The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-09-22

possess no marked feature Of su-
perlorlty over the latest Krupp gun
opeclal recoil features in the French
gun have noteworthy qualities, but
Tor hard, knockabout conditions Of
service and dependable features
many military men declare that the
krupp weapon is the acme in field
guns today.
The United States has Jagged far
behind in It's field gun DEVELOPMENT
It's guns have been outranged for
many years, but the latest American
are believed to approximate
close to the shrapnel range of the
average gun abroad. In the new
American fieldpieces there is claimed
a maximum shrapnel range of $500
yards. Krupp was obtaining this
range with shrapnel as early as
1902.
The majority of field guns follow
we'll efine principles, and on the
whole there is but little deviation in
the various services. AS a rule, the
standard field gun throws a proiectile
Weighing IA IL pounds. This refers
to the Continental piece. TIL
French Deport gun throws a proiec-
muzzie velocity OF 1860 feet per
ksecond. The new Russian horse ar
t1llery gun throws a prOjectile weigh
ing IA IL pounds with a velocity of
1,775 feet per second. The weight
Of this new Russian gun is only
18 IL hundredweight. This Russian
gun was developed by the French
works at Creusot, and by military
men is regarded as perhaps the best
horse artillery gun as yet adopted to
any nation.
The projectile mainly used by field
guns today IS shrapnel. Shrapnel
shell contains for the majority of
field u ammunition about $50 half
inch lead balls. The shrapnel is
burst by means Of a mechanical fuse
over and ShOrt of the object aimed
at. The effect of the burst is to re-
lease the small balls within, and
these balls continue on along the ira
jectOry which the shell proper would
have followed had it not burst. This
would be a descending trajectory
/ something like the curve traced by a
handball when thrown from a dis
/ lance. The small balls on being re
1 leased carry forward and downward
: IN a ~sheaflike torrent, and at al
average of say, $500 yards all The
$50 balls should be found in a tar
get laid flat on the ground measur
s ing 200 yards in depth by 20 yard.
wide
s HOwitzcr and Siege Guns.
n Aside from the field guns proper
r the present war has brought out won
0SAAuA " IlOWllLeIS dl(
h siege guns. Nowadays howitzers ar,
Y sent fOrward with the field guns o
e calibres which q few years ago woul'
6 nave relegated these guns to tn
siege trains. Germany in 191
brought out the - inch quick-irin;
hOwitzer having muzzle velocities o
985 foOt-seconds and throwing
y she'll weighing thirty-one pounds
i Now we see a elimination in tn
Y muzzle velocity and an increase i
le shell weight. One of these 4.2-inc
It Krupp howitzer weighs behind tn
It team 81 hundredweight. This is a han
J. dy gun, designed to be brought up an
used with the field guns where e1
Is c~essive shrapnel work is required, a
e against troops behind intrenchment
is or behind shelters which cannot yer
le we'll be searched out by the MOI
r direct fire Of the standard field gul
Is The trajectory Of the howitzer shell
t. it will be readily perceived, is muc
IS higher in other words, it is a create
curve in effect by reason of the lowe
10 initial velocity.
r. The great aim Of field guns is til
le dispersion Of troops through til
n medium Of %shrapnel, but to affoI
v also the means of producing a mir
effect against distractions. Many
in the shells in the various services t.
er day are known as "universal.' Th
ut is a prOjectile which is effective bot
lie as a common shell and a tin
in shrapnel. The spaces between tt
ty bullets are filled with a high eXpl
sive which merely burns when tt
shell is burst in air, but detOnate whe
lie functioned by a illuminate primer {
ge impact.
IS. Urhardt, the gunmaker of Dilsse
en- dorf, whose works have lately bee
re absorbed by Krupp, brought O
tn ~trintrotoluol as an explosive, and Il
iEEhrhardt shell was adopted by Il
I'll German government for the fe
,r- hOwitzers. The French attempt
Of something along the same lines, b
their explosive when burned in a
NJ melted the bullets.
he hfupp CnlscrsaI onen'
er- krupp Iateiy DTouehl OUT d ui
versal shell, which is regarded as