MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 105 



advantage in the latter is that its explosion produces no smoke, 

 therebj^ avoiding the loss of time incurred by the workmen under 

 ground in waiting for the smoke of common gunpowder to clear 

 av/ay ; it has all the advantages of gun-cotton, without its danger 

 and other disadvantages. — London Mechanics'' Mag., March, 1865. 



THE PRUSSIAN NEEDLE-GUN. » 



The deciding argument of the recent European battles has been 

 the Zund Nadel-Oewehr, — the Prussian needle-rifle. The wonders 

 which the Austrian ai'my have usually performed with the bay- 

 onet were completely estopped by this terrible weapon, as, load- 

 ing and firing it from five to seven times a minute, the Prussian 

 soldiery spent such a shower of bullets upon the advancing foe, 

 that, by the time they reached them, there were not enough left 

 living to do much harm. No men, however brave and deter- 

 mined, could stand the fire of these rifles ; and nothing so dis- 

 heartens an army as the absolute knowledge that it is fighting 

 against a terrible superiority in arms. 



The " needle-rifle," which has been in use in the Prussian army 

 since 1848, but which has never till now been fairly tested, has 

 proved to be a most formidable and dangerous weapon ; and as the 

 Prussians have succeeded in this war, they may in great pai't con- 

 sider it due to their superiority in the possession of this fearful 

 instrument of warfare. It is a breech-loading rifle, the caitridge 

 used being made of stifi" card-board, the ball, powder, and explo- 

 sive composition being contained in one and the same cylinder. 

 Its great jjeculiarity is, that the detonating powder is placed im- 

 mediately in rear of the base of the ball, and between it and the 

 powder. The advantage of this is, that when the powder is 

 ignited, that portion next the ball, in which combustion is first per- 

 fected, exerts its full force upon the projectile, the powder in rear 

 also exerting its influence, as it becomes almost simultaneously 

 ignited. Under the present s^^stem, in which that part of the 

 powder next to the breech of the gun is first ignited, a portion of 

 the powder is frequently expelled from the gun with the ball, in a 

 condition of only partial combustion, the exjilosive force of the 

 powder first consumed being adequate to expel the ball and the 

 powder in its front, before the whole charge has time to become 

 entirely ignited. Thus, in the needle-gun, all the powder is con- 

 sumed and applied totUe best efi'ect, and so as to obtain its fullest 

 force at the same instant and in the same direction. 



The needle-gun is a breech-loader, and, when the trigger is 

 pulled, a stout needle or wire is thrust through the base of the 

 cartridge, parallel with its axis, into the detonating charge by the 

 ball, causing its explosion and the ignition of the cartridge. In 

 accuracy the needle-gun cannot be surpassed ; and its eflective 

 range is said to be about fifteen hundred yards. Soldiers can 

 load and fire five times a minute ; and, in the recent fighting, they 

 have been in the habit, when either charging themselves or re- 

 ceiving charges, to keep the gun at the hip, and simply continue 

 putting in ca'i-tridges and discharging them, literally keeping up 



