“REVUE D’ARTILLERXE.” 
THE GRAYDOU DYH AMITE PROJECTOR, 
[. EDITORIAL .] 
TBANSLATED BY 
Lieut.-Colonel E. E. B. Loraine, late B.A. 
Mr. Graydon, formerly Lieutenant in the United States Navy, has sought in 
the above invention to introduce a more handy weapon than the pneumatic guns 
of Mefford and Zalinski. The Zalinski 8-inch gun, which is capable of throwing 
100 lbs. of dynamite a distance of 4000 yards, is 90 calibres in length, or in 
other words, no less than 60 feet. Whereas Graydon’s 15-inch gun, which 
projects 600 lbs. of dynamite and has a range of 5200 yards, is only 24 calibres 
in length, or 80 feet. 
The problem for solution consisted in saving the charge of dynamite from the 
heat generated by the friction of the projectile in the bore and from the violence 
of the shock of discharge. To meet it Mr. Graydon has adopted the following 
arrangements. 
The projectile is of steel, with thick walls and a solid head. The interior is 
coated with a thick layer of amianthus (flexible asbestos), which serves as a lining 
and as an isolator of its contents from heat. The dynamite is divided either 
into small spheres, or f-inch cubes, or small cartridges, and each of these por¬ 
tions of the charge is wrapped in paper, which is saturated with paraffin to make 
it gas-tight. This arrangement hinders the accumulation of nitro-glycerine in 
case of exudation, and prevents the full force of the discharge taking effect on 
the whole of the mass. In projectiles of large calibre Mr. Graydon separates 
the cartridges by means of tin plates or wood shaving. Finally, a wad placed 
at the base of the projectile contributes also to the deadening of the shock of 
discharge. 
The dynamite is fired by means of a central tube containing a detonating 
charge, which is fixed to the front of the chamber of the projectile. In the first 
trials this tube carried in front a spiral spring, of which one end carrying a 
friction bar was fixed, while the rear end carried a priming and was free to be 
thrown against the friction bar on impact. This primitive arrangement has been 
since considerably improved. 
To see how the dynamite would behave in this shell the first experiments were 
made with ordinary guns. First, at San Francisco, a 2’9-inch field piece was 
used, then 52 rounds were fired from a 4’5-inch siege gun, and finally, in the 
summer of 1887, at Sandy Hook, the permanent Ordnance Commission carried 
out a series of more important trials which shall here be enumerated. 
Guns of various calibres were employed, among them a wrought-iron Amies 
7-in'ch M.L. gun, charge 28 lbs., projectile 122 lbs. The latter was a regulation 
shell, in the base of which a large hole was pierced to introduce the dynamite, in 
this case amounting to 2 lbs. 12 ozs. 
The target was a turret 12 inches thick (two 6-inch plates), with a 3-inch roof 
plate, and a port in the centre, the whole being secured by lf-inch bolts. 
The first projectile was not primed; it struck the turret in line with the top 
3. vol. xix. 18c. 
