MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 63 



pieces." The Duke of Somerset testified that " the Admiralty had a 

 report that the Armstrong gun had the greatest range and the greatest 

 power of penetration of any gun tried; but that when they came to 

 try ifc themselves, they found that the report was not confirmed by the 

 facts. For naval purposes at two hundred yards it certainly had not 

 the greatest power ; our old 68-pounder is a more powerful gun than 

 the Armstrong 100-pouuclcr." 



Captain Wainwright of the iron-clad frigate Black Prince, in exami- 

 nation before the committee, stated that in a sea-way, the practice with 

 the Armstrong guns was very unsatisfactory, particularly in ricochet 

 practice, the smooth-bores beating them in accuracy. An attempt at 

 explanation was made, on the ground that the shot was delayed in the 

 Armstrong gun after the trigger was pulled, longer than in the old 

 smooth-bore guns, consequently the aim, in a rolling sea-way, must be 

 less accurate. Captain Wainwright stated that the Black Prince, which 

 lie commanded, being armor-clad, had very small ports, and that the 

 smothering sensation from the black smoke produced by these guns was 

 hardly endurable ; this he imagined to be from something in the wad ; 

 lie had no other conjecture to hazard. 



19-inch Rifled Steel Guns. Krupp, the celebrated cast-steel manu- 

 facturer of Germany has recently furnished to the Russian Government 

 a number of 19 -inch rifled cast-steel guns, designed to throw a 300- 

 pound shell, or a 450-pound solid shot. The London Times gives an 

 account of some experimental firing with one of their guns, at St. Peters- 

 burg, with a view of testing certain shell, and the quality of a large lot 

 of 4 |-incli armor-plates, manufactured for the Russian government at 

 Sheffield, England. It says : " First, a series of cast-iron shells, 300 

 pounds each, were fired at different ranges, and then shells made by Krupp 

 were fired at the 4-i-inch armor-plates. The first shell, of hard cast- 

 steel, was 22^-inches long (two and a half diameters), with a flat end 

 4 inches in diameter. Fired with 50 pounds of powder at 700 feet dis- 

 tance, it passed through the plate, oak and teak backing, and broke 

 into many pieces, although filled with sand only. The second and third 

 shells were also of Krupp's steel, the same length, but with 6^-inch 

 ends. These shells pierced plates, wood, etc., and also went to pieces, 

 although only filled with sand. The fourth shell was made of puddled 

 steel the same dimensions as the second and third, went through iron, 

 teak, etc., but was only bulged up from 9 inches to 12 inches, and the 

 end flattened ; not a single crack being visible in the shell. The fifth 

 shell, the same as the fourth, passed through iron, teak, and a second 

 target, and went at least a mile beyond. The sixth and seventh were 

 from Krupp, and were charged with powder ; they were quite flattened, 

 9 inches in diameter. One exploded in the plate, the other in the 

 wood. The eighth and ninth shells were of cast-iron, and, although they 

 passed through the plates, were of course destroyed. The results on 

 the plates were highly satisfactory. In a space of 4 feet 6 inches by 3 

 feet C inches, eight holes were made without any crack of the slightest 

 description." 



Resitting qualities of Hogs-hair Targets. The U. S. Bureau of Ord- 

 nance, Navy Department, have recently published the results of some 

 experimental trials to test the resisting qualities of targets made essen- 

 tially of hogs-hair, the invention of a Mr. Brady. The target used was 



