438 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



attached to the battery wag-on to cany them; also, parts of wheels, bolts, 

 etc., an anvil block, an improved grindstone frame, and a maul. 



I now propose to furnish a 12-pounder howitzer in place of my original 

 12-pounder rifle, thus requiring but one size of carriage for my 12-pounder 

 smooth bore and 6-pounder rifle field gun ; also to fix the implements on 

 the top of the trail, where they are not liable to be lost or injured in pass- 

 ing over bad roads. 



An improved elevating screw adjustment, to avoid injury to the gun by 

 pounding on the head of the screw in traveling, and to avoid the projection 

 of the screw below the trail where it was liable to strike stumps or other 

 obstacles when passing over newly cut roads; and relieving much of the 

 difiiculty found in moving over wet and muddy roads with the present 

 carriages. 



An improved canister, better adapted to rifled guns. 

 Improvements in the construction of the wheel, by which repairs are 

 facilitated, and an improved manner of mounting the trunnions on the gun. 

 One of the objections heretofore made to rifled light artillery has been 

 that canister could not be made effective, as the expansion of the case con- 

 taining the balls filled the grooves and caused the canister and contents to 

 revolve about its own axis as it left the muzzle of the gun, with so high a 

 velocity, that centrifugal force scattered the shot in every direction except 

 the one in which it was aimed; many of the shot 

 would strike the ground immediately in front of 

 the gun, some would be thrown to the extreme right, 

 some to the left, and some to and beyond the 

 object. 



An effective canister, such as is hereinafter 

 described, will, by its adoption into service and 

 use, enable rifled guns to recover their deserved 

 popularity. 



The Wiard canister is specially adapted for rifled 

 guns, but is equally effective in smooth-bore 

 guns ; it is somewhat different from the ordinary 

 canister, having a cast iron case in sections, the 

 main object attained being the passage of the case 

 from the gun without expansion into the rifle 

 grooves. Each ring or section is rounded on its 

 edge, so as to pass over the grooves. 



The opposite figure is a side view partly in sec- 

 tion, and a cross section on the line SS of a canis- 

 ter constructed according to my invention. A and 

 B are the end castings, and CG, etc., are interme- 

 diate castings forming a completely inclosing case 

 for the shot D. A wire E connects the front plate 

 A with the rear plate B through the aid of the 

 hook l)olt B^, and tightening nut e. Each of the 

 'rings, or intermediate castings, CC, is flanged at 

 its forward edge, and provided with three points 

 ccc at its rear edge. These narrow surfaces may 



