Chapter XIV: Introduction (12)

Colonel Moncrieff took out a patent for his invention in 1864, but committed the practical working out of his idea to the firm of Sir W. G. Armstrong & Co., in whose hands the design was ultimately transformed from the original somewhat cumbersome arrangement of the mounting into the compact and manageable form shown in Fig. 102, which represents a 13·9 inch 68–ton breech-loading disappearing gun on the Elswick hydro-pneumatic mounting. The principle of hydraulic power is fully explained in our article on that subject, and an example of its application to cranes as devised by Sir W. Armstrong is there described. When guns began to be made very large, and projectiles weighing several cwts. had to be dealt with, the application of power in some form became essential for loading, running out, elevating, training, etc.; and though steam-power naturally was first used, hydraulic power was adopted at Elswick, and has been there applied to the mountings of large guns with the greatest success by Mr. G. W. Rendel. To mention the various arrangements in which this power is applied, or to attempt any description of the elaborate machinery by which it is regulated, would carry us far beyond our limits. But the powerful weapon depicted in Fig. 102 is designed to be worked only by the manual effort of a few men. In this mounting the pressure of condensed air sustains the gun in the firing position; that pressure, acting upon the water in the recoil presses, having previously forced up their rams so as to turn into a nearly vertical position the strong brackets or beams on which the trunnions are supported. The recoil is checked in the usual way by the forcing of the water through small ports or valves as the ram descends, but these valves are so arranged that the water is in part forced back into the air chamber, and there recompresses the air, to restore the power for again raising the gun. The pressure in the air chamber when the gun is down may be about 1,400 lbs. per square inch; when it is up this will be reduced to perhaps one half by the expansion of the air in doing work. We have here the reaction of compressed air taking the place of the gravity of the counterpoise originally designed. There are in this hydro-pneumatic mounting a number of adjusting appliances, such as forcing pumps, brakes, etc., for regulating the pressures, or quantity of liquid, as, for instance, when lowering the gun without any recoil action in operation. Then again, with any change in the weight of projectile or in the powder charge, there would be a corresponding change in the power of the recoil, and therefore the necessity for compensatory adjustments, which are made with great readiness. The nicety with which the parts are adapted to each other in this mounting must be obvious, when we observe the magnitude of the mass to be moved with the least delay, and brought to rest, quite gently and exactly, in a new position. Details cannot here be given even of the method by which the valves in the recoil cylinders are automatically controlled for this purpose. Means are also supplied for setting the gun, while still in its protected position, to the required angle of elevation or depression. The adjustment is made by the long rods attached near the breech and set at their lower ends to the position giving the intended angle to the raised gun. The varied and powerful strains to which the parts of this mechanism are subject, and which have had to be calculated and provided for, may be inferred from the enormous recoil energy of the gun, which under ordinary conditions amounts to no less than 730 foot-tons. The gun is provided with ordinary, and also with reflecting, sights, so that no one need be exposed to the enemy’s fire. Protective armour above the gun is not required, as the pit itself being usually on some elevation is imperceptible to the enemy, and the gun is visible but for a few seconds, forming a quite inconspicuous object. The pit in which the gun is mounted is commonly lined with concrete. Italy, England, Norway, Japan and other countries have appreciated the advantages of the disappearing system in providing the most powerful coast defences yet devised, and a great many guns have been mounted on this principle.

FIG. 102.—_68–ton Gun on Elswick Hydro-Pneumatic Mounting._
]

An extraordinary piece of ordnance is represented in Fig. 103. It is one of two huge mortars, the idea of which presented itself to Mr. Mallet during the Crimean War, the intention being to throw into the Russian lines spherical shells a yard in diameter, which would, in fact, have constituted powerful mines, rendering it impossible for the fortifications to continue tenable. Mallet’s original design was to project these shells from mortars of no less than 40 tons weight. When it was pointed out that the transport of so heavy a mass would be impracticable, the design was changed to admit of the mortar being made in pieces not exceeding eleven tons in weight, and built up where required. During the most active period in the siege of Sebastopol this plan was submitted to Lord Palmerston, who at once ordered two of these apparently formidable pieces to be constructed, without waiting for official examinations of the scheme, and the usual reports of experts,—promptness in this case being considered of the utmost importance. A contract was made with a private firm, who undertook to deliver them in ten weeks. But the difficulties attending such constructions not being understood at the time, delays arose, the contractors failed, and two years elapsed before the mortars were completed. In the meantime peace had been concluded, and the mortars were never fired against any hostile works; but experiments were made with one of them at Woolwich. The heaviest of the shells it was intended to project weighed 2,940 lbs., and for this it was proposed to use a charge of 80 lbs. of gunpowder. In the experiments the charges first used were low, but gradually increased: when it was found that after every few rounds repairs became necessary in consequence of the weak points in the construction, and after the nineteenth round the mortar was so much damaged that the trials were definitely discontinued. The other mortar, though mounted, was never fired, but remains at Woolwich, an object of some interest to artillerists, especially since there has been some talk of reverting to this very old-fashioned form of ordnance as a means of attacking ironclads in their most vulnerable direction by the so-called vertical fire. In one of the rounds of the Mallet mortar tried at Woolwich, a shell weighing 2,400 lbs. was thrown by a charge of 70 lbs. of gunpowder a distance of more than a mile and a half, and it buried itself in the soil to a very great depth.

FIG. 103.—_Mallet’s Mortar_
]

For high-elevation firing, howitzers will more probably be the form of ordnance most in use. The range of the howitzer is determined by the angle at which it is elevated, whereas with the mortar it is chiefly by variation of the powder charge that the aim is adjusted. Many of the old short 9 in. muzzle-loaders have already been converted into 11 in. rifled howitzers, and these are likely to prove of great service in defending our harbours and channels against war vessels.

Some account has been given in a preceding article of the great steel works of Krupp & Co. at Essen, and the place has been noted as one of the greatest gun factories in the world during the second half of our century. The process there practised of casting crucible steel ingots, and already described, is precisely that used in the first stage of gun-making. The steel for guns put into the crucibles is a carefully adjusted mixture of one quality of iron puddled into steel and subjected to certain treatment; the other portion is made from a different quality of iron from which all the carbon has been puddled out. The cast ingot is forged under a great steam hammer, bored, turned, and steel hoops shrunk upon it, in several layers, and other operations are performed upon it like those which have already been mentioned. A 14 in. gun is said to require sixteen months for its manufacture, and its cost to be about £20,000.

FIG. 104.—_32–pounder Krupp Siege Gun, with Breech-piece open._
]

Artillerists had long carried on a warm controversy as to the relative merits of wrought iron and steel in gun construction, the latter material being regarded with shyness on account of its want of uniformity as formerly produced. Krupp however began as early as 1847 to make guns of his excellent crucible steel, and through bad report and good report confined himself to this material until, it is asserted, by 1878 he had supplied over 17,000 steel guns of all calibres. He began by making a 3–pounder gun, but soon produced pieces of larger size, all of which were bored and turned out of solid masses of metal. At a later period the plan of shrinking on strengthening hoops of steel was adopted. The Krupp guns have found extensive favour, and many very heavy ones have been made, some indeed of greater weight than the 110–ton Armstrong; but the excess of weight is due to the mass of metal which the Krupp construction of the breech mechanism requires. Thus Krupp’s 120–ton gun has a muzzle energy of but 45,796 foot-tons, while that of the Elswick piece is 55,105 foot-tons.

FIG. 105.—_The Citadel of Strasburg after the Prussian Bombardment._
]

The breech arrangement in the Krupp guns consists of a lateral slot into which slides a closing block after the charge has been inserted from the rear. An obsolete form of this breech piece is seen in Fig. 104, which represents a 32–pounder gun such as was used in sieges by the Prussians in the Franco-German War. It will be observed here that the slot and breech piece are of rectangular form; but this shape, causing the piece to be weak where most strength was required, was afterwards altered into a D-shaped section, the curved side being of course to the rear. That difficulty which baffled the earliest attempts at breech-loading is the same that has given much trouble to modern gunmakers. It consists in so closing the breech that no escape of the powder gases can take place there at the moment of discharge. When we remember that the momentary pressure of the gases in the powder chamber may amount to more than 40 tons on the square inch, we can well understand the enormous velocity with which they will rush forth from even the smallest interspace between the base of the gun and the breech block, but we can hardly realise without actual inspection the mechanical action they produce in their passage: when once the escape occurs, a channel is cut in the metal as if part had been removed by an instrument, and the piece in that condition is disabled for further use. Several devices are in use obtaining perfect closure of the breech, which is technically called _obturation_ (Latin, _obturare_, to close up). One of these consists in fitting closely into the circumference of the bore a ring of very elastic steel, turned up at the edges towards the powder chamber. The gas pressure forces the edge of this ring still more closely against the interior of the powder chamber, much in the same way as the Bramah collar acts in the hydraulic press (see Fig. 165). The shaded circle shown on the breech piece in Fig. 104 is an additional device for obtaining obturation. The Broadwell ring, as the above-mentioned contrivance is called, is not used in English guns, but another plan of obtaining a gas-joint has been much adopted, in which a squeezable pad is by compression forced outwards to close up the bore.

A very long range was claimed for Krupp’s guns at the time of the Franco-German War, for at the siege of Paris (1870) it was said they could hurl projectiles to the distance of five miles, though probably there was some exaggeration in this statement. There is no doubt however that the Prussians had very effective and powerful artillery, as may be gathered from Fig. 105, which is taken from a photograph of part of the fortifications of Strasburg after the bombardment of that fortress. The explosive shells used by the Prussians against masses of troops were not precisely segment shells of the form already described, but the principle and effect were the same, for the interior was built up of circular rings, which broke into many pieces when the shell exploded.

Out of the very numerous forms in which modern ordnance is constructed, we have been able to select but a few examples for illustration and description. These will suffice, it is hoped, to give an idea of the progress that the century has witnessed. It would be beyond our scope to give details of the ingenious mechanical devices that have come to be applied to guns: such as the breech-closing arrangements, the various ways in which recoil is controlled and utilized, etc. A good illustration, had space permitted, of the scientific skill applied to ordnance would be found in the contrivances fitted to certain projectiles in order to determine their explosion at the proper moment. These are very different from the cap or time fuse that did duty in the first half of the century. We have indeed said little of the projectiles themselves beyond mention of the Palliser chilled shot and the obsolete studded projectiles. We have not explained how bands of copper, or other soft metal, are put round a certain part of the shot or shell, in order that, being forced into the grooves, the axial rotation may be imparted, or how windage is prevented by “gas checks” attached to the base of the projectiles. We must now be contented to conclude this section by showing the structure of two kinds of explosive shells which have been much used.

Shrapnel shell takes its name from Lieutenant Shrapnel, who was its inventor about the end of last century, but the projectile began to be used only in 1808. Fig. 105_a_ is a section showing the shell as a case containing a number of spherical bullets, of which in the larger shells there are very many, the interspaces being filled with rosin, poured in when melted; the bullets are thus prevented from moving about. The figure shows the shell without the fuse or percussion apparatus, which screws into the hollow at the front. The bursting charge of gunpowder is behind the bullets, and when it explodes they travel forward with a greater velocity than the shell, but with trajectories more or less radiating, carrying with them wide-spreading destruction and death.

A shrapnel shell may be said to be a short cannon containing its charge of powder in a thick chamber at the breech end; the sides of the fore part of the shell are thinner than those of the chamber, and may be said to form the barrel of the cannon. This cannon is loaded up to the muzzle with round balls, which vary with the shell in size. An iron disc between the powder and the bullets represents the wad used in ordinary fowling-pieces. A false conical head is attached to the shell, so that its outward appearance is very similar to that of an ordinary cylindro-conoidal shell: that is to say, it looks like a very large long Enfield bullet. The spinning motion which had been communicated to the shell by the rifling of the gun from which it had been fired causes the barrel filled with bullets to point in the direction of the object at which the gun has been aimed. Consequently, when the shrapnel shell is burst, or rather fired off, the bullets which it contained are streamed forward with actually greater velocity than that at which the shell had been moving; and the effect produced is similar to firing grape and canister from a smooth-bore cannon at a short range.

FIG. 105_a_.—_The Shrapnel and Segment Shells._
]

Segment shells were first brought into use by Lord Armstrong in 1858 in connection with his breech-loading guns. The segment shell consists of a thin casing like a huge conical-headed thimble, with a false bottom attached to it. It is filled with small pieces of iron called “segments,” cast into shapes which enable them to be built up inside the outer casing into two or more concentric circular walls. The internal surface of the inmost wall forms the cavity of the compound or segment shell, and contains the bursting charge. The segment shell is fitted with a percussion fuse, which causes it to explode when it strikes. In the shrapnel shell, the powder charge is situated in rear of the bullets, and consequently produces the chief effect in a forward direction. In the segment shell, the powder is contained inside the segments, and therefore produces the chief effect in a lateral direction. When the shrapnel shell is burst at the right moment, its effect is greatly superior to that of the segment shell; on the other hand, the segment shell, when employed at unknown or varying distances, is far more unlikely to explode at the proper time.

Shrapnel and segment shells can be used with field artillery, _i.e._, 9–pounders, 12–pounders, 16–pounders; and also with heavy rifled guns in fortresses, viz., 40–pounders, 64–pounders, 7–in. and 9–in. guns. But the conditions of their service are very different in each case. With regard to field artillery, the distance of the enemy is rarely known, and is constantly changing, and hence the men who have to adjust the fuses would probably be exposed to the fire of the enemy’s artillery, and, consequently, could not be expected to prepare the fuses with the great care and nicety which are absolutely necessary to give due effect to the shells. There are, however, some occasions when the above objections would not hold good—as, for instance, when field artillery occupy a position in which they wait the attack of an enemy advancing over ground in which the distances are known.

Segment shells require no adjustment of their percussion fuse. They enable the artillerymen to hit off the proper range very quickly, since the smoke of the shell which bursts on striking tells them at once whether they are aiming too high or too low.

With regard, however, to the service of heavy rifled guns in fortresses, the conditions are quite different. In the first place, the distance of all objects in sight would be well known beforehand; and in the second place, the fuses of the shells would be carefully cut to the required length in the bomb-proofs, where the men would be completely sheltered. The 7–in. shrapnel contains 227 bullets, and a 9–in. shrapnel would contain 500 bullets of the same size, and these shells could be burst with extraordinary accuracy upon objects 5,000, 6,000, or 7,000 yards off.

_MACHINE GUNS._

The name of machine guns has been applied to arms which may be regarded as in some respects intermediate between cannons and rifles, since in certain particulars they partake of the nature of both. Like the former, they are fired from a stand or carriage, and in some of their forms require more than one man for their working: in the calibre of their barrels and the weight of their projectiles, they are assimilated to the rifle, but they are capable of pouring forth their missiles in a very rapid succession—so rapid indeed as practically to constitute volley firing. The firing mechanism of the machine gun has always an automatic character, but the rifle has acquired this feature, so that it cannot be made a distinguishing mark: on the other hand, since machine guns have been made to discharge projectiles of such weights as 1 lb. or 3 lb. there is nothing to separate them from quick-firing ordnance unless it be the automatic firing.

The idea of combining a number of musket-barrels into one weapon, so that these barrels may be discharged simultaneously or in rapid succession, is not new. Attempts were made two hundred years ago to construct such weapons; but they failed, from the want of good mechanical adjustments of their parts. Nor would the machine gun have become the effective weapon it is, but for the timely invention of the rigid metallic-cased cartridge. Several forms of machine guns have in turn attracted much attention. There is the Mitrailleur (or Mitrailleuse), of which so much was heard at the commencement of the Franco-German War, and of whose deadly powers the French managed to circulate terrible and mysterious reports, while the weapon itself was kept concealed. Whether this arose from the great expectations really entertained of the destructive effects of the mitrailleur, or whether the reports were circulated merely to inspire the French troops with confidence, would be difficult to determine. Our own policy in regard to new implements of war is not to attempt to conceal their construction. Experience has shown that no secret of the least value can long be preserved within the walls of an arsenal, although the French certainly apparently succeeded in surrounding their invention with mystery for a while. The machine gun, or “battery,” invented by Mr. Gatling, an American, is said by English artillerists to be free from many defects of the French mitrailleur. In 1870 a committee of English military men was appointed to examine the powers of several forms of mitrailleur, with a view to reporting upon the advisability or otherwise of introducing this arm into the British service. They recommended for certain purposes the Gatling battery gun.

FIG. 105_b_.—_The Gatling Gun.—Rear View._
]

In the Gatling the barrels, ten in number, are distinct and separate, being screwed into a solid revolving piece towards the breech end, and passing near their muzzles through a plate, by which they are kept parallel to each other. The whole revolves with a shaft, turning in bearings placed front and rear in an oblong fixed frame, and carrying two other pieces, which rotate with it. These are the “carrier” and the lock cylinder. Fig. 105_b_ gives a rear view, and Fig. 105_c_ a side view, of the Gatling battery gun. The weapon is made of three sizes, the largest one firing bullets 1 in. in diameter, weighing ½ lb., the smallest discharging bullets of ·45 in. diameter. The small Gatling is said to be effective at a range of more than a mile and a quarter, and can discharge 400 bullets or more in one minute. Mr. Gatling thus describes his invention:

“The gun consists of a series of barrels in combination with a grooved carrier and lock cylinder. All these several parts are rigidly secured upon a main shaft. There are as many grooves in the carrier, and as many holes in the lock cylinder, as there are barrels. Each barrel is furnished with one lock, so that a gun with ten barrels has ten locks. The locks work in the holes formed in the lock cylinder on a line with the axis of the barrels. The lock cylinder, which contains the lock, is surrounded by a casing, which is fastened to a frame, to which trimmers are attached. There is a partition in the casing, through which there is an opening, and into which the main shaft, which carries the lock cylinder, carrier, and barrels, is journaled. The main shaft is also at its front end journaled in the front part of the frame. In front of the partition in the casing is placed a cam, provided with spiral surfaces or inclined planes.

“This cam is rigidly fastened to the casing, and is used to impart a reciprocating motion to the locks when the gun is rotated. There is also in the front part of the casing a cocking ring which surrounds the lock cylinder, is attached to the casing, and has on its rear surface an inclined plane with an abrupt shoulder. This ring and its projection are used for cocking and firing the gun. This ring, the spiral cam, and the locks make up the loading and firing mechanism.

“On the rear end of the main shaft, in rear of the partition in the casing, is located a gear-wheel, which works to a pinion on the crank-shaft. The rear of the casing is closed by the cascable plate. There is hinged to the frame in front of the breech-casing a curved plate, covering partially the grooved carrier, into which is formed a hopper or opening, through which the cartridges are fed to the gun from feed-cases. The frame which supports the gun is mounted upon the carriage used for the transportation of the gun.

“The operation of the gun is very simple. One man places a feed-case filled with cartridges into the hopper; another man turns the crank, which, by the agency of the gearing, revolves the main shaft, carrying with it the lock cylinder, carrier, barrels, and locks. As the gun is rotated, the cartridges, one by one, drop into the grooves of the carrier from the feed-cases, and instantly the lock, by its impingement on the spiral cam surfaces, moves forward to load the cartridge, and when the butt-end of the lock gets on the highest projection of the cam, the charge is fired, through the agency of the cocking device, which at this point liberates the lock, spring, and hammer, and explodes the cartridge. As soon as the charge is fired, the lock, as the gun is revolved, is drawn back by the agency of the spiral surface in the cam acting on a lug of the lock, bringing with it the shell of the cartridge after it has been fired, which is dropped on the ground. Thus, it will be seen, when the gun is rotated, the locks in rapid succession move forward to load and fire, and return to extract the cartridge-shells. In other words, the whole operation of loading, closing the breech, discharging, and expelling the empty cartridge-shells is conducted while the barrels are kept in continuous revolving movement. It must be borne in mind that while the locks revolve with the barrels, they have also, in their line of travel, a spiral reciprocating movement; that is, each lock revolves once and moves forward and back at each revolution of the gun.

“The gun is so novel in its construction and operation that it is almost impossible to describe it minutely without the aid of drawings. Its main features may be summed up thus: 1st.—Each barrel in the gun is provided with its own independent lock or firing mechanism. 2nd.—All the locks revolve simultaneously with the barrels, carrier, and inner breech, when the gun is in operation. The locks also have, as stated, a reciprocating motion when the gun is rotated. The gun cannot be fired when either the barrels or locks are at rest.”

There is a beautiful mechanical principle developed in the gun, viz., that while the gun itself is under uniform constant rotary motion, the locks rotate with the barrels and breech, and at the same time have a longitudinal reciprocating motion, performing the consecutive operations of loading, cocking, and firing without any pause whatever in the several and continuous operations.

The small Gatling is supplied with another improvement called the “drum feed.” This case is divided into sixteen sections, each of which contains twenty-five cartridges, and is placed on a vertical axis on the top of the gun. As fast as one section is discharged, it rotates, and brings another section over the feed aperture, until the whole 400 charges are expended.

FIG. 105_c_.—_The Gatling Gun.—Front View._
]

After a careful comparison of the effects of field artillery firing shrapnel, the committee concluded that the Gatling would be more destructive in the open at distances up to 1,200 yards, but that it is not comparable to artillery in effect at greater distances, or where the ground is covered by trees, brushwood, earthworks, &c. The mitrailleur, however, would soon be knocked over by artillery if exposed, and therefore will probably only be employed in situations under shelter from such fire. An English officer, who witnessed the effects of mitrailleur fire at the battle of Beaugency, looks upon the mitrailleur as representing a certain number of infantry, for whom there is not room on the ground, suddenly placed forward at the proper moment at a decisive point to bring a crushing fire upon the enemy. Many other eye-witnesses have spoken of the fearfully deadly effect of the mitrailleur in certain actions during the Franco-German War.

Mr. Gatling contends that, shot for shot, his machine is more accurate than infantry, and certainly the absence of nerves will ensure steadiness; while so few men (four) are necessary to work the gun that the exposure of life is less. No re-sighting and re-laying are necessary between each discharge. When the gun is once sighted its carriage does not move, except at the will of the operator; and the gun can be moved laterally when firing is going on, so as to sweep the section of a circle of 12° or more without moving the trail or changing the wheels of the carriage. The smoke of battle, therefore, does not interfere with its precision.

Whatever may be the part this new weapon is destined to play in the wars of the future, we know that every European Power has now provided itself with some machine guns. The Germans have those they took from the French, who adhere to their old pattern. The Russians have made numbers of Gatlings, each of which can send out, it is said, 1,000 shots per minute, and improvements have been effected, so as to obtain a lateral sweep for the fire.

FIG. 105_d_.—_The Montigny Mitrailleur._
]

A competitor to the Gatling presents itself in the Belgian mitrailleur, the Montigny, Fig. 105_d_. This gun, like the Gatling, is made of several different sizes, the smallest containing nineteen barrels and the largest thirty-seven. The barrels are all fitted into a wrought iron tube, which thus constitutes the compound barrel of the weapon. At the breech end of this barrel is the movable portion and the mechanism by which it is worked. The movable portion consists mainly of a short metallic cylinder of about the same diameter as the compound barrel, and this is pierced with a number of holes which correspond exactly with the position of the gun-barrels, of which they would form so many prolongations. In each of the holes or tubes a steel piston works freely; and when its front end is made even with the front surface of the short cylinder, a spiral spring, which is also contained in each of the tubes, is compressed. The short cylinder moves as a whole backwards and forwards in the direction of the axis of the piece, the movement being given by a lever to the shorter arm of which the movable piece is attached. When the gun is to be loaded this piece is drawn backwards by raising the lever, when the spiral springs are relieved from compression, and the heads of the pistons press lightly against a flat steel plate in front of them. The withdrawal of the breech-block gives space for a steel plate, bored with holes corresponding to the barrels, to be slid down vertically; and this plate holds in each hole a cartridge, the head of each cartridge being, when the plate has dropped into its position, exactly opposite to the barrel, into which it is thrust, when the movable breech-block is made to advance. The anterior face of this breech-block is formed of a plate containing a number of holes again corresponding to the barrels, and in each hole is a little short rod of metal, which has in front a projecting point that can be made to protrude through a _small_ aperture in the front of the plate, the said small apertures exactly agreeing in position with the centres of the barrels, and being the only perforations in the front of the plate. The back of the plate has also openings through which the heads of the pistons can pass, and by hitting the little pieces, or strikers, cause their points to pass out through the apertures in front of the plate, and enter the base of the cartridges, where _fulminate_ is placed. The plate filled with cartridges has a bevelled edge, and the points of the strikers are pushed back by it as it descends. The heads of the pistons are separated until the moment of discharge from the recesses containing the strikers by the flat steel plate or shutter already mentioned. The effect, therefore, of pushing the breech-block forward is to ram the cartridges into the barrels, and at the same time the spiral springs are compressed, and the heads of the pistons press against the steel shutter which separates them from the strikers, so that the whole of the breech mechanism is thus closed up. When the piece is to be fired a handle is turned, which draws down the steel shutter and permits the pistons to leap forward one by one, and hit the strikers, so that the points of the latter enter the cartridges and inflame the fulminate. The shutter is cut at its upper edge into steps, so that no two adjoining barrels are fired at once. The whole of the thirty-seven barrels can be fired by one and a quarter turns of the handle, which may, of course, be given almost instantly, or, by a slower movement, the barrels can be discharged at any required rate.

The barrels of the machine guns we have described do not, as is generally supposed, radiate; on the contrary, they are arranged in a perfectly parallel direction. In consequence of this, the bullets are at short ranges directed nearly to one spot. The Gatling gun was adopted as a service weapon by the British navy, and in several minor actions it had proved effective, but in its original form it was superseded by the Gardner gun, in which the barrels are fixed horizontally side by side, and are in number five or fewer; each barrel is able to fire 120 rounds per minute. A new system of feed was afterwards applied to the Gatling gun by Mr. Accles, by means of which this gun was greatly improved and its rate of firing was increased to more than 1,000 rounds per minute; indeed, 80 rounds have been fired from it within 2 seconds. The Gatlings in this improved form have ten barrels, and are provided with feed drums, each containing 104 cartridges, and capable, when empty, of being almost instantly replaced by a full one. The contents of one drum can, if necessary, be discharged in about 2¼ seconds, so that in this time 104 rifle bullets would be fired; or considerably more than the rate of 1,000 rounds per minute could easily be maintained. The weapon is so mounted, that without moving its carriage it can be pointed at any angle of elevation or depression, and through a considerable lateral range.

Mr. Nordenfelt has brought out a machine gun, which, on account of the simplicity and strength of its firing mechanism, has proved the most reliable weapon of its class, and it also has been adopted into the British service, and indeed into that of nearly every nation in the world. In this gun there are five barrels arranged as in the Gardner, but the firing is operated by a lever working backwards and forwards at the rate of 600 rounds per minute.

FIG. 105_e_.—_A Hotchkiss Gun._
]

In the firing of all these weapons, by turning a crank, or moving a lever at one side, any attempt at exact aiming must obviously be difficult if not impossible, from the liability of the gun to get moved. Several designs have been proposed for making the firing mechanism entirely automatic so as to require no effort on the part of the firer, whose attention can then be directed solely to pointing the piece. It would not be easy to explain in detail the way in which this is accomplished in these very ingenious guns; for while the principle of their action is sufficiently clear, namely, that the force of the recoil is made to extract the spent cartridge, open the breech, insert a fresh cartridge, close the breech, and fire the charge, the mechanism of the reacting springs, etc., by which this is effected could scarcely, even by the aid of elaborate diagrams, be made intelligible to any other than a gunsmith. The Maxim is one of those automatic guns: it has but one barrel, and after the first discharge it will go on firing with marvellous rapidity the cartridges supplied to it in a continuous chain, and this without any deviation from such direction as may be given to it by the operator, for he has neither crank to turn nor lever to move, but merely sits behind an iron shield directing the weapon at will, which, without interference, fires hundreds of shots per minute from one barrel, so long as the long bands of cartridges are supplied to it.

Mr. Nordenfelt and Mr. Hotchkiss have also both contrived quick firing guns for 1–lb., 3–lb., and 6–lb. projectiles, and these, it has been thought, will be of great service in naval warfare as against torpedo boats.

Though the automatic mechanism, whereby the breech operations are all performed by the force of the recoil of the barrel, which is allowed to slide backwards, and is then returned to its place by a spring, is too complicated for illustration here, mention may be made of a quite recent device by which the recoil action is dispensed with, and the mechanism so far simplified that scarcely more than half the number of parts in the lock mechanism are required. Imagine a closed tube beneath the barrel, parallel to it, and communicating with it only by a small boring near the muzzle; through this opening the expanding gases will pass, in a degree depending on its size and position, and by their action on a piston near the breech, impulses are supplied that will actuate the lock mechanism so long as cartridges are supplied, as they may be in a continuous band. A weapon of this construction has been already tried, and its discharges are so rapid that the sound of them is described as being quite deafening. This plan appears to be equally applicable to small arms, and to machine or field guns. A very effective gun of the kind, which fires ordinary rifle bullets, has been contrived by Mr. Hotchkiss, and is represented in Fig. 105_e_. It is capable of sending forth as many as 1,000 shots in one minute.

Modern ordnance has required certain modifications in the making of gunpowder, so that the original name of _powder_ would now hardly be applicable at all. The large charges now used, if introduced in the form of fine powder, would certainly shatter the guns from the suddenness of the exploding force. Hence the material is made up into larger or smaller masses, generally rounded like small pebbles. The explosive used for the huge 110–ton guns presents itself in the form of chocolate-coloured hexagonal prisms, two or three inches long and about an inch in diameter. These are obtained by compressing the specially prepared material into moulds with a hydraulic press. The reason for this process is that, in order to obtain precision and uniformity in the effects, not only must the composition of the powder be always the same, but the size, shape, weight, and number of the several portions that make up the charge must be invariable. It has not been found possible to fire one of these monster guns many times without such signs of deterioration as would suggest a short “life” for each of them. But the greatest necessity for modern fire-arms is a smokeless powder or other explosive. It is obvious that the advantages of quick firing, whether of large or of small fire-arms, are greatly reduced if the soldier or gunner is prevented by smoke from taking aim. The invention of a smokeless gunpowder has several times been announced, and great advances have, indeed, been made towards its realization. Certain compositions, which appeared to meet the requirement of being practically smokeless, have, however, been found liable to chemical changes, or to corrode the bore, or to possess other objectionable properties. In this country the explosive coming into use as best adapted for quick firing guns, etc., presents itself in appearance like whitish or grey strings, and has hence received the name of _cordite_. The composition and mode of manufacture of these new substitutes for gunpowder are not readily disclosed, each military authority jealously guarding its own secrets. The problem of smokeless powder has, however, been almost completely solved, for at a military review that took place on the Continent in 1889, the discharge of the rifles (loaded with blank cartridges, of course) is said to have been attended with no more smoke than the puff of a cigar. The new invention will cause some changes in military tactics, for the manœuvres formerly executed under cover of the battle smoke will no longer be possible. Some particulars as to the nature of smokeless powders will be found in the article on “Explosives.”

FIG. 106.—_Harvey’s Torpedo. Working the Brakes._
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TORPEDOES.

The notion of destroying ships or other structures by explosions of gunpowder, contained in vessels made to float on the surface of the water, or submerged beneath it, is not of very modern origin. Two hundred and fifty years ago the English tried “floating petards” at the siege of Rochelle. During the American War of Independence similar contrivances were used against the British, and from time to time since then “torpedoes,” as they were first termed by Fulton, have been employed in warfare in various forms; but up to quite a recent period the use of torpedoes does not appear to have been attended with any decided success, and it is probable that but for the deplorable Civil War in the United States we should have heard little of this invention. During that bitter fratricidal struggle, however, when so much ingenuity was displayed in the contrivance of subsidiary means of attack and defence, the torpedo came prominently into notice, having been employed by the Confederates with the most marked effects. It is said that thirty-nine Federal ships were blown up by Confederate torpedoes, and the official reports own to twenty-five having been so destroyed. This caused the American Government to turn their attention to the torpedo, and they became so convinced of the importance of this class of war engine that they built boats expressly for torpedo warfare, and equipped six _Monitors_ for the same purpose.

It has been well remarked that the torpedo plays the same part in naval warfare as does the mine in operations by land. This exactly describes the purpose of the torpedo where it is used defensively, but the comparison fails to suggest its capabilities as a weapon of offence. There are few occasions where a mine is made the means of attack, while the torpedo readily admits of such an employment, and, used in this way, it may become a conspicuous feature of future naval engagements. Many forms of this war engine have been invented, but all may be classified, in the first place, under two heads: viz., stationary torpedoes, and mobile or offensive torpedoes; while independent distinctions may be made according to the manner of firing the charge; or, again, according to the mode of determining the instant of the explosion. The stationary torpedo may be fixed to a pile or a raft, or attached to a weight; the offensive torpedo may be either allowed to float or drift against the hostile ships, or it may be propelled by machinery, or attached to a spar of an ironclad or other vessel. The charge may be fired by a match, by percussion, by friction, by electricity, or by some contrivance for bringing chemicals into contact which act strongly upon each other, and thus generate sufficient heat to ignite the charge. The instant of explosion may be determined by the contact of the torpedo with the hostile structure (in which case it is said to be “self-acting”), or by clockwork, or at the will of persons directing the operations. In some cases lines attached to triggers are employed; in others electric currents are made use of.

FIG. 107.—_Submerged Torpedo._
]

In the American Civil War the stationary torpedoes at first laid down were self-acting, that is, they were so arranged as to explode when touched by a passing vessel. Such arrangements present the great disadvantages of being as dangerous to friendly as to hostile ships. The operation of placing them is a perilous one, and when once sunk, they can only be removed at great risk. Besides this, they cannot be relied on for certain action in time of need, as the self-acting apparatus is liable to get out of order. The superiority of the method of firing them from the shore when the proper instant arrived, became so obvious that the self-acting torpedo was soon to a great extent superseded by one so arranged that an observer could fire it at will, by means of a trigger-line or an electric current. Similar plans had often been previously employed or suggested. For example, during the war between Austria and Italy the Austrian engineers at Venice had very large electric torpedoes sunk in the channels which form the approaches to the city. They consisted of large wooden cases capable of containing 400 lbs. of gun-cotton, moored by chains to a wooden framework, to which weights were lashed that sufficed to sink the whole apparatus, Fig. 107. A cable containing insulated wires connected the torpedo with an electrical arrangement on shore, and the explosion could take place only by the operator sending a current through these wires. The torpedo was wholly submerged, so that there was nothing visible to distinguish its position. There was no need of a buoy or other mark, as in the case of self-acting torpedoes, to warn friendly vessels off the dangerous spot, and therefore nothing appeared to excite an enemy’s suspicions. But it is, however, absolutely necessary that the defenders should know the precise position of each of their submarine mines, so that they might explode it at the moment the enemy’s ship came within the range of its destructive action. This was accomplished at Venice in a highly ingenious manner, by erecting a camera obscura in such a position that a complete picture of the protected channels was projected on a fixed white table. While the torpedoes were being placed in their positions an observer was stationed at the table, who marked with a pencil the exact spot at which each torpedo was sunk into the water. Further, those engaged in placing the torpedoes caused a small boat to be rowed round the spot where the torpedo had been placed, so as to describe a circle the radius of which corresponded to the limit of the effective action of the torpedo. The course of the boat was traced on the picture in the camera, so that a very accurate representation of the positions of the submarine mines in the channels was obtained. Each circle traced on the table was marked by a number, and the wire in connection with the corresponding torpedo was led into the camera, and marked with the same number, so that the observer stationed in the camera could, when he saw the image of an enemy’s ship enter one of the circles, close the electric circuit of the corresponding wire, and thus instantly explode the proper torpedo. The events of the war did not afford an opportunity of testing practically the efficiency of these preparations.

Another mode of exploding torpedoes from the shore has been devised by Abel and Maury. It has the advantage of being applicable by night as well as by day. The principle will be easily understood with the assistance of the diagram, Fig. 108, in which, for the sake of simplicity, the positions of only three torpedoes, 1, 2, 3, are represented.

FIG. 108.—_Mode of Firing Torpedo._
]

In this arrangement two observers are required at different stations on the shore. At each station—which should not, of course, be in any conspicuous position—is a telescope, provided with a cross-wire, and capable of turning horizontally about an upright axis. The telescope carries round with it, over a circular table of non-conducting substance, a metallic pointer which presses against narrow slips of metal let into the circumference of the table. To each slip of metal a wire passing to a torpedo is attached, and another wire is connected with the axis of the pointer, so as to be put into electric contact with each of the others when the pointer touches the corresponding piece of metal on the rim of the table. The mode in which these wires are connected with the torpedoes, the telescopes, and the electric apparatus is shown by the lines in the diagram. At each station is a key, which interrupts the electric circuit except when it is pressed down by the operator. There are thus four different points at which contacts must be simultaneously made before the circuit can be complete or a torpedo explode. In the diagram three of these are represented as closed, and in such a condition of affairs it only remains for the observer to depress the handle of the key at station B to effect the explosion of torpedo No. 2. The observer at station a is supposed to see the approaching vessel in the line of torpedo No. 2, and recognizing this as an enemy’s ship, he depresses the key at his station. The operator at B, by following the course of the vessel with his telescope, will have brought the pointer into contact with the wire leading to No. 2 torpedo, and he then causes the explosion to take place by completing the circuit by depressing his key. A modification of this plan is proposed by which the position of the torpedoes is indicated by placing marks, such as differently-coloured flags, or by night lamps with coloured glasses, throwing their light only towards the telescopes. These marks are placed in the line of direction of each torpedo from the telescope as at _c_{1}_, _c_{2}_, _c_{3}_ and _b_{1}_, _b_{2 3}_; and if they can be put at some distance, the position of the torpedo is determined with great accuracy by the intersection of the lines of sight of the two telescopes. Electric wires connect the stations and the torpedoes in the same manner as we have before described. Such methods of firing torpedoes are no doubt the most efficient, for the destructive charge may be sunk so far below the surface that not a ripple or an eddy can excite an enemy’s suspicion, or the channel appear otherwise than free and unobstructed, while friendly ships may pass and repass without risk; for the current which determines the explosion only passes when the two sentinels complete the circuit by simultaneously depressing their keys.

Attempts have often been made to convert the torpedo into an offensive weapon, by causing vessels containing explosive charges to drift by currents, or otherwise, into contact with the enemy’s ships. The results have been always unsatisfactory, as there is great uncertainty of the machine coming into contact with its intended mark. Besides, it is easy to defend vessels against such attacks by placing nets, &c., to intercept the hostile visitors, especially if the attack is made by day, and by night the chance that a torpedo drifting at random would strike its object is very small indeed. One condition essential to the success of such attacks is that the approach of the insidious antagonist may be unobserved. Accordingly divers schemes have been projected for propelling vessels wholly submerged beneath the surface of the water, so that they may approach their object unperceived, and exert their destructive effect precisely at that part of the vessel where damage is most fatal, and where an ironclad vessel is most vulnerable, namely, below the water-line. Vessels have been built, propelled by steam and so contrived that their bodies are wholly submerged, only the funnel being visible above the surface. These _quasi_ submarine ships carry small crews, and are fitted with a long projecting spar in front, at the end of which is carried the torpedo.

FIG. 109.—_Explosion of Whitehead’s Torpedo._
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FIG. 110.—_Effect of the Explosion of Whitehead’s Torpedo._
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