
effect to his resolution.
1t is fact that the action of shrap.
mel shell was unknown outside of Eng.
land until 1884, when Captain Bor.
man OF the Belgian artillery, COM
menced experiments with the proiec.
tile founded upon the inventors treat
1ses, and the successful issue of his eff.
forts attracted the attention of German
artillerists. At the outbreak of the
Crimean war the British artillery,
thanks to the gross misrepresentation
concerning it's utility over long per
1od Of years, decided to renounce its
employment; but subsequently, they,
naval guns, mounted In the trenches
before SebastopoI, fired shrapnel with
great effect. Meanwhile the Russians
were unacquainted with 1t.
The revival of shrapnel was due to
the Germans, who fred it, equipped
with an improved form of fuse. in the
campaigns of 1864 and 1866. In the
latter, the Prussian smooth bore guns
firing shrapnel beat off the Austrian
rif1ed ordnance, which relied on com.
mon SHE'LL, to the surprise and incred.
ulity of foreign and even British artfl.
lerymen. Again, in the war of 1901.
the Germans proved their superiority
over the French artillery, which had
some defective shrapnel, by the same
means. The experiences Of this war
led to shrapnel being adopted by all
armies as the standard type of proieo.
tile for field artillery