River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1916-05-11
SECRETS OF A Gun
The Famous French rs and Its
Wonderful Mechanism.
1T HAS TWO HIDDEN DEVICES.
These Are the Fuse Setter and the Re-
coil Absorber, and They Make This
Monster Weapon a Most Fearful En-
CINE of Death and Destruction.

Monster Weapon a Most Fearful En-
CINE of Death and Destruction.
What is a 70? By this is converse
tionally understood French field gun,
the caliber, or interior diameter of the
bore, of which is seventy-fve MILNE
iers. incidentally it is the finest man
killing machine the world has yet
known.
In 1893 France surprised the armies
of the world by the Introduction of an
artillery weapon which till then had
only existed in the dreams of experts.
Till this period the slowness Of artil-
lery fire was due to the fact that after
the gun was laid and fired the shock
of discharge SO upset the aim that the
gun had to be relaid for a second shot.
The rapidity Of fire thereupon became
a matter of how quickly and ACCURATE
ly gun could be laid by the personal
skill of the layer. The French, seek
ing artillery progress and confronted
with the inexorable shortness of their
conscripts' period of training, sought to
not improve in personal skill.
Briefly, the new French field gun Of
1898 ceased to be attached to it's axle
tree, but was attached instead to a
buffer in a cradle, which not only alb
sorbed the shock of recoil, but ran back
the gun so exactly into it's former po-
sition that no second laying was neces-
sary
The primary trouble Of laying having
been got over, rapidity Of fire appeared
to have been attained. Experiments
then proved that, though a rapid rate
as fast as that at which the gunners
could adjust the fuses of the shells.
How now improve the rate of fuse
setting? This task was and is a mat
ter of meticulous accuracy, needing
careful training to be done correctly.
Moreover, it could not be hurried, since
a shell badly fused by ever so little
was not only innocuous to the enemy,
but was a danger to ones own side.
Once more the French put aside any
idea of brisking up the personnel and
invented a machine to set the fuse.
The details of this fuse setter are still
a secret. Let it suffice that it is sim
pie, accurate and very rapid in it's
work. Thanks to it and to the Steadi-
ness of the gun after each discharge,
the French field gun is easily capable
of twenty-five aimed rounds minute.
One more word about the recoil alb
sOrber and the secret thereof. The
recoi1 is taken up by a cylinder, be-
meath the gun, which contains a COM
bination of glycerin, compressed air
and springs. 1t is this combination
and the exact proportions thereof
which make the secret of the gun. It
is not even ascertainable from a cap
tured gun, since if you take a cold
chisel to it and try to examine the
works by opening the buffer the COM
pressed air escapes, and the secret
which lies in it's density evaporates
with it.
Having solved the question of the
rate of fire you would have thought
that the French would have been con-
tent. Not they! Range and accuracy
were successfully taken in hand. Muz-
Zle velocity, which, after all, means
range, was increased not by increasing
the charge and with it the thickness
of the gun that withstood it, but by
lengthening the gun to a hitherto un-
heard of extent and giving it slow
burning propellant.
The temptation to put in a lighter
shell and SO get it farther on the same
bang was successfully resisted. The
designers never lost sight of the fact
that the primary object of the gun
was to deliver death to it's enemies at
the greatest speed, range and effective
ness possible. So they concentrated
their energies on man killing shrap-
mel which in the end weighed sixteen
pounds and left the gun on its long
journey at the unprecedented pace of
1879 foot-seconds.
And there you have the present
Shrapnel
Tactics here began to get mixed up
with mechanics and ballistics. 1t was
pointed out that troops would not al
ways remain in the open to be whitfield
out of existence by shrapnel. Rather
would they get under cover at what
speed they might So shell to deal
with entertainments, buildings and for
tifications was indicated Here again
careful thought showed the need of
accurate gunnery and a still higher We
locity in the shell which, being more
local in its effects, could not be allowed
the same latitude in its action as its
shrapnel confrere.
So a high explosive shell weighing
only 11.6S pounds was introduced,
Thanks to the chemists this time, its
contents were Of such a startling ma
ture that its weight became a second
airy consideration. 1t raced away on
its mission at velocity at that time
unequaled even by the latest small
bore rifle, and when it exploded its
melinite charge blew great holes in the
scenery. - Pousse Cailloux in Black
1