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ORDNANCE, ARMS AND EXPLOSIVES. · Inventions of the Century

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Section seventeen of Invention in the Century. This is the LibriVox recording. All
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LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
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please visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Ephan. Inventions in the Century by
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William Henry Doolittle Ordinance, Arms and Explosives. Although the progress in the invention
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of firearms of all descriptions seemed slow during the ages preceding the nineteenth century,
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yet it will be found on investigation that no art progressed faster. No other
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art was spurred to activity by such strong incentives, and none received the same
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encouragement and reward for its development. The art of war was the trade of
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kings and princes, and princely was the reward to the subject who was the
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first to invent the most destructive weapon. Under such high patronage, most of
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the ideas and principles of ordnance now prevailing were discovered or suggested, but were
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embodied for the most part in rude and inefficient contrivances. The art weighed for
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its success on the development of other arts, and on the mental expansion and
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freedom giving rise to scientific investigation and result. The cannon and muskeet themselves became
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the greatest instruments for the advancement of the new civilization, however much it was
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intended otherwise by their kingly proprietors, and the new civilization returned the complement through
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its trained intellects, by giving to war its present destructive efficiency. To this
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efficiency, great as the paradox may seem, peace holds what quiet field it
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has or will have, until men learned to love peace and hate the arts
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of war. As to the Chinese, is given the credit for the invention
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of gunpowder, so they must also be regarded as the first to throw projectiles
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by its means, But their inventions in these directions may be classed as fireworks
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and have no material bearing on the modern art of ordnance. It is supposed
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that the word cannon is derived from the same root as kane, originally signifying
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a hollow reed, and that these hollow reeds or similar tubes closed at one
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end, were used to fire rockets by powder. It is also stated that
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the practice existed among the Chinese as early as nine sixty nine, a d
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of tying rockets to their arrows to propel them to greater distances, as well
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as for incendiary purposes. This basic idea has percolated from China through India to
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the Moors and Arabs, and in the course of a few centuries had developed
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into a crude artillery used by the Moors in the Siege of Cordova in twelve
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eighty. The Spaniards, thus learning the use of the cannon, turned the
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lesson upon their instructors when under Ferdinand the Fourth, they took Gibraltar from the
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Moors in thirteen o nine. Then the knowledge of artillery soon spread throughout Europe.
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The French used it at the siege of pure Graum in thirteen thirty eight,
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and the English had three small guns at Cressy in thirteen forty six.
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These antique guns were made by welding longitudinal bars of iron together and binding them
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by iron rings shrunk on wild hot. Being shaped internally and externally like an
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apothecary's mortar, they were called mortars or bombards. Some were breech loaders,
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having a removable chainamber at the breach into which the charge of powder was inserted
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behind the ball, the balls were stoned. These early cannon, bombards and
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mortars were mounted on heavy, solid wooden frames and moved with great difficulty from
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place to place. Then in the fifteenth century the commands to make ruught iron
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cannon and hollow projectiles containing a bursting charge of powder to be exploded by a
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fiuse lit before the shell was fired. In the next century, cannon were
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cast the Hindoos, when their acquaintance was made by the Europeans, were as
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far advanced as the latter in cannon and firearms. One cannon was found at
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Bijapur in India, cast of bronze, bearing date fifteen forty eight and called
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the Master of the Field, which weighed eighty nine thousand, six hundred pounds,
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and others of similar size of later dates Great cas bronze guns of about
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the same weight as the hinduo guns were also produced at Saint Petersburg, Russia
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in the sixteenth century. Many and strange were the names given by Europeans to
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their cannon in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to denote their sides and the weight
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of the ball they carried, such as the AzaC, the bombard, the
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basilisk, the cannon royal or carheun, the caulverin demi, caulvern, falcon,
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siren, serpentine et cetera. The bombards in the fifteenth century were made
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so large and heavy, especially in France, that they could not be moved
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without being taken apart when the heavy, unwieldy bombards with stone balls were used.
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Artillery was mostly confined to castles, towns, forts and ships. When
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u in the field, they were dragged about by many yokes of oxen.
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But in the latter part of the fifteenth century, when France under Louis the
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eleventh had learned to cast lighter brass cannon, to mount them on carriages that
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could be drawn by four or six horses, at which carriages had trunnions in
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which the cannon were swung so as to be elevated or depressed, and cast
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iron projectiles were used instead of stones. Field artillery took its rise, and
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by its use the maps of the world were changed. Thus with the artillery,
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the French under Charles the eighth, the successor of Louis the eleventh,
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conquered Italy in the sixteenth century. Europe was busy in adopting these and other
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changes. Cannon were made of all sizes and calibers, but were not arranged
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in battle, with much precision case shots were invented in Germany, but not
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brought into general use. Shells were invented by the Italians and fired from mortars,
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but their mode of construction was preserved in great secrecy. The early breech
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loaders had been discarded, as it was not known how to make the breech
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gas tight, and the explosions rendered the guns more dangerous to their users than
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to the enemy. In the seventeenth century, Holland began to make useful mortar
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shells and hand grenades. Maurice and Henry, Frederick of Nassa and Gustav Adolphus
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made many improvements in the sizes and construction of cannon. In sixteen seventy four,
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Cohorn, an officer in the service of the Prince of Orange, invented
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the celebrated mortar, which bears his name and the use of which has continued
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to the present time. The Dutch also invented the helter, a short gun
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in which the projectiles could be introduced by hand. About the same time,
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Commange of France the invented mortars, which threw projectiles weighing five hundred and fifty
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pounds. In this part of that century, Also, great improvements were made
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under Louis the fourteenth limbers by which the front part of the gun carriage was
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made separable from the cannon part and provided with the ammunition chest, the prolonged,
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a cord and hook by which the gun part could be moved around by
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hand, and the elevating screw by which the muzzle of the gun could be
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raised or depressed, were invented. In the early part of the eighteenth century.
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It was thought by artillerists in England that the longer the gun, the
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further it would carry. One called Queen Anne's pocket piece, still preserved at
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Dover, is twenty five feet long and carry there is a ball only twenty
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five pounds in weight. It was only after repeated experiments that it was learned
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that the shorter guns carried the projectile the greatest distance. The greatest improvements in
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the eighteenth century was made by Gribouval, the celebrated French artilleries. About seventeen
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sixty five. He had guns made of such material and of such size as
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to adapt them to the different services to which they were to be put as
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field, siege, garrison and seacoast. He gave greater mobility to the system
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by introducing six pound helters and making gun carriages lighter. He introduced the system
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of fixed ammunition, separate compartments in the gun carriages for the projectiles, and
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the charges of powder in paper or cloth bags or cylinders. Improved the construction
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of elevating s grew, adapted the tangent scale, formed the artillery into horse
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batteries, and devised new equipments and a new system of tactics. It was
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with Greebouvel's improved system that Citizen Bonaparte, young artillery officer took too long,
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with which the same young bronze artillery officer let go of his great guns in
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a cul de sac dolphin against the Church of Saint Roch on the Port Royal
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at the Theater de la Republic, and the thing we specifically call French revolution
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is blown into space by it and became a thing that was. It was
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with this system that this same young officer won his first brilliant victories in Italy.
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When the fruit of these victories had been lost during his absence, he
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reappeared with his favorite artillery and on the threshold of the century in May eighteen
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hundred, as first consul of the Republic reachieved at Marangol the supremacy of France
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over Austria. As the small arms, as before suggested, they doubtless had
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their origin in the practice of the Chinese in throwing fireballs from bamboo barrels by
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the explosion of light charges of powder, as illustrated to this day in what
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are known as Roman candles. Firecrackers and grenades were also known to the Chinese
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and the Greeks. Among ancient firearms, the principal ones were the arquebus,
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also bombardell and the blunderbuss. They were invented in the fourteenth century, but
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were not much used until the fifteenth century. These guns, for the most
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part, were so heavy that they had to be rested on some object to
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be fired. The soldiers carried a sword of tripod for this purpose. The
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gun was fired by a slow burning cord, a live coal, a lipstick,
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or a long rod heated at one end and called a match. The
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blunderbuss was invented in Holland. It was a large, short, funnel shaped
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muzzle loader and loaded with nails, slugs, et cetera. The injuries and
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hardships suffered by the men who used it rather than by the enemy, rendered
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its name significant. Among the earliest firearms of this period, one was invented,
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which was a breech loader and revolver. The breech had four chambers and
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was rotated by hand on an arbor parallel to the barrel. The extent of
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its use is not learned. To ignite the powder, the wheel lock and
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snap haunts were invented by the Germans in the sixteenth century. The wheel lock
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consisted of a furrowed wheel and was turned by the trigger and chain against a
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fixed piece of iron on the stalk to excite sparks which fell on to the
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priming. The snap hans, a straight piece of furrowed steel, superseded the
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wheel lock. The sixteenth century had got well started before the English could be
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induced to give up the cross bow and arrow and adopt the musket. After
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they had introduced the musket with the snap hans and wooden ramrod, it became
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known in the time of Queen Elizabeth as the Brown Bess. The old flintlock
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was quite a modern invention, not appearing until the seventeenth century. It was
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a bright idea to fix a piece of flint into the cock and arrange it
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to strike a steel cap on the priming pan when the trigger was fired,
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and the superseded the old match wheel lock and snap hans. The flint lock
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was used by armies well into the nineteenth century and still in private use in
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remote localities. As the arcubasts succeeded the bow and arrow, so the musket,
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a smooth and single barrel muzzle loader with a flint lock and a wooden
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ramrod, succeeded the arcubists rifles, which were the old flint lock muskets,
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with their barrels provided with spiral grews to give the bullet a rotary motion and
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cause it to keep one point constantly in front during its flight. His claim
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as the invention of Augustine Cutler of Germany in fifteen twenty, and also of
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Coster of Birmingham, England about sixteen twenty. Muskets with straight crews are said
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to have been used in the fifteenth century. The rifle with a long barrel
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and its flint lock was a favorite weapon of the American settler. It was
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made in America, and he fought the Indian Wars and the War of the
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Revolution with it. It will not do to conclude the sketch of antique cannon
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and firearms without referring to Puckle's celebrated English patent number four hundred eighteen of May
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fifteenth, seventeen eighteen for a defense. The patent starts out with the model
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quote defending King George, your country and laws is defending yourselves and Protestant cause
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end quote. It proceeds to describe a portable gun or machine having a single
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barrel with a set of removable chambers which are charged with bullets before they are
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placed in the gun. I handle to turn the chambers to bring each chamber
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in line with the barrel. A tripod on which the gun is mounted and
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on which it is to be turned, a screw for elevent and turning the
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gun in different directions. A set of square chambers for shooting square bullets against
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Turks, a set of round chambers for shooting round bullets against the Christians.
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And separate drawings showed the square bullets for the Turks and the round bullets for
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the Christians. History is silent as to whether mister Puckle's patent was put in
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practice, but they contained the germs of some modern inventions. Among the first
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inventions of the century was a very important one made by a clergyman, the
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reverence mister Forsyth, a scotchman, who in eighteen o three invented the percussion
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principle in firearms. In eighteen o seven he patented in England detonating powder and
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pellets, which were used for artillery. About eighteen o eight, General Shrapnel
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of the English Army invented the celebrated shell, known by his name. It
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then consisted of a comparatively thin shell filled with bullets, having a fuse lit
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by the firing of the gun, and adapted to explode the shell in front
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of the object fired at. This fuse was superseded by one invented by General
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Boorman of Belgium, which greatly added to the value of case shot. In
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eighteen fourteen, Justua Shaw of England invented the percussion cap. Thus, by
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the invention of the percussion principle by Forsyth, and that little copper cylinder of
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Shaw, having a flake of fulminating powder inside, and adapted to fit the
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nipple of a gun and be exploded by the fall of the hammer, was
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sounded. The death knell of the old flint locks with which the greatest battles
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of the world had been and were at that time been fought. The advantages
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gained by the cap or the certain and instantaneous fire, the saving in time,
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power and powder obtained by making smaller the orifice through which the ignition was
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introduced, and the protection from moisture given by the covering cap. And yet
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so slow is the growth of invention, sometimes that all Europe continued to make
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the flint locks for many years after the percussion cap was invented, and General
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Scott, in the War between the United States and Mexico in eighteen forty seven,
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declined to give the army the percussion cap musket. The cap suggested the
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necessity an invention of machines for making them quickly and in great quantities. The
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celebrated Coat's revolver was invented by Colonel Samuel Coat of the United States in eighteen
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thirty five. He continued to improve it and in eighteen fifty one exhibited it
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at the World's Fair London, where it excited great surprise and attention. Since
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then, the revolver has become a great weapon in both private and public warfare.
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The next great inventions in small arms were the re adoption and improvement of
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the breech loader, the making of metallic cartridges, the magazine gun, smokeless
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powder, and other explosives to which further reference will be made to return to
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cannons. In eighteen twelve, Colonel Bonford, an American officer, invented what
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is called the Columbiad, a kind of cannon best adapted for sea coast purposes.
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They are long chamber pieces combining certain qualities of the gun halter and mortar,
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and capable of projecting shells and solid shot with heavy charges of powder at
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high angles of elevation, and peculiarly adapted to defend narrow channels and sea coast
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defenses. A similar gun was invented by General Pigshons of the French Army in
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eighteen twenty two. The adoption of the Pigshns' long chamber guns, designed to
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throw heavy shells horizontally as well as at a slight elevation and as easily as
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solid shot, was attended with great results, used by the French in eighteen
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thirty two in the quick victorious siege of Antwerp by the Allies. At Sebastopol,
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where the whole Russian fleet was destroyed in about an hour, and in
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the fight of the Caarsarge and the doomed Alabama of Cherbourg. In the American
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Civil War, it forced investors in the different countries to devise new and better
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armor for the defense of ships. This was followed by guns of still greater
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panicy traative power. Then, as another result effected by these greater guns came
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the passing away of the old fashioned brick and stone forts as a means of
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defense. In an interesting address by Major Clarence E. Dutton of the Ordnance
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Department USA at the Centennial Patent Congress at Washington in eighteen ninety one, he
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thus stated what the fundamental improvements were that have characterized the modern ordnance during the
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century. One the regulation and control of the action of gunpowder in such a
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manner as to exert less strain upon the gun and to impart more energy to
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the projectile. Two, to so construct the gun as to transfer a portion
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of the strain from the interior parts of the walls, which have borne too
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much of it, to the exterior parts which have born too little, thus
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nearly equalizing the strain throughout the entire thickness of the walls. Three to provide
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a medal which should be at once stronger and safer than any which had been
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used before. In the United States, General Rodman, one of the pioneers
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of armed science, commenced about eighteen forty seven a series of investigations and experiments
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on the power and action of gunpowder and the strains received by every part of
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the gun by the exploding gases of very great importance. And in this matter
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he was assisted greatly by doctor W. E. Woodbridge, who invented an
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ingenious apparatus termed a pisometer or a pressure measure, by which the pressure of
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the gases at the various parts of the gun was determined with mathematical certainty.
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Doctor Woodbridge also added greatly to the success of rifle cannon. The success in
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rifling small arms, by which an elongated ball is made to retain the same
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and foremost during its flight, led again to the attempts of rifling cannon for
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the same purpose, which were finally successful. But this success was due not
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to the spiral grooves in the cannon bore, but in the attachments to the
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ball compelling it to follow the course of the grooves and giving it the proper
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initial movement. The trouble with these attachments was that they were either stripped off
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or stripped away by the gun spirals. Woodbridge in eighteen fifty overcame the difficulty
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by inventing an improved sabbath, consisting of a ring composed of metals softer than
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the projectile or cannon, fixed on the inner end of the projectile and grooved
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at its rear end, so that when the gun is fired and the ball
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driven forward, these grooves expand, acting valviably to fill the grooves in the
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gun, thus preventing the escape of the gases, while the ring at the
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same time is forced forward onto the shell so tightly and forcibly that the projectile
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is invariably given a rotary motion and made to event strictly in the line of
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axis of the bore and in the same line during the course of its flight.
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This invention in principle has been followed ever since, although other forms have
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been given the sabbath, and it is due to this invention that modern rifle
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cannon have been so wonderfully accurate in range and efficient in the penetrating and destructive
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power both on sea and land. Woodbridge also invented the wire round cannon and
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a machine for winding the wire upon the gun, thus giving the breech part
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especially immense strength in England. Among the first notable and greater inventors in ordnance
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during the latter half of the century, a period which embraces the reduction to
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practice of the most wonderful and successful inventions in weapons of war which the world
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had up to that time seen, a Lancaster who invented the elliptical bore,
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Sir William Armstrong, who commencing in eighteen eighty five, constructed the gun built
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of wrought iron bars twisted into coils and applied over a steel core and bound
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by one or more wrought iron rings, all applied at white heat and shrunk
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arm by contraction due to cooling, by which methods smooth bore muzzle loading cannon
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of immense caliber one way one hundred tons were made. They were followed by
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Armstrong, inventor of breech loaders, Blackley, inventor of cannon made of steel
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tubes and an old jacket of cast iron, and Sir Joseph Whitworth, inventor
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of most powerful steel cannon and compressed steel projectiles in Germany. Further, Krupp
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at Essen, Prussia, invented and introduced such improvements in breech loading cannon as
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revolutionized the manufacture of that species of ordnance and established the foundation of the greatest
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ordnance works in the world. The first of his great breech loading steel guns
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were exhibited at the Paris Exhibition in eighteen sixty seven. A Krupp gun,
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finished at Essen in the seventies, was then the largest steel gun the world
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had ever seen. It weighed seventy two tons and was thirty two feet long.
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The charge consisted of three hundred eighty five pounds of powder. The shell
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weighed a thousand, six hundred sixty pounds, having a bursting charge of powder
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of twenty two pounds, and in the velocity of one thousand, six hundred
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and forty feet per second. It was estimated that if the gun were fired
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at an angle of forty three degrees, the shell would be carried a distance
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of fifteen miles. It was in the Krupp guns and also in the Armstrong
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breech loaders, that a simple feature was for the first time introduced, which
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proved of immense importance in giving great additional expensive force to the explosion of the
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powder. This was an increase in size of the powder chamber so as to
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allow a vacant space in it unfilled with powder. In the United States,
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Rodman, commencing in eighteen forty seven and Delgren in eighteen fifty and Parrot in
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eighteen sixty invented and introduced some noticeable improvements in cast iron, smooth bore and
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rifle cannon. In France, General Prihon and Colonel Threw the Bolio improved the
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shells and ornans. The latest improvements in cannon indicate that the old smooth bore
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muzzle loader guns are to be entirely superseded by breech loaders, just as in
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small arms, the muzzle loading musket has given way to the breech loading rifle.
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A single lever is now employed, a single term of which will close
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or open the breach and then open expel the shell by the same movement.
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Formerly breech loaders were confined to the heaviest ornans. Now they are a part
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of the lightest field pieces. As to the operation of those immense guns above
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referred to which constitute principally sea coast defenses, and the heavy armament for fort
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Gun carriages have been invented, whereby the huge guns are quickly raised from behind
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immense embrasures by pneumatic or hydraulic cylinders, quickly fired the range having been before
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accurately ascertained, and then as quickly lower out of sight. The latter movement
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be aided by the recoil action of the gun. It is essential that the
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full force of the gases of explosion shall be exerted against the base of the
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projectile, and therefore all escape of such gases be prevented. To this end,
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valuable improvements in gas checks have been made, one kind consisting of an
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annual canvas sack containing asbestos and tallow placed between the front face of the breech
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block and the mushroom shaped piece against which the explosion impinges. As among projectiles
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and shells for cannon, those have been invented which are loaded with dynamite or
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other high explosive. A new classo compressed air ordnance has been started, in
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which air or gases used for the propelling power in place of powder, whereby
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the chances of exploding such shells in the bore of the gun are greatly lessened.
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The construction of metals, both for cannon to resist more intense explosives and
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for plates to resist the penetration of the best projectiles have received great attention.
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They are matters pertaining to metallurgy and are treated of under that head. The
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stripe still continues between impenetrable armor plate and irresistible projectiles. Within the last decade
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or so, shells have been invented with the design simply to shadow or fracture
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the plate by which the way is broken for subsequent shots. Other shells have
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been invented carrying a high explosive and capable of penetrating armor plates of great thickness
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and exploding after such penetration has taken place. A great accompaniment to artillery is
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the range fighter, a telescopic apparatus for certaining accurately the location distance of objects
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to be fired out returning to small arms. At the time percussion caps were
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invented in England eighteen o three to eighteen fourteen, John H. Hall of
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the United States invented a breech loading rifle. It was in substance an ordinary
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musket cut in two at the breach, with the rear piece connected by a
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hinge and trunnion to the front piece, the bore of the two pieces being
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in line when clamped, and the ball and courage inserted when the chamber was
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thrown up. A large number were at once manufactured and used in the US
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Army. A smaller size, called carbines, were used by the mounted troops.
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After about twenty years use, these guns began to be regarded as dangerous
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in some respects, and their manufacture and use stopped, although the carbines continued
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in use to some extent in the cavalry. A breech loading rifle was also
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invented by Colonel Paully of France in eighteen twelve and improved by dres in eighteen
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thirty five, also in Norway in eighteen thirty eight, and in a few
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years adopted by Sweden as superior to all muzzle loading arms. About eighteen forty
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one, the celebrated needle gun was invented in Prussia, and the superiority over
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all muzzle loaders was demonstrated in eighteen forty eight in the first West Lake Holstein
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War courriages, in which the ball and powder were secured together in one package
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were old in artillery, as has been shown, but their use for small
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arms is a later invention. Metallic cartridges made of sheep metal with a fulminate
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cap in one end and the rim on the end of the shell by which
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it could be extracted after the explosion, were invented by numerous persons in Europe
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and America during the evolution of the breechloader. Combined metal case and paper patented
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in England in eighteen sixteen, and numerous holy metallic cartridge shells were patented in
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England, France, and the United States between eighteen forty and eighteen sixty.
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M. Le Fouchet of France in the later period devised a metal gas check
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cartridge, which was a great event. A number of inventors in the United
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States, besides Hall, had produced breech loading small arms before the Civil War
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of eighteen sixty one, but with the exception of Coat's revolver as Sharp's carbine,
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the latter used by the cavalry to a small extent, none were first
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adopted in that great conflict. Later, the Henry or Winchester breech loader rifle
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and the Spencer magazine gun were introduced and did good service, but the whole,
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well known system of breech loading small arms was officially condemned by the US
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military authorities previous to that war. The absence of machines to make a suitable
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cartridge in large quantities and vast immediate necessities compelled the authorities to ignore the test
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of Prussian and Swedish breech loaders and those of their own countrymen, and to
34:22
ransack Europe for muskets of ancient pattern. These were worked by the soldiers under
34:28
the ancient tactics of load, ramp, charge, and fire until a stray
34:34
bullet struck the ramrod, or the discharge of a few rammed cartridges so overheated
34:39
the musket as to thereby dispense with the soldier and his gun for further service
34:45
in that field. However, private individuals and companies continued to invent and improve,
34:52
and the Civil War in America revolutionized the systems of warfare and its weapons.
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The wooden walls of the navies disappeared as a defense after the conflict between
35:02
the Monitor and the Merrimac, and muzzle loading muskets became things of the past.
35:08
Torpedoes, both stationary and movable, then became a successful weapon of warfare.
35:15
Soon after the war, and when the United States had adopted the Springfield
35:19
breech loading rifle, the works at Springfield were equipped with nearly forty different machines,
35:25
each for making a separate part of a gun in great quantities. Many
35:31
of these had been invented by Thomas Blanchard forty years before. The great inventor
35:38
of labor saving machinery, had then designed machines for the shaping and making of
35:44
gunstocks and for forming the accompanying parts. Blanchard was a contemporary of Hall and
35:52
Hall to perfect his breech loader, was the first to invent machines for making
35:58
its various parts. His was the first interchangeable system in the making of small
36:04
arms. Army officers have come to regard the gun as only the casket,
36:09
while the cartridge is the jewl and to this an J. G. Gill
36:15
at the U s Arsenal at Frankfurt Philadelphia devised a series of cartridge making machines
36:22
which ranked among the highest triumphs of American invention. The single breech loader is
36:28
now being succeeded by the magazine gun, by which a supply of cartridges in
36:32
the chamber is automatically fed into the barrel. The springfield has been remodeled as
36:38
a magazine loader. Among later types of repeating rifles known from the names of
36:45
the inventors are the Craig, Gagason and the Mouser, and the crack of
36:51
these is heard around the world. Modern rifles are rendered more deadly by the
36:54
fact that they can be loaded and fired in the recumbent position and with smokeless
37:00
powder, by which the soldier and his location remain concealed from his foe.
37:06
The recoil of the gun in both large and small arms is now utilized to
37:09
expel the fired cartridge shell and to withdraw a fresh one from its magazine and
37:15
place it in position in the chamber. Compressed air and explosive gases have been
37:22
used for the same purpose. A small electric battery has been placed in the
37:28
stock to explode the cartridge when the trigger is pulled. Sporting guns have kept
37:34
pace with other small arms in improvement, and among modern forms are those which
37:38
discharge in alternative succession the two barrels by a single trigger. Revolvers have been
37:45
improved, and the smith and wesson is known throughout the world. The idea
37:51
of machine gun or mituius was not a new one, as we have seen
37:57
from Puckle's celebrated pattern of seventeen eighteen. Also, history mentions a gun composed
38:02
of four breech loading tubes of small caliber placed on a two wheeled cart used
38:08
in Flanders as early as thirteen forty seven, and of four tube guns used
38:15
by the Scotch during the Civil War in sixteen forty four. The machine gun,
38:20
invented by doctor Gatling of the United States during the Civil War and subsequently
38:25
perfected, has become a part of the armament of every civilized nation. The
38:32
object of the gun is to combine in one piece the destructive effect of a
38:37
great many, and to throw a continuous hail of projectiles. The gun is
38:43
mounted on a tripod. The cartridges are contained in the harper mounted on the
38:47
breach of the gun, and are fed from locks into the barrels, which
38:52
are usually five or ten in number. As the locks and barrels are revolved
38:58
by a hand crank as the handle is turned, the cartridges are first given
39:04
the forward motion which thrust them into the barrels, closes the breech and fires
39:09
the cartridges in succession, and then a backward motion which extracts the empty shells.
39:16
The gun weighs one hundred pounds and firing may be kept up with a
39:22
ten barreled gun at one thousand shots a minute. The hot Kissed revolving cannon
39:28
is another celebrated American production, named from its inventor, and constructed to throw
39:34
heavier projectiles than the gatling. It also has revolving barrels and great solidity in
39:39
the breech mechanism. It has been found to be of great service in resisting
39:45
the attacks of torpedo boats. It is adapted to fire long range shells with
39:50
great rapidity and powerful effect, and is exceedingly efficient in the fence of ditches
39:57
and intrenchments. Explosives the desire to make the most effective explosives for gunnery led
40:04
to their invention not only for that purpose, before the more peaceful pursuit of
40:08
blasting gun Cotton, the mixture of nitric acid and cotton, made by Shobine
40:15
in eighteen forty six and experimented with for a long time as a substitute for
40:22
gunpowder in cannon and small arms, and finally discarded for that purpose, is
40:28
now being again revived, but used chiefly for blasting. This was followed by
40:32
the discovery of nitro glycerin, a still more powerful explosive agent, too powerful
40:38
and uncontrollable for guns. As originally made, they did not supersede gunpowder,
40:45
but smokeless powders have come containing nitrol, cellulose or natural glycerine, rendered plastic,
40:52
coherent and homogeneous, and converted into rods or grains of free running powder
41:00
to aid the breech loaders and magazine guns, while the high explosives gun cotton,
41:07
natrol, glycern, dynamite, due line, et cetera, have become
41:12
the favorite agencies for those fearful offensive and defensive weapons. The torpedoes from about
41:19
the time of the discovery of gunpowder, stationary and floating chambers and mines of
41:24
powder to be discharged in early times by fuses, later by percussion or electricity
41:30
have existed, but modern inventions have rendered them of more fearful importance than was
41:37
ever dreamed of before the century. The latest invention in this class is the
41:43
submarine torpedo boat, which, moving rapidly towards an enemy's vessel, suddenly disappears
41:50
from sight. Beneath the water and struts the vessel at its lowest or most
41:54
vulnerable. Point to the inquiry as to whether all this vast survey of modern
42:00
implements of destruction is to lessen the destruction of human life, shorten war,
42:06
mitigate its horrors, and tend toward peace. There can be but one answer.
42:12
All these desirable results have been accomplished whenever the new inventions of importance have
42:17
been used. Warlike tribes have been put to flight so easily by civilized armies
42:23
in modern times that such tribes have been doubted as possessing their boasted or even
42:30
natural courage. Nations with the glorious pass as to bravery, but with the
42:35
poor armament, have gone down suddenly before smaller forces armed with modern ornans,
42:40
the results would have been reversed, and the derision would have proceeded from the
42:46
other side. If the conditions have been reversed, and those tribes of brave
42:52
people been armed with the best weapon and the knowledge of their use. The
42:55
courage of the majority of men on the battlefield is but god of confidence and
43:00
enthusiasm. But this confidence and enthusiasm, however great, the cause, soon
43:07
fail, and discretion becomes the better part of valor. If men find that
43:12
their weapons are weak and useless against vastly superior arms of the enemy, the
43:17
slaughter and destruction in a few hours with modern weapons may not be more terrible
43:23
than could be inflicted with the old arms by far greater forces at close quarters
43:30
in the greater length of time in the past. But the end comes sooner,
43:35
and the prolongation of the struggle with renewed sacrifices of life, and the
43:39
long, continued and exhausting campaigns giving rise to diseases more destructive than shot or
43:46
shell, are thereby greatly lessened, if not altogether avoided. End of Section seventeen.