The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1915-07-23

/M the age of eighteen years
n conceived the idea OF a bul
Nv let-showering projectile-
the missile which, in all
countries, is known by the name OF
shrapnel, and which remains to this
day one Of the most effective man-kill.
ing proiecties yet devised
In all armies the field artillery units
today use shrapuel One has only to
read the war news that is cabled or
wtrelessed across the Atlantic to real.
ize the all-important part shrapnel
shells are playing in the conflict now
raging.
The shrapnel projectile consists of a
hollow cylindrical body with an ogival
or conoidal head; in the interior, near
the base, there is an explosive charge,
and Immediately above the charge
there is au iron disk, and between
this disk and the head the body OF
the projectile is filled with spherical
bullets. The fuse is fixed in the point
OF the proiectIle, and communicates
with the powder or bursting charge
through a central pipe, and is timed
SO as to explode the shell during its
flight, at point about sixty or eighty
yards short Of the target
The bursting charge Is only strong
enough to blow off the head OF the
proJectile, which is lightly attached,
and thus release the bullets, which fly
forward in a cone-shaped shower, COW
eriug a large front The bullets de.
pend for their force upon the speed
at which the proiectile is travelling
when they are released. For eif4et
they should have a momentum Of not
less than four hundred feet per sec
oud. Consequently as the balhstics,
or the force and velocity, of the pro
5ectLes increase, the striking effect of
shrapneI becomes more formidable.
In all the history of warfare there
are few more interesting stories than
that which tells of the evolution Of the
terrible weapon invented by General
Shrapnel In the latter part of the
eighteenth century Likewise it is d
story little known outside military
circles.
On July 9, 1879, a commission as a
second lieutenant in the Royal artil-
lery was issued to Henry Shrapnel.
Shrapnel was then eighteen years
years Of age 1t was a period in the
worlds history when great wars,
which were TO eliminate in the over
throw Of Napoleon, were being fought,
81 era when an officer of the inventive
genius Of Shrapnel was sorely needed
In practically every army in Europe
AS soon as he was commissioned
Lieutenant Shrapnel was ordered to
Gibraltar to take part in the defense |
OF the great rock, then besieged by |
the Spaniards. The siege lasted in
termittently from 1879 until 1888.
From the very first day of his serv- |
ice Shrapnel was a student Arriving |
at Gibraltar he viewed the situation
from scientific rather than a mill |
tary standpoint, and history states
that the young officer was most i'm
pressed, or rather depressed, because
VI Luc pDOA effect Ol LuE bTlLlSu gun
merry. Shrapnel noted that on one oc-
casion when more than two thousand
twenty-four Founders were fired from
the rock at body Of Spanish troops,
that out OF the entire command only
rwenty-siX men were put out of action.
Another officer who was impressed as
q result of the poor results obtained
was a Captain MERCER. perhaps an
ancestor Of the great Belgian cardinal
Of the present day
Mercier recommended that an ex.
pertinent, namely, the firing Of mortar
shells, with short fuses so that they
should burst In the air at close prox-
unity to the target, be tried. On the
first trial the shells did terrible exc
cution. Shrapnel Witnessed the ex-
pertinent and then and there was born
the idea out of which has been per
fected the dreadful bullet-stuffed pro-