THE APPLICATIONS OF EXPLOSIVES. 



449- 



long-used form of fuse, no provi- 

 sion has yet been made to supply 

 the service "witli charges for its 

 costly armor-piercing projectiles. 

 Happily, the force resident 

 in explosives may be applied to 

 the saving as well as to the de- 

 struction of human life, advan- 

 tage having long since been 

 taken of the penetrating power 

 of the report from the discharge 

 of a gun to employ them as sig- 

 nals of distress at sea or as warn- 

 ings in foggy weather. The Eng- 

 lish Lighthouse Board, under 

 Professor Tyndall's guidance, 

 some years ago sought to find the 

 form of gun best suited to this 

 purpose, and their experiments 

 led them at first to a bronze gun 

 with a bell-shaped mouth. Sub- 

 sequently, their attention being 

 called to the sharpness and carry- 

 ing power of the report from detonating gun cotton, an apparatus 

 was devised in which the gun cotton was detonated in the focus of 

 a parabolic mirror. The ^ 



best results, however, 

 were attained with rock- 

 ets carrying gun-cotton 

 charges arranged to be 

 exploded in mid air. 



Guns have also been 

 arranged for projecting 

 life-lines between strand- 

 ed ships and the adjacent 

 shore, and are now em- 

 ployed on a smaller scale 

 for conveying lines to 

 upper stories of 

 monumental build- 

 when they are on 

 By means of guns 

 rockets, projectiles 



Safe to be opened bt Detoxation of 

 Nitroglycerin. Before the charge was 

 fired. 



the 

 our 



ings 

 fire. 



or 



filled with oil may be cast" 



After firing Ch.^rge. 



