The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1908-10-29
LIFE SAVING AN
EXACT SCIENCE
Frank G. Hall, Former Yale
Student, Invents Life
Saving Gun.

| Over a carefully laid out and meas
ured range five miles back of here ex-
haustive tests were completed today
of a battery of improved breech-load-
ing if-saying guns, the new invention
of Frank G. Hall, former Yale Sci
entific School student and member or
the New Haven Battalion OF Naval
Reserves, says a special from New
burgh, n. Y. The guns, which We're
built at the Lackawanna Marine En-
CINE works, in Newburgh. are of an
entirely new type, designed to be mr.
ed from the vessels rail or tops with
almost the same ease and accuracy as
, the modern naval rapid-flre gun.
The life-saving gun is absolutely in
Indispensable to life-savers at times
when the surf runs so higl as to pre-
vent launching the life-boat. In order
| to use the breeches-buoy or life-car,
a line must first be shot TO the vessel
| in distress. To insure success, the
gun must load and fire quickly and &C
curately, for there is no time TO be
lost. This means, further. that the
| construction of the gun and the pow
der charge must be adopted to condi-
| tons of darkness, cold and wet wealth
| er. which conditions are directly OPP
posed to the successful working of the
. Misunderstanding gun, with its unprotect-
| ed powder-charge bags, its open bore
pointing sllyward and closed at the
lower end, forming a natural recepta-
tcle for water, and its open, ignitinS
primer and wooden carriage, which
must be securely tied down 10 prevent
| recoil
The disadvantages of such a gun
We're so Overwhelmingly obvious as to
preclude its successful use heretofore
aboard a vessel, which led Mr.. Hall
! to invent a departure from the old
methods.
The illustration represents one OF
/ the guns constructed for the Snohom-
ish, at the moment of discharge. AS
shown, the gun is fitted with porta-
bic temporary platform. which can be
placed on the ground without anchor
ing, and at the same time approx
! mate in construction the ships deck.
A crew of two men, as indicated, are
detailed for serving the gun. 1t can
be loaded, aimed and fired with ease
in less than thirty seconds.
| Patents are being procured, both
here and abroad.
Recent Experiments.
| Recent experiments in connection
with the new army and navy govern
ment rife have demonstrated that
| where the gun is not properly bal
anced and held in position while be-
| ing fired species of vibration deveI-
ops which defects the path of the bull
let, making accurate shooting almost
| impossible. The above mentioned
phenomenon becomes in certain cases
aggravated, as for example in the case
of a cannon of the old muzzle-loading
| type (suCh as the muZZleloadlng gun
used by the government life-saving
service on shore), which fires a heavy
projectile and recoils when free some
twenty or thirty feet, turning over and
over.
This source of inaccuracy does not
exist with the new Hall gun, mas
much as the gun is rigidly held in po-
sition, as in a wise. and cannot vi
brate under the heaviest discharges.
Rather Short.
The improved life-saving gun IS
| considerably less than three feet in
length, and is built of steel and a spe-
cial bronze alloy, which resist the ac-
ton of salt water and air. The gun
tapers from the breech, where the
greatest strain comes. to a diameter
of five inches at the muzZle. A spe-
cial self-lockinS mechanism at once
the simplest and having the feWest
parts of any yet devised for breech-
loading, closes the rear of the bore
in such a way that any water finding
its way into the gun will be instantly
drained out. The firing hammer.
with its safety device, is actuated by
a lanyard. and relies wholly on the
pull of the gunner, all lie springs
and delicate iatches ordinary used in
army cannon being entirely elimi-
mated. To prevent the troublesome
and dangerous jumping back OF the
gun when fired, it is provided with
special recoil checks, attached to the
mount. Instead of having the pow
der charge in loose wooden bag, open
TO moisture, it is contained, together
with it's primer, in a Theoretically
sealed bronze cartridge core. which
slips easily into the breach of the gun.
After the cartridge has been inserted
and the breech closed, the projectile
carrying the line is inserted In the
muZzle and showed nome. This pro-
jectile is a cylindrical shot. rounded
elliptically at the inner end and hav-
ing means for securing the shot line
at the end