Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-07-29
CAREER
HENRY sHRAPNEL INVENTOR OF
FAMOUS PRoJEcTILE, DIED
A DISAPPOINTED MAN.
RevoIutionlzed Warfare = First Used
In Surinam Said to Have Been
the Cause Of Surrender Of the Gar
rIson of Fl. Amsterdam.

In the great land battles Of the Rus
s1an-Japanese war the results have
principally turned upon the efficacy
of the victor's artillery fire. Both
combatants seem to have suffered
heavy losses from their opponents
concentrated batteries, firing shrap-
mel.
This recalls the circumstance that a
century has elapsed since this pro-
Jectile which with every army goes
by the name of its English inventor,
was introduced into warfare.
Shrapnel has been christened the
man killing projectile, inasmuch as
It's sole object is to strike down the
enemy by means of the balls which it
contains. thus repeating the function
OF musketery fire at a range far ex-
ceeding that of the rifle Unlike COM
mon shell 1t infiicts practically no in
jury upon surrounding objects. The
effect Of the common shell or the To-
connective mine is twofold. Upon the
explosion of it's high bursting charge
persons in the vicinity are liable to
destruction both from the flying frag-
ments of the projectile itself and from
the damage inflicted on the walls
buildings, magazines, etc. But the eff
feet of common shell is very local.
With shrapnel, however, man and
man only is the target and the bullets
rain down over large area.
Henry shrapneI the Inventor.
Henry Shrapnel, the inventor of
this murderous weapon, was born in
l7l6, and received his first commits
sion in the Royal Artillery on July 9,
1879.
While present at the siege Of Glib
raltar in 1887 young Shrapnel was
much struck by the poor results Of
the British gun practice. Fof example
for 1000, "a pound round shots fred
from the Rock only twenty,six span.
iards were seen to fall. Therefore
an experiment was recommended by
q Captain Mercier. viz: to IRE out OF
guns 5h inch mortar shells with
short fuses which was carried out
with considerable execution.
BY one man at least the lesson was
taken to heart. Shrapnel realized
that the effect of both round shot and
case or grape against troops in the
field was very trivial except at short
ranges. His theory was to increase
the range of the more effective pro
Jectile, viz: grape, by producing a col
lected fire at long distances. He there
fore suggested the manufacture of a |
shell, filed with carbine balls and
containing small quantity of gun
powder, only sufficient to open it at a |
short distance previous to it's execu-
ton, whereupon the balls would scat
ter with great force, derived from the
momentum of the projectile itself, ov-
er large area, by which means the
fire would be equally severe at all |
distances.
Took Years to Form.
At Gibraltar during the same year
Shrapnel exhibited to General O'Hara
"a new method of extending the use
Of grape or case shot to the utmost
range of ordnance" This small mem
of Shrapnel's is the first in.
dication of the great idea. the carry |
ing out of which occupied the best
years of his life. However his labors
took some years to crystalline as nav
be judged from the fact that 1t was
not until 1902, "a Table of Practice
With Lieutenant Shrapnel's New
Method of Firing Case Shot," was pub.