The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 18, 1897, Page 27

26 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, APRIL 18, 1897. A REVOLUTIONIZING INVENTION IN HEARVY ARMY ORDNANCE Patent papers were issued a few days ago for what must be conceeded to be the most imporiant invention made in the field of heavy ordnance during the pres- ent decade. The invention was conceived and worked out in San Francisco, and the first trials— that demonstirated its effectiveness—were made at the Presidio, although at the time not more than four people knew what was going on. Tue CaLn gives the first explicit disclosure of the wonderful discovery to the world. Briefly, the invention is a projectile that can be fired from an old-fashioned smooth- bore cannon with all the force and pre- cision of the most modern rifle. The magnitude of such an invention may not be apparent at first thought, but it will dawn upon you as you proceed. The inventor of this projectile, which may revolutionize modern gun-building, is Colonel W. H. Bell, U. 8. A., at present assistant commissary- ington. Colonel Bell was chief commis- sary of the Department of California for Projectile leavigg Canriog wiTh very Small charge of powner two years. He was stationed in San Fran- cisco, but lefz here several monthsago and was succeeded by Colonel Willard. In order to make the principle of Colonel Beil’s invention comprehensible to the lay mind some explanation of the forces governing the flight of a projectile from a cannon’s mouth will be necessary. The earliest cannon made were smooth- bores firing a round shot. If such condi- tions as a perfectly calm atmosphere and an absolutely tight fit of a projectile made of lead existed the flight of the projectile would he accurate and forcible. But such conditions never exist, and con- sequently several phenomena take place that inventors have for years been work- ing to overcome. In the first place the atmosphere is al- ‘ways in circulation, more or less. In the next place shot cannot be made of lead, as that metal is 100 expensive. Thirdly, the shot cannot fit tightly in the cannon because that would cause it to burst. Now, what are the consequences? A smooth-bore cannon, greased and pol- ished, is charged with the reqnisite amount of powder. In front of this is a round, iron shot, and the weapon is ready to fire. ‘When the gun is “touched off'’ the first thing that takes place is the expansion of the burning powder. As the iron shot does not fit tight and only touches the sides of the bore at its circumference part of the force generated by the burning pow- der blows past it and is wasted, The round shot being of iron is consequently not beavy enough to offer the proper re- sistance to the force of the powder and is blown from the cannon before the burn- ing powder has developed its full power, whiZh means another waste. As the shot flies through the air the atmospheric pressure is bound to be the greatest on the side from which the wind comes. Consequently, there is a force piled up on that side that causes the shot to “‘roll,” or to be more clear to re- volve on an axis at right angles to the wind force. The resultof this is that the round shot describes a curve instead of traveling in a straight line, and is there-‘ —AS EFFECTIVE fore unreliahle. From the time the round iron shot is fired from the smooth-bore until 1t hits somewhere it1s a series of disappointments. First, there is waste of powder, and lastly inaccuracy. Now, what would be the consequence of a conical iron shot fired from a smooth- bore? This form of projectile would over- come the objection of light weight and would also offer enough contact atthe sides of the bore to prevent the burning powder from blowing past. Consequently, DIAGRAM oF -Paojemua: A=50hd body of spot. B=Chamber pilled with slow-burning, powder. c- Plbg wffl}How/‘ boles ob edge. at the instant it leaves the cannon’s mouth it would have the highest possible initial velocity and would be pointing directly at the place the gun was aimed. But before the projectile had traveled twenty-five feet there would be trouble. { The atmospheric pressure would get in its | work. Instead of causing this shot to “roll” it would cause it to *‘tumble.” That is, describe a series of circles such as a stick would if thrown into the air from vour hand. The result of this would be to first retard the shot by presenting its side to the resisting atmosphere and then to cause it to fly inaccurately on account of each tumble starting it in a different di- rection. Taken on the whole, except at very short range, the conical shot is no more satisfactory in a smooth-bore than a round shot. All of the objections just mentioned were overcome several years ago by the invention of the “riflel” cannon, but at the same time other objections were created. However, as the nfled cannon | developed the maximum efliciency and accuracy with a conical shot it has long been the acceoted type of gun. The “rifling” of a cannon consists in cutting a groove in the form of a spiral along the sides of the bore. This causes the shot in its passage from breech to muzzle to acquire a twist, that is, a cir- cular motion around its longitudinal axis. This twist is due to the friction of the shot and the spiral groove and also to the | study on the pa! eiforts of the gases from the burning powder to blow out through the groove past the shot. The result of the twist of the shot during its flight through the air is to prevent it from tumbling and also to | prevent the air from piling up on the wind side and so swerve it from a straight course. The objections to the rifled cannon are many. Although the-principal one is ex- bense, very careful manufacture is neces- sary, and the cutting of the wgroove isa difficult task, requiring the most expen- sive machinery. The expense of such a weapon naturatly calls for means to protect it, and conse- quently the pneumatic disappearing gun- carriage came into existence, as well as other forms of forts and bomb proofs. A first-class modern nine-inch rifled can- non with all equipments would cost in the neighborhood of $250,000. A smooth- bore cannon of the same size is worth about $6000. Colonel Bell in his study of projectiles worked on the theory that it was only necessary to give the twist to the shot to create accuracy and force. How to do it was the only question. During the last decade he has built many models and it would what he has long been seeking. His in- vention has been given one preliminary trial and will very soon be put to exten- sive tests by the Government. The constraction of Colonel Bell’s pro- ectile is so simple that it can cost very little more than those nowin use. No additional apparatus for loading it 1s re- quired, nor will it necessitate any special t of the gunners. It con- tains only two pieces, and can be made of seem that he has at last found | any shape or dimensions as long as it con- forms to the conical principle. The projectile is of course madeof iron, and the main body of it is cast in the usual manner. It is exactly like the coni- cal shot now in use, except that it hasa emall chamber at the breech. The other portion of the shot is a plug, that can also be cast, and which screws inlo the end of the chamber at the breech, Around the edge of this plug are a series of grooves at an angle. Of course the details of the manufacture of the projectile have not yet been studied out, but the manipulation will necessarily be very simple. After the body of the shot is cast it will be put into a machine and | have a thread cut around the upper edge of the breech end of tue chamber. The plug will also have a turead cut on its outer edge so that it will easily screw into and close the breech end of the chamber, except the grooves, which now become a series of holes. Supposing such a projectile were to be put to actual use. Theshot and the plugs would be carried, without being screwed together, to the place where they would be fired. When all was ready a charge of the usual rapid-burning powder would be put into the smooth - bore cannon. A charge of slow-burning powder would be put into the chamber at the breech of the shot and the plug screwed into place. The shot would then be loaded into the cannon in the usual way and the gun would be ready for firing. ‘When the gun was fired the rapid-burn- ing powder would be consumed first, and would ignite the slow-burning powder through the holes on the edge of the plug. The weight of the shot would offer the necessary resistance, and the slow-burning powder as it blew out through the holes would cause the shot to “twist.”’ It must be borne in mind that buta very smali quantity of slow-burning powder is neces- Yary. When the revolving shot reached the atmosphere it would behave just the same as if fired from a rifled cannon. The ex- periments that have been made prove this. The first experiment made by Colonel Bell at the Presidio about a year ago wa to compare the forces of his and common solid conical shot. He fired a common shot with a certain amount of powder and got the usual re- Colenel W.H. Bell, US.A, sult. He then fired one of his shots of the same weight and with the same amount RIFLED BARREL. The French in Tunisia. When, on May 12, 1881, Tanisia was placed by the Bardo convention under French control, this old province of Africa, formerly one of the granaries of impe- rial Rome, had fallen through centuries of misrule in a quasistate of barbarism. Many portions of this territory, once so fertile, became desertlike and covered with unproductive brushes. When the French entered Tunis there were but four kilo- meters of road, 229 kilometers of railroads near the coast, three lighthouses on the northern shore. The ports were all choked with sand, and hardly accessible. The cisterns were often waterless, and irrigation very badly cared for. There were but twelve postoffices, most unre- liable, as a matter of fact; twentv-four schools, of which twenty were kept by re- ligious congregations. An unpaid army was the only protection granted to natives ard settlers. Such was the chaotic state of affairs in the regency when the protec- torate was instituted. Since that time a wonderful progress has bsen accom- plished. To-day Tunisia possesses 1400 kilometers of macadamized roads, 667 kilometers of railroads, eleven large iighthouses, twenty-nine smaller ones and ten luminous buoys at the har- bors’ entrances. Four large ports and eleven less important ones are now open to the trade. Forty-two localities are sup- plied with 20,000 cubic meters of fresh water per diem. Sixty-four postoffices and 156 sub-slations have been established. There are now 109 French schools. The Bizerta roadstead has been open to the largest ironclads and made a safe shelter for a whole fleet. During last summer the Brennus flagship, ironclad, of Ad- miral Gervais, made a short stay in the inland harbor, -although she is over 11,000 tons and draws some twenty-five feet. A survey of the entire regency has been accompiished. Under the direction of M. Cagnat an archmological atlas of Tunisia is in preparation, while the gun- boat Condor has been ordered by Admiral Besnard to contribute to tnis work with the hydrographic map of Carthage's Gulf between Sidi-bon-Said and Kram. Tunis has now its lines of tramways the Kasbah is lit with gas. Just as was done ni Algeria, extensive plantations of eucalyptus have been laid in order to con- quer malaria, while a regular service of vaccination, serosherapy, and rabies in. oculation has been organized. Modern rules of hygiene have been ap- plied to sewers ana buildings in such a way that the sanitary conditions have been vastly improved. Telephone mes- sages can be now exchanged between Tunisand the sacred and formerly mys- terious city of Keronan, and in spite of this immense accomplished amount of labor the army is paid, and the Tunisian budget closes every year with a surplus. Anybody who sails from the south of France cannot fail to have a certain feel- ing of disappointment when he reaches Algeria. In place of the oriental life, in & somewhat crude state, that he expects to find, e disembarks on a sbore which seems 10 be but a counterpart of the country he has just left. Algeria appears to him like a detached prov- ince of France. The harbor is pro- vided with all the modern improvements, such ‘warehouses and mechinery, ete. Here on the quay is the railway track, the true conqueror of Algeria. So long as the Kabyles had the feeling that they could place unconquerable distances, moun- tains or deserts between themselves and the French flying columns they re- mained unvancuished, but the moment that the railway had extended all over the country its uninterrupted iron grasp they gave wup the struggle against the inexorable fate. Successors of Rome in the government of the province of Africa, France has followed the former conqueror’s policy, whose superiority ai- ways layin therapidity of military action. The railway nere has taken the place of the Roman roads. If the pacification has been more rapid in Tunisia than in Algeria, this is due to the fact that, tanght by experience, all facilities for rapid transvortations were sooner established by, the French. ew York Su ——— “I shall use the £5 you gave me to spend for Christmas, John,”” said the wife, ten- derly, to the man who had recently be- come the partner of her joys and the sharer of her sorrows, “in the purchase of something that will constantiy remind me of your generosity, I shall have the portraits of my first three husbands beau- tifully framed and hung in our sitting- room,"—Tit Bitm N THISV SMOOTH-BORE GUN WILL BE RENDERED— of powder. The result wss startling, for the recoil was so great that the twenty- four-pounder was tarned over and broken, and the shot was carried far out to sea. Subsequent experiments made a few weeks later orly served to strengthen the theory. Colonel Bell’s shots were fired three or four timesas far asacommon solid shot with the same weight of powder. Their accuracy left nothing to be desired. The shot showed the highest initial ve- locity and struck with the most remark- able precision, although the gun used was an old discarded one badly rasted. Colonel Bell is an old artilleryman and feels that his invention is perfect. It bas alreaay attracted the attention of the War Department and there is little doubt but that it will soon be generaliy adopt-d. Tue importance of this wonderful pro- jectils does not lie so much in what might be made of it as in the fact that it will render a vast number of so-called worthless guns of the greatest value. “Those old cannon are only fit for old iron,” is the way officers have for vears described the zuns scattered over the forts and arsenalsin different parts ot the coun- try. But that term can hardly be applied now. Of the old guns referred to there are about 200 of them lying at the forts around San Francisco. They were cast during the last war at a cost of about $3000 each, but have simply been considered as scrap iron for several years. In fact they have been offered free to anybody who would remove them. The value of all these guns in the United States has been esti- mated a $300,000,000. By making use of Colonel Bell’s pro- jectile it would seem as if they all became of their original value again. More than their original value, because they will fill the places now taken by guns worth a quarter of a million. With such a vast amount of guns on hand the United States can claim to be the best defended Nation in the world. With such a vast number of them in ac- tion there would be no need for expensive disappearing gun-carriages, for if a few were demolished there would be plenty left. Old Fort Point becomes more for- midable. With the number of guns at present mounted there almost any fleet | could be sunk in & few minutes, and long | before the enemy got near enough to do any great damage. A modern fort, with three or four riflsd nine-inch cannon, is considered “‘a tough place to tackle.” What would a fort be with thirty or forty not rifled, but jJust aseffective. Anotheradvantaze of Colonel Bell's projectile lies in the fact that the *lite” of a smooth-bore gun is many times that of a rifled cannon. The more the apparent advantages of Colonel Bell's projectile are considered the more valuable his invention becomes. Whatever it may do in other ways there can be little doubt but that it will have a depressing effect on the manufscture of big guns. WiLL SPARKS. FERFECT TREES QNLY THREE INCRES. HIGH The most interesting feature of the for- estry and herbaceus collection of Cornell University is one recently added, consist- ing of specimens of perfect forest trees less than three inches high. They were brought to the university from the Arctic Tezions by a party of explorers sent out by the institution itself. The most nota- ble features of the collection are the Arctic birch and the crowberry, which are shown in the accompanying illustration. Nowhere in thls country, so far as known, does 8 museum contain perfect specimens of the birch. The curious zrowth is occasionally to be found on the top of Mount Washington, but no one has ever before been able to secure one of these tiny trees in absolutely perfect condition. The specimens which Cornell bas were found on the Greenland coast, some at Godbaven, on the isle of Disko. Others were discovered at Wilcox Head, where the exploring party that secured speci- mens did most of its work. A curious dif- ference between this Liliputian birch and the ordinary forest tree of the same species )8 that the Arctic specimen bears fruit. The trees on the island of Disko were covered with fruit when the explorers found them. Whnat is more, this froit is decidedly edible. It hasa taste not un- like tne juniper-berry, and is said to be exceedingly health-giving. Ever s0 many persons have read ot this little birch tree under the sclentific name of Betula nana without having any idea of what the name really signified. Translated it meaus white birch, and those who have read of the struggles of Dr. Enisha Kent Kaneand hiscompanions in the A rctic regions a half-century ago will remember what an important part the Betula nana took in sustaining the life of the members of the expedition. The berries which grow upon the birch seem to have all the concomitants of food and drink, and upon them a person may exist for a long time without materially losing strength. The second notable specimen is known as the crowberry, or, as the scientists term it, the Empetrum nigrum. While this tree is in a measure a cosmopolitan plant, although classed as an Arctic growtb, the same difficulty has been expenenced in securing perfect specimens as in the case of the birch. The crowberry grows in this country—on Mount Desert, in Maine—and is occasionelly found at the highest points of the Sierra Nevada range of mountains, Like the birch, it bears an edible berry, and it is no exaggeration tostate that it is one of the principal sources of succulent The Digestion of Staple Edibles. Bolled rice will digest in one bour; if boilea in milk, however, it requires two hours; if eaten with unbolled milk two hours and fifteen minutes. Raw eggs wiil digest in about one hour and a hal fried, three bours and a half; soft-boiled, three hours; hard-boiled, three hours and & ball, Tho white and yellow should be food in the lofty region where it grows. Several years ago an exploring expedi- tion to the Arctic regions very thoroughly investicated the crowberry for the pur- pose of discovering what difference there was, if any, between the Arctic growth and the same tiny tree growing on Mount Desert. The result was a curious illustra- tion of the novel effect of climatic condi- tions upon natural growths. The berry of the crowberry as it grows on Mount Desert b marked acidity which, far from ren- dering it unpalatable, makes it more agreeable as an article of food. The crow- berry in the Arctic zone has a decidedly sweetish taste, and yet withal if one eats several of the berries there is the pucker- ing *ensation about the mouth that is no- ticeable after eating persimmons. Thess facts were determined by analysis, and the most careful reasoning and investiga- tion arrived at no other resnlt than that ciimatic conditions were the cause of the difference mentioned. These odd specimens of Arctic growth are all the more notable because of the fact that of the several hundred species of plants which grow in the Arctic regions the great majority are herbs. Few of these, however, are annuals. The condi- tions existing in the Arctic zone seem to fayor the herbaceous piant above all things. The subterranean stems of these seem to be the most efficient vehicle to carry the lives of the plants over the long and severe winter. In fact, no woody plants—with the exception of those men- tioned in this article—growing in the Arctic regions deserve to be called trees or even shrubs in the ordinary sense of the term. Their stems are prostrate, sending up short, leafy branches, which expand flowers and bear fruit inan in- credibly short time. A third specimen of the dwarf trees which was brought back by the Corneil party is the Arctic willow. There is the Arctic willow proper, and then what is known as the “‘bear” willow. Itand the herbaceous willow grow within the limits of the United States, upon the tops of the highest mountains, notably Mount Wash- ington. The reticulated willow is a very beautiful plant, the rarest of them all. The Cornell party discovered a specimen on the Labrador coast. They had great difficulty in securing a perfect willow of this sort, and the specimen that now rests in Cornell Museum is believed to be the only one in existence away from its native climate. Théese little trees which have been de- scribed are of exceeding interest apart served together, as one assists in the digestion of the other. Salt beef requires four hours and fifteen minutes. Beefsteak, broiled, three hours. Stewed oysters, three hours and a half. Oyaters require a longer time to digest than broi'ed meat. Roast veal requires five hours fo- perfect digestion. Pork the same. Suet pudding is supposed to take five hours and a half.— Mrs. 8. T. Rorer in Ladies’ Home Journal, from their rarity and place of discovery, from the exact resemblancs in every slight detail to the great trees of the same spe- cies found in the forests of the United States. For instance, the leaf is precisely the same, and the general appearance of the wood exhibits no difference. With the willow it is curious to note the wood is precisely the same. One can make a very fair whistle out of the trunk of any of the Arctic willows equal in quality to that which the youngster | evolves from the small branch of the wil« low of ordinary size. Taken altogether, the collection is an exceeding novelty in its way. So far as leaf formation and the quality of sap that | known, the only museum where the trees exudes from 8 twig when the bark is re- which look as if they came from Liliput moved therefrom. The texture of the [can be seen is at Cornell University. PERFECT BIRCH TREE, ACTUAL SIZE 3 INCHES, Enlarged jrom @ photograph