1 87 1.] Military, Civil, and Mechanical Engineering. 



291 



Bavarian rifle, the Werder, is better than either the chassepot or the needle 

 gun ; and its adlion as a breech loader is thought to be quicker even than that 

 of the Martini rifle. It is a small bore, and the barrel has a sharply twisted 

 rifling. With regard to our own army, the special committee appointed some 

 time back to report upon the subject of smaii arms, has recommended the intro- 

 duction of the Martini-Henry rifle throughout the service. In i86g, 200 of 

 these rifles were distributed to the army for trial, with a view to their 

 being subjected to exhaustive tests as to their suitability for hard usage, and 

 the results appear to have fully borne out the recommendations of the 

 Committee. 



Artillery. — The principal French Artillery consists of breech-loading guns 

 of 16, 19, and 24 centimetres. These guns are of cast-iron, strengthened by 

 hoops, the trunnion ring being one of them. The vent is bushed with steel 

 lined with copper. The rear end of the chase is closed by a screwed breech 

 piece and gas ring. The dimensions, weight, and charges of projectiles for 

 these guns are as follows: — 



Proje&iles for guns of 16 cm. 19 cm. 24 cm. 



Mean calibre (millimetres) 162*3 I 9 1 '5 237*00 



Weight of elongated shell (loaded) .. .. 31*5 k. 53*0 k. ioo - oo k. 



Weight of solid shot (steel or cast-iron) .. 45*0 k. 75*0 k. 144*00 k. 



Charge for firing elongated shell 5*0 k. 8*o k. 16*00 k. 



Charge for firing solid shot 7*5 k. 12*5 k. 20-24 k. 



Some of the shells fired by the Prussians into Paris during the bombard- 

 ment measured 223 millimetres, or very little under nine inches in diameter at 

 the base ; were about twenty-two inches long, and weighed 88 lbs. Their 

 percussion fuses failed to explode upon falling on soft ground ; but they were 

 causes of serious accident in more than one instance when carelessly handled, 

 and the Government accordingly issued instructions regarding their treatment, 

 in connection with which the following sketch was given of the arrangement 

 of the percussion fuse, a copy of which appeared in " The Engineer" of 13th 

 January last : " The arrangement will be seen almost at a glance, but it must be 

 mentioned that the holeat the bottom of the fuzeiscOvered with a piece of muslin 

 kept in its place by a flat ring or washer of brass. The pin or plug, a, prevents 



Fig. 22. 



accidental discharge by keeping the discharging point, B, from touching the 

 fulminant in the button, c. This pin disappears on the firing of the gun." 



With regard to English guns, some very interesting particulars are given in 

 a pamphlet reprinted from the Proceedings of the Royal Artillery Institution, 

 and entitled " English Guns and Foreign Critics," by Captain Vivian Dering 

 Majendie, R.A. The future armament of our field artillery has also recently 

 formed the subject of a highly interesting lecture delivered at the same insti- 

 tution by Lieutenant C. Jones, R.A., Instructor Royal Gun Factories, Royal 



