Evening star., 1915-06-13
SHlR APNEls AND SHELL ARE
GREAT FACTORS in THE WAR

plex mechanism. its complexity being
shown by the subcontracting of the or
Foundry Company among fifty concerns
in the United States and Canada. That
company's order called for five million
shrapnel at an approximate cost of
sSs.ooo,ooo. or s16.e5 each. Close to
twenty million pounds of copper are
being used in their manufacture, or
about four pounds to each shrapnel."
The price Of shrapnel has been put up
by the war. The urgent need of the
buyers and the uplifted prices of cop
cartridge case, and the copper in the
rotating band of the shrapnel case and
the dial ring of the fuse. Also the
price of the powder chemicals has gone
up The usual price Of shrapnel in the
United States before the war was, in
round figures. $40 per shot
A distinguished officer Of the United
States artillery has written this Of
shrapnel: THE shrapnel case is the
vehicle for the transfer of the shrap-
At this point the powder charge in its
base is ignited and the balls are driven
out with increased velocity. After the
burst each shrapnel ball pursues its
locity and initial direction. The pro-
jectile has motion of rotation due to
which the balls are thrown away from
the trajectory which the shrapnel
would have followed II it had not burst
in aid. The paths of all the shrapnel
balls. taken collectively. form a cone,
called the cone of dispersion The
ground section of this cone is an irreg-
uIar oval with its longer axis approx
imately in the plane Of fire. The di-
the angle of fall, the height of burst
the slope of the ground and the rela-
tion between the linear and rotational
velocities at instant Of time of burst"
4 X
The shrapnel case is Of steel with a
solid base and around 1t is a copper
band, called the rotating band, which
takes" the rifling Of the gun when
the propelling charge forces 1t through
the bore. This gives to the shrapnel
the rotary motion which keeps it true.
or very nearly SO. on Its fight. In the
base of the steel case, which is cylin-
drical with a pointed nose. is a charge
In front of that is the diaphram.
thick steel disc. and in front of the
disc are the shrapnel balls. which, in
the instance of the United States
shrapnel are Of the number OF Zaz' each
posed of lead and anttmony. These
balls are packed in substance called
the "matrix," the sole purpose OF which
at one time was TO pTOuuCo tLiCh,
white smoke at the point Of burst
that the shot in its relation to the tar
get might be observed. or guessed at.
That matrix Is now both smoke-pro-
ducing and higs explosive. so that If the
shrapnel bursts on ground instead OF
in air, it has partly the effect of shell.
rupturing and fragmenting the steel
shra pnel case, and, Of course. scatter
ing the balls.
A mechanical fuse is screwed into
the point Of the shrapnel case This
fuse is "set" BY turning a dial grad
uated into sixth Of seconds, and the
time action OF the fuse is put in opera
ton by the firing of the gun. Through
the center of the case and through the
mass of balls and their matrix is
slender, hollow cylinder connecting
the fuse in the front end with the
bursting charge in the base end. When
the time train in the fuse has burned
the number OF fractions Of seconds re-
auired for the range. flame passes
through this cylinder from the fuse to
the bursting charge. This explosion
carries forward the steel disc and
forces out the shrapnel balls. stripping
off the fused head of the shrapnel, and
II the fuse has been set for longer
time than required for the range, it
bursts on impact.