THE NEW AIR-CANNON.
IN an age prolific of inventions, and incessantly trying the capabilities of every kind of force, it is not surprising that an ingenious Pole should have turned to atmospheric pressure as a means of propelling shells. Has it not been recently proposed to transport human beings from place to place by "pneumatic despatch," and why not destructive projectiles ? It is true that a human being, unlike a package of dry goods or parcel of dynamite, requires to breathe in order to live ; but that difficulty may be overcome by some process ensuring the safety during suspended animation. The telephone carries the human voice many score miles, and the electric wire transmits handwriting. When we have gone from the catapult, which did very pretty shooting in its day, to the hundred-ton gun ; when we let loose the various species of torpedoes and send them speeding away under water, and talk of having a gun-torpedo in a ship's bows below the water-line ; when the chemists provide an embarrae de richesse in the shape of explosives, we may well inquire whether there are any limits to the triumphs of science in the arts of destruction. Have not shells been heard of which, loaded with some horrible compound, and dropped upon a flock of sheep, have simply obliterated the poor animals, so that they were seen no more. Greek-fire, famous in its day, was nothing to this ; yet the real work even then was done by the ordinary artillery of the period. Has not some one discovered a compound which, as he contends, explodes forward only, so that it might be used in parchment guns ? No substance has yet superseded gunpowder for artillery purposes, for one reason, because nothing is com- paratively so safe ; but, of course, its nose may be put out of joint even by the skilful application of the all-pervading air to the base of a projectile.
That is precisely what the Polish-American, or American Pole, proposes to do, or at least to put the fighting world in the way of doing. If we may believe the reports which come from New York, a certain soldier of fortune, belonging to an unfortunate people which has produced many such, by name Zalinski, has invented, or rather developed, some crude Anglo- Saxon invention in the form of a big air-gun ; for it was evidently the offensive walking-stick, no great success in itself, which suggested the bright idea. It is not called an air-gun, but bears a high-sounding name ; it is styled "the pneumatic torpedo-gun,"—a misnomer, unless all projectiles which explode on impact, whether in the air or water, are to be called torpedoes. The description of Zalinalifs weapon is, of course, not very definite as regards construction. It is "an eight-inch tube, sixty feet long, of wrought-iron inside, and lined with an eighth of an inch seamless brass tubing," and works "with a pressure of a thousand pounds." We suppose the eight inches describe the calibre, and the sixty feet—an enormous length—the whole of the apparatus, as well as the gun proper. Now, it is reported that this curious piece of ordnance will, at an eleva- tion of thirty-five degrees, fling a shell loaded with sixty pounds of "dynamite gelatine " two miles and a quarter ; that, at an elevation of thirty-two degrees, a hundred-pound shell can be projected three thousand yards ; and further, that last year, when tried before the United States' Navy Board, the gun placed four out of five shots exactly at a range of sixteen hundred yards, while a fifth shot only went seven yards beyond. The statement does not mean, we suppose, that the shots all fell on the same spot. Indeed, nothing is said of the gun's accuracy, except as to range ; and it is difficult to imagine that a smooth-bore could attain the relative precision of a rifled gun.
That point, as well as its capabilities for rapid firing, remained to be settled by special experiments. It should also be said, because this is a point of grave importance, that the explosive used for loading the projectile iB described as "perfectly harmless under certain conditions," not a very conclusive claim, because it might be affirmed of gunpowder, or any other explosive. But unless the conditions are such as accord with the rough work of war, the gelatine employed will not prove to be harm- less. It burns and sputters, like the damp gunpowder familiar to our youth, when touched with fire, but explodes when placed in a confined spot and pierced by an electric spark. Neither does this explanation show that it could be handled and used with reasonable security. Yet, whatever may be the merits or demerits of the big air-gun and the charge it hurls from its muzzle, the invention has been thought worthy of investiga- tion by British as well as American officers ; and in due time we shall know more about a device which, if successful, will have a certain effect upon some kinds of warfare.
What are to be the uses of this latest application of science to gunnery? M Zalinski describes them in language which seems to imply that they may be employed effectively in coast- defence. He says that if an ironclad came within range, and if a hundred-pound shell alighted on her deck, even if it were four inches of steel, she would be crashed by the explo- sion. Now, it is very difficult to plant a shell on a deck ; if it were not, mortars of some kind would long ago have been part of a ship's armament, so that the ironclad, we imagine, would have little to dread from vertical fire. But he thinks that ifs four- hundred pound shell burst near a turret, the garrison would be placed hors de combat by the mere shock; while a shell exploding under water near an ironclad would loosen the plates and render her unserviceable. Here the destructive effects belong less to the gun than to the shell, and we see no reason why such =Wiles could not be impelled from other guns by the ordinary means, unless it be contended that the use of atmospheric pressure is essential to the emission of projectiles loaded with Zalinski's compound. At any rate, the United States' Navy Board, who are ready to try any likely-looking invention, have ordered a boat to be built which is to be armed with two of these pneumatic guns. They are to shoot off shells containing two hundred and four hundred pounds of gelatine, which is much more powerful than gunpowder, and they hope to make such craft useful as cruisers, mainly, we suppose, for coast- defence. The step is one which tells in favour of the gun, but it is by no means conclusive as to the value of the invention.
Naturally, we are not in a position to express any opinion on the subject ; but we are free to say that, in many respects, there is much that is attractive in M. Zalinski's idea. What a weight would be removed from the mind of every Admiral and every General, if he were certain that the whole wide world's atmosphere were at his service, and that he could draw on it ad infinitum for at least one kind of ammunition! The magazine of a ship would contain only projectiles ; the train of an army would be diminished by the absence of powder ; and both would know that as long as these held out, there would be no deficiency of motive-power. Unless the cost of the gun and the charge are preposterous, war would be cheapened in a certain degree ; and if air-rifles were added to air-guns, the decrease would be considerable. Moreover, there would be no smoke, except the puff from the bursting shell, to obscure the battle-field, ashore or afloat. How great would be the gain on that score I The uproar might be less, but the concussion on each side would be tremendous, if M. Zalinski's estimate of the energy of his gelatine be correct. Since the days of the sword, lance, mace, and bow, there has been no battle by sea or land with- out its piles of curling or motionless white smoke ; and an almost cloudless field would be a startling novelty. Even the absence of the flash and rush of vapour would be felt as strange phenomena by artillerists and riflemen. The blow on opposing ranks or crews would come without a herald, and produce effects of its own. That the soldier-spirit, hardened by discipline, would become accustomed to the revolution, we have no doubt whatever ; and the mariner would fight just as well as he did when sea-fights were all ship to ship and hand to hand, and the slaughter far in excess of what it has been since the invention of gunpowder. An air- cannon may be a success ; but unless it can be rifled, the gun seems likely to fail in range, velocity, and precision. The real improvements effected in artillery lay in the discovery of shells (and even these were improvised, occasionally, more than two centuries ago), and most of all in the application of rifling and breech-loading to big and little guns. If the weapon which projects its charge by atmospheric pressure cannot be rifled, we fear its uses will be limited ; and even then, unless the pressure can be made to reach the energy of powder, it will not equal that material in imparting velocity and force of impact to the shot. Nothing of this kind should be prejudiced, for the destructive ingenuity of man seems nearly boundless ; neither should it be taken on trust or on report, but should undergo exhaustive trials and testa before it is accepted as the solution of the problem how to land the greatest manage- able mass of the deadliest compound where it will be most destructive.
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