OREGON. 



Ill 



the length of the bore a detonating cartridge is ex- 

 ploded, exploding in turn the mixture of gases, in- 

 creasing the pressure about eight times. 



The pneumatic torpedo-gun, firing dynamite shells 

 by using compressed air instead of gunpowder, invented 

 by Capt. E. L. Zalinski, Fifth artillery, U. S. A., bids 

 fair to take a most important place in future warfare. 

 This gun is subject to much adverse criticism, and be- 

 cause termed a gun it seems to be the impression that 

 this weapon should at once demonstrate its power to 

 take the place of all other guns. This it cannot do : it 

 has its own place, and that a most important one. Its 

 fire is more accurate than that of the mortar and the 

 destructive effect of the shell superior to that of the 

 torpedo. The torpedo can hardly be considered effi- 

 cient at more than 350 yards, while this gun throws 

 charges 2 miles. 



A 2-in. gun was first built and, giving satisfaction, a 

 4-in. gun was built in the spring of 1884 and tried in 

 December of the same year, showing conclusively that 

 shells containing high explosives could be thrown with 

 safety upwards of 2000 yards. In August, 1885, an 

 8-in. pneumatic gun was completed and mounted at 

 Fort Lafayette. This gun has been fired a number of 

 times with satisfactory results. Six shots were fired 

 Sept. 20, 1887, at a government schooner called the 

 Silliman, resulting in the total destruction of the vessel, 



drawn from those to restore the pressure in the firing 

 reservoir. Compressed' air is furnished by means of 

 some standard air compressor, the Norwalk machine 

 having been used so far. The shell is made of seam- 

 less brass as light as is consistent with strength. It is 

 kept in the proper trejectory by means of a tail tube 

 to which are attached spiral vanes, and it is centred in 

 the bore and kept from metallic contact with the same 

 by means of pins in the head, by a leather gas-check 

 at the rear end of the cylindrical part, and by pro- 

 jections riyetted to the spiral vanes of the tail. The 

 conical point is made strong enough to resist crushing 

 from impact with the water, but so thin as to readily 

 crush when striking a solid target. The charge in the 

 shell is uncamphorated explosive gelatine with a core of 

 dynamite. Handled as carefully as gunpowder, there 

 is practically no more danger of accidental explosion. 



A very ingenious electnc fuse is fitted to the shell, 

 so arranged as to explode after striking a target or de- 

 scending below the water, a current being started by 

 wetting the elements of a battery carried in the shell. 

 The dynamite cruiser Vesuvius will carry three of 

 these guns, of 15-in. calibre, placed abreast and par- 

 allel at a fixed angle. _ They are about 55 ft. long and 

 will throw shells containing 600 Ibs. of explosive gela- 

 tine to a distance of a mfle. Thirty charges are car- 

 ried. The guns can be loaded by hydraulic machinery 



Fifteeu-Iiich Dynamite Gun. 



four shells landing in practically the same spot at a 

 r.uiLT of 1613 yards. Three 15-in. guns are now com- 

 pleting for the dynamite cruiser Vesuvius, and a 15-in. 

 gun for the Italian government. 



The gun-barrel consists of a long tube of brass or 

 other metal. The breech mechanism is a simple gate 

 arranged so that the valve mechanism cannot work till 

 the breech is properly closed. 



A complete and accurate control of the range is ob- 

 tained by regulating the amount of compressed air 

 admitted in rear of the projectile, and without_a change 

 on the elevation or pressure. The valve admitting air 

 is a balanced valve whose opening and closing is regu- 

 lated, and in addition to this the air can be throttled 

 on its way from the reservoir to the valve, so that 

 though the valve may open and close in a uniform 

 time, the amount of air passing into the gun in that 

 time can be varied. As this can be regulated to a 

 hair's breadth with great rapidity, the range can _ be 

 better regulated for a moving target than by changing 

 the elevation of the gun. 



The compressed air is contained in wrought-iron res- 

 ervoirs from 12 to 16 in. in diameter and about 18 ft. 

 long. The reservoir tubes from which the air is drawn 

 directly for firing art; culled the firing reservoirs. When 

 a large number of rounds are required to be fired with 

 great rapidity an auxiliary storage reservoir is used, 

 charged with air compressed to twice the pressure to 

 be used in the gun. After each discharge the air is 



as rapidly as twice a minute. The vessel has twin 

 screws and will develop a speed of 21 knots, or about 

 25 miles an hour. 



In the preparation of this article the following publica- 

 tions have been freely used : The Development of Armor, by 

 E. W. Verey ; the Publications of the Intelligence Office of 

 the Navy ; the Report! of the Fortifications Board, ami of 

 the Chiefs of Ordnance of the Army and Navy ; Roosevelt's 

 Naval War of 1812 ; Scharf 's History of the Confederate 

 Statet Navy. [I- ".] 



OREGON, one of the Pacific States, occupies but 



v i YVTT a small portion 

 See Vol. XVII f . 



P m 82 l< p ; M5 



' ry once inclu- 

 ded under its 



name. It then denoted all the .... 

 land north of 42 N. lat. and ; 

 between the Rocky Moun- t-*. 

 tains and the Pacific Ocean. w 

 The word is said to occur first 

 in Capt. Jonathan Carver s 

 Travels through the Interior 

 Parts of North America 

 (1778) where it denotes a large nver w.iicn that 

 adventurer had heard the Indians of the upper 

 Mississippi mention. The Missouri was probably 

 intended, but Bryant in his Thanatopsus (1818) 

 applied it to the river to which its discoverer, Capt. 

 Robert Gray, had given the name of his ship Colum- 



