Igi GUNPOAVBETl PROVE R. 



the siphon is thus filled, or when the fupnel D is not re- 

 quired, the aperture at O is closed by the stoyjple G. 

 Made to take For the convenience of carrying the f^iphon, as well as for 

 to pieces. packing it up, or cleaning- it, the horizontal and perpendicu- 



lar branches are made to take asunder at the joints M M. 

 The nozzle L is likewise made to take off, as it is frequently 

 more convenient for the fluid to be drawn off perpendi- 

 cularly. 



IX. 



Description of a neic Instrument for proving the Strength of 

 Gunpowder, by Mr. Regnier, Keeper of the central Depot 

 of Artillery^, 



Defects of the JL H'E old toothed wheel instrument for trying powder is 

 stiument!' obvioush defective, as the friction of the spring blunts and 

 rounds the edges of the teeth; the spring, being necessarily 

 strong, and always in a state of tension, loses in time its 

 strength and elasticity ; and the wheel, which is too much 

 confined in its movements, is exposed to irregular degrees of 

 friction, which likewise vary according as the instrument is 

 A weight here kept clean, or suliered to grow rusty. To obviate these de- 

 emp o)ec . fg^ts Mr. Regnier has recourse to a weight ; and the follow- 

 ing is a description of the mode in v;hich he applies it. 

 Decviption of A, plate II, fig. 2, is a stock of walnut wood, about 8 

 themsirument. inches long, with a plate of copper let into it, to support the 

 mechanism. 



B, a small copper mortar, to hold the powder to be tried, 

 with a pan for firing it. 



C, a brass wheel, grooved like the wheel of a pulley, with 

 thirty ratchet teeth on its circumference. To this wheel is 

 fixed a projecting piece, or obturator, accurately covering the 

 mouth of the small mortar, B. 



D, a forked support, in which the wheel C plays freely on 

 its axis. 



E, a spring pallet, acting as a click, to stop the wheel at 

 the point to which the strength of the powder carries it. 



♦ Sonniai's Bibliolhique, March, 1807, p, 415, 



