Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1915-08-06

II -
~U the age of eighteen years
M conceived the idea OF bull
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 projectiles yet devised
In all armies the field artillery units
today use shrapnel. One has only to
read the war news that is cabled or
wirelessed across the Atlantic TO real
ice the all-important part shrapnel
shells are playing in the conflict now
raging.
The shrapnel projectile consists OF
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 10 an 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 projectile, and communicates
with the powder or bursting charge
through 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 of the head of the
projectile. which is lightly attached,
and thus release the bullets. which fly
forward In cone-shaped shower, COW
ering large front. The bullets de-
pend for their force upon the speed
at which the projectile is travelling
when they are released. For effect
they should have momentum Of not
less than four hundred feet per sec
ond. Consequently, as the ballistics.
or the force and velocity, OF the pro.
jectiles increase, the striking effect of
shrapnel 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 1t is a
story little known outside military
circles.
On July 3. 17T9, 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, we're being fought.
an 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 1873 until 1888.
From the very first day of his serv.
ice Shrapnel was 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 Inn
pressed. or rather depressed, because
Of the poor effect OF the British gun
merry. Shrapnel noted that on one oc-
casion when more than two thousand
twenty-four Founders were fired from
the rock at a body OF Spanish troops,
that out Of the entire command only
twenty-six men were put out of action
Another officer who was impressed as
a result Of the poor results obtained
was a Captain Mercier, perhaps an
ancestor Of the great Belgian cardinal
of the present day
MERCER 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. ShraDnel witnessed the ex-
pertinent and then and there was born
the idea out of which has been per.
fected the dreadful bullet-stufIed pro.