Dynamite gun A dynamite gun is any of a class of artillery pieces distinguished by their specialized operating mechanism and purpose : they use compressed air to propel an explosive projectile . Dynamite guns were in use for a brief period from the 1880s to the beginning of the twentieth century . Because of the instability of early high explosive s , it was impractical to fire an explosive - filled shell from a conventional gun . The violent deflagration of the propellant charge and the sudden acceleration of the shell would set off the explosive in the barrel of the gun . By using compressed air , the dynamite gun was able to accelerate the projectile more gradually through the length of the barrel . See Internal ballistics . Guns for naval use were supplied with air from shipboard compressors . A small model for field use by land forces employed a powder charge to drive a piston down a cylinder , compressing air that was then fed into the gun barrel . This field model was famously used by Theodore Roosevelt ' s Rough Riders during the Spanish - American war , but had actually been used previously by Cuban insurgents against Spanish forces . The guns fired a relatively lightweight shell ; necessarily the guns had a low muzzle velocity , requiring a high angle of fire even at short ranges . This increased the flight time of the shell , and so resulted in a loss of accuracy . See External ballistics . By 1900 , the availability of stable high explosives , the longer range of conventional artillery , the gun ' s mechanical complexity , and its inherent limitations made the dynamite gun obsolete . History . The Zalinski dynamite gun . The original invention of a gun to fire an explosive charge with compressed air was the work of D . M . Medford of Chicago , Illinois . His prototype was demonstrated in 1883 at Fort Hamilton , New York . Edmund Zalinski , an American artillery officer , saw the demonstration , and over the next few years improved the design , building and demonstrating a series of prototypes . The Navy was impressed , and commissioned the construction of a specialized " dynamite gun cruiser . " The , launched in 1888 , was armed with three fifteen - inch pneumatic guns capable of firing an explosive projectile . In 1897 , a Zalinski dynamite gun was fitted to the first commissioned US submarine . It was later removed in 1900 . From 1894 to 1901 , the Army purchased and installed several coastal artillery batteries of fifteen - inch dynamite guns as part of the coast defense modernization program initiated by the Endicott Board . These could throw an explosive projective from depending on the weight of the projectile , from . Compressed air at was supplied by a steam - driven compressor . In addition to the guns and their ammunition , the steam boiler , compressor , and other equipment necessary to operate the guns weighed over 200 tons . In 1904 the batteries were decommissioned , and the guns dismounted and scrapped . The Sims - Dudley dynamite gun . Pneumatic guns for shipboard use , or at fixed coastal fortifications , could rely on a steam - driven gas compressor as an air source . For use by troops in the field , this was impractical . The Dudley - Sims dynamite gun used a smokeless powder charge to compress the air . Beneath the gun barrel was a cylinder into which the powder charge was loaded . When fired , the expanding gas from the smokeless powder compressed the air in the cylinder , which was then fed into the gun barrel , accelerating the explosive projectile . The US Army bought sixteen of these guns . The Sims - Dudley gun weighed about one - thousand pounds and had a bore diameter of . Its ammunition was not actually dynamite ; the shells were filled with a nitrocellulose - based gelatin , and exploded by either a time or percussion fuze . Each round of ammunition weighed about , of which was the explosive filler . It was cylindrical in shape , with a rounded nose , with twisted vanes on its back to provide spin - stabilization during flight . Roosevelt and his Rough Riders used a Sims - Dudley gun during the siege of Santiago , with mixed results . The gun did work as intended , delivering high - explosive shells on target . Because of its relatively quiet pneumatic operation and smokeless powder charges , it did not betray its presence , and so was not targeted by the Spanish . But it was mechanically unreliable and not very accurate . On balance Roosevelt was not enthusiastic , but found it " more effective than the regular artillery . " United States service . The was armed with three 15 inch dynamite guns .