The sun., 1910-06-13
NV Wan MArERIAL

/ H-NN'iAA u-Na ~ hhF NuNa NNNA uNNAAaN
about By the common soldier. who found
them useful On the battlefield and therefore
ADOPTED them. Field intfenchmenis. 20
vital In Importance to-day. owe their eN-
ls'ence 10 this simple origin. and the hand
grenade caIna into ne originally In the
same way. Science. however. IA necessary
70 perfect these simple devices and make
them effective FOE general uss in the army
Tho hand grenade both IN stack and de-
tsnos. proved lta salcienoy n the Russo
Japaneas var. but Il bad - many defects
and lmDerioctiOns that In spite Of the great
improvements made In this weapon a. rs-
cards construction and manipulation many
AathSEitlsa wore still doabtiul Of Rs real
utiliiy In var. But nov the Krupp Arm In
tiermahy has Constructed . cannon foF
throwing bombs % sFeOadss which over
CONES all thsae dimenliisa and makes the
weapon an ehicisnt var material.
Interesting 10 note that ths weapon
y really a modern revival Of an old plocs
Of ORDNANCE. The original piece was In
vented BY tho FFench Colonel PnlGbans
IN isiS and Was Intended for the lombard
meat Of f0Ttiiioatlons, taxing q position
intermediate between guns and hOWltRprs.
and was really a kind q mortar II dis
appeared In ISL. Whsa the Pruaslans.
70 the Siege 0f Paris. fORnd their pieces OF
THIS kind worthless and blsW them up
The new kruUp gua = designed, In the
close attack and defence OF fogtihcaiiOna
or intrsRchments. 10 throw large bombs
or Rrenadea With very curved traject0rles
20 as to reach the enemy behind cover
and IL h intended 10 serve a. q support
ia the nhal assault.
The gun n about three feet lOnR and
Of inch calibre and u mounted on q car
rage very like our old mortar carriage.
The bore y not rifed but perfectly smooth.
Widentng out at the rear for the powder
chamber. u n muREle loader and Ire vent
runs down ObliQuely from the top surface
The elevation. varying from a 10 70 degrees.
y indicated on the LETT trunhion and h
given By meaDs of q hand wheel on that
side Another wheel on the rimht side
Of the carriage traverses the piece aud
carriage In the horizontal place, thus Civ
ina h its proper direction
The carriage h mounted IN q wooden
platform and In order 70 move the pieoe
the whole jHun. carriage and platforml
= mounted on two wheels, and tWo lOnR
curved handles are attached TO the rear, |
20 that q man moves u along like a wheel |
barrow
A standard. Which has extension pieces |
Tor looking over the paTape,. on the right |
side Of the carriage holds the sighting ar
Tanaement. The bomb OF grenade Il
spherical IN shape and Of several timea the
diameter Of the bore Of the gun. A hol- |
loS steel rod paasee through n. the front
end % whlch abuta against the percussion /
time fuse In the forward part of the bomb.
the rear end beinG Inserted In the bore Of the
gun before hrinE, . heavy steel dlak being
placed iuai under the bomb and covering
tho mouth Of the piece
In frinR the bomb and rod move forward
the steel diak remainlnR In place until the
rear part of the rod lof larger diameter
ihan The hole through the diskl stFIkea The
latter when the bomb hiea OF alone. the
rod dropping to earth sOon after leaving
he pierre
The entire weight of pisce and plat
form is about .osa pounds. and when
mounted on wheels ioo pounds The pro-
iectile Weighs about ~ pounds. has q
muzAls velocity Of nearly 10 fee, q second
and q range Of over ~ yarda
The ptecs must bs brought up 10 cloaa
range and is therefore made 90 lRht that
! few men ran move Il along even In soft
ground. and Il Ia short and narrow, 20 as
10 be readily taken through the alRzaR ap-
Droaches In the attack of fortified positions
The accuracy Of Are h very satisfactory.
and Ire effect Of the bomb tmerely a thin
walled she'll filed with high eKplosivei u
very destructive Il
The automatic Illumination ~ the fore
ground with . view 70 prevsntinR attacks BY L
aufpriae a. night has been the subject Of
considerable experiments In Germany In
he nrut place. a wooden Dor vas hlled With
! mixture ~ 80 arammea Of potassium
rhorate and powdered sugar After dark
'he mixture wss iHnhed hy means cf an \
slectric current. and for q period Of one
and half minutes the foreground for q
radius Of atty yards Or more was ilum mated
u bright - day. 20 that everything within
'his area became distinctly and clearly visl.
be
Again. three such wooden boxes hlled with
isimilaE mixture were placed tsenty yards
ipart and fired simultaneously. IN each
DoG ten pounds Of atFaw Vas loosely piled
In this case the ground was Illuminated over
IN area Of more than ioJ yards In radius. and
hestFaw. although n had become very damn
rom the dew. burned herceiy. The nlumi-
lation lasted four minutes. and hfty head
argets which had hesn aet up cOHld readily
10 taken under ars By q skirmish line which
lad been posted opposite them at distance
Il 20 yards
This experiment. waa repeated. using siH
yOoden boxes. thus Illuminating an area Of (
- yards radius. In this case 100 kneelIns
lRures we're hred on for ten seconds By 100
kirmahers. and after that 100 bead targets /
or sevea minutes. Of the kneelink figures
hiPty eight we're hit, and Of the head tar. :
ets thiFty-nlRe.
Finally. 70 the MIXTURE abovs described {
N Erammes Of celluloid wa added In I
ne experiment. 100 RFammss of pulverined
osin In another. and SO grammea Of the |,
constituents o. Bengal light IN Q third. Tha
sllulold gave increased Illumination ana
ad the great advsRtaas of being dIaicub
. eHtinEl.sh. but II Il somewhat eHpen-
I've. The ten ETammes burned iorty-avs ]
sconda. The FOpln was not aatisfartorv
. the name Quickly died oyt The Bensai
Rht did not Increase the Illumination And
My Increased the tIms Of burning abou, II
NJ minute.
The problem Of Illuminating the fors. h,
round enthusiastically appoaFs therefore 40 a
. solved. Il might bs hsld that the eneUv 4
Duld quickly pnt out the light BY thFowtns
Ind over the flames oV BY stamping on h
~ this would hardly b the oaas. bsosuss q
" region would b under heavy Are st 4,
nca. and he would suffer RFpat lOssss: mora. ID
YER. his hrpt instinct would BE- 10 -es AZ, i
The Illuminated AREA for fear Of mlnss ).
ad other effects. and finally. whatever M b
n. the Illumination would gulal Ita ma q
On and last lone enough 20 show h,, !.
Esngth and the direction irom which IL y
lme q