476 



APPARATUS FOR 



" 5th, A saving of the whole amount at present 

 applied to the manufacture or purchase of quick 

 matches, priming-tubes, flints, and various other ar- 

 ticles now in use both in the navy and in the field." 



Another advantage of this mode deserves particu- 

 larly to be noticed ; namely, the rapidity with which 

 the whole is performed. This facilitates the execu- 

 tion of a charge, by the effect being almost instan- 

 taneous with the pointing of the gun. It also saves 

 much of the time at present spent in applying pri- 

 ming-tubes, or trains of powder ; for, with Colonel 

 Yule's apparatus, the time that is required is very 

 trifling. 



II. Having now stated all that is necessary with 

 regard to the apparatus itself, it remains for me, in 

 the concluding part of this paper, to direct the at- 

 tention of the Society to several experiments per- 

 formed with it, which present rather extraordinary 

 results. 



At the request of Colonel Yule> I commenced, 

 about the beginning of July last, a number of ex- 

 periments, with the view of discovering a powder 

 which should never miss inflaming the cartridge ; 

 and I was fortunate enough to hit upon one. All 

 the usual fulminating powders were first tried, with- 

 out success. The fulminating mercury, when the 

 fifth part of a grain only was used, rent asunder 

 the steel plate at the top, (marked D), and yet did 

 not reach as far as the gunpowder (placed at B). 

 Some of the antimonial preparations were found 



