66 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



these experiments I have to remind you that the end of the rifle was 

 supported upon a triangular standard, and the greatest precision was 

 observed in fixing the sight, which is graduated to a scale in the ratio 

 of the distance, varying from 100 to 1,000 yards, which latter may be 

 considered the range of this destructive instrument. 



IMPROVEMENT IX FIRE ARMS, ORDNANCE AND PROJECTILES. 



A NINE-POUNDER field battery gun has been proved at the Royal 

 Arsenal, Woolwich, on the rifle principle, and experiments will be 

 shortly made with it to ascertain its merit, compared with the usual 

 nine-pounder field battery gun when charged with spherical shot. 

 The four grooves in the rifle cannon are about half an inch deep by 

 half an inch broad each, and the shot and shell intended to be fired 

 from it are made of the cylindro-conical or sugar loaf shape, with four 

 projecting parts on each, to enter and fill the grooves. Both shot and 

 shell are galvanized, and not liable to rust, and are so smooth that 

 they may be rammed home with the greatest ease, the simple pressure 

 of the hand being sufficient to place them an arm's length into the 

 mouth of the cannon, although they are made to fit more fully than 

 the spherical shot does, and consequently they will have less windage 

 and require a less charge of powder. The sugar-loaf shape of the 

 new galvanized iron shot renders it of a far greater weight than a 

 nine-pounder spherical shot, and the principle on which it will pro- 

 ceed, after being fired from a rifle cannon, being similar to an arrow, 

 instead of revolving in the same manner as spherical shot, is expected 

 to cause it to go more directly to the mark, and to have a much longer 



range. 



Another large piece of ordnance has also been recently constructed 

 at the Royal Arsenal, England. Some idea of its strength may be 

 formed, when it is stated that it is 32 inches in diameter, and has 13 

 inches of solid metal round the bore, which is only 8 inches in diam- 

 eter. It is intended for firing solid shot, or shells of the elongated or 

 sugar-loaf form, similar to the JVIinie rifle balls. This metal has only 

 two grooves, placed horizontally opposite each other, which are of an 

 oval, without an}' flat part, as in small rifled arms. The weight of this 

 piece of ordnance is 114 cwt. 



Some experiments have been made during the past year in Prussia 

 with an explosive ball, that may be fired from the gun as easily as its 

 peculiar cartridge, and that explodes the moment it strikes the object ; 

 if combustible, setting it on fire. Experiments made with this missile 

 were perfectly successful. Cases filled with powder or inflammable 

 matter were set on fire, or blown up with certainty, at several hun- 

 dred paces distance, or nearly full range of the weapon, which is a 

 very long one. The object of the invention is the capability of blow- 

 ing up an enemy's powder t wagons by a weapon that can be more 

 rapidly and easily handled than a rifle if they come within reach. 



Improved Rifle Barrel. Benjamin D. Sanders, Brooke Co., Va., 

 has taken measures to secure a patent for an improvement in rifle 



