Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 February 1891 — INSTRUMENTS OF WAR. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

INSTRUMENTS OF WAR.

DEADLY MACHINE GUNS OF THE ARMY. The Lately Adopted Hotchkiss—The Indian Trouble Gives Opportunity lor Its First Real Test—Mechanism of RapidFiring Cannon—The Gatling, Etc.

HE Hotchkiss gun / has come into promI incnce of late by R the frequent menhir ▼ tion of Hs use in /f ‘ v dispatches from the \\ seat of war. That is unfamiliar to newspaper wvvr/ readers is shown by Vw / jhe number of in'"y quiries that have r been received ask-

fog for information as to the weapon that has done so much to keep the hostiles in check. When the capabilities of the Hotchkiss gun arc known it is not to be wondered at that its use has been found

effective. While it can not bo fired nearly so rapidly as the Gatlins sun, its protptype, it has the compensating advantages of throwing explosive shells and of having a range and accuracy equal to field artillery. The Hotchkiss revoking cannon was adopted by the War Department several years ago, and its utility has been repeatedly tested in field practice and range tests. In its appearance the Hotchkiss gun resembles the Gatling, there being a wide variance, however, in the interior mechanism. It has five barrels, made of the finest oil-tempered cast steel, mounted around a common axis, between two disks, on a central shaft. The breech is composed of a solid castiron breech-block, weighing nearly 400 pounds, purposely made heavy so as to absorb the greater part of the recoil. Through a door at the rear end the mechanism is freely accessible. The gun weighs 1,047 pouns; and with a traversing apparatus 1,157 pounds. Its caliber is 1.45 inches and the length of boro 4 feet and 2 inches. The Hotchkiss gun attains greater accuracy than other i evolving gsns from the fact that it is stationary at the moment of discharge, while with the others their motion is continuous. This stop motion is obtained by the shaping of the driving-worm which,revolves the gun, it being so constructed that the inclined driving-thready only covers half its cir-

cumference, the other half of the thread being straight. The effect of this is that only revolve during half a revolution of the worm, and stand still during the other half revolution. The combination of the mechanism is so arranged that the loading, firing and extracting takes place during this pause. Two racks, with a cogwheel between t cm. so that when one is moved the other has an opposite motion, insert and extract the cartridges. After the cartridge is extracted from the barrel it strikes an ejector, which pushes it out of the extractor and allows it to fall to the ground through an opening in the bottom of the breech. The operation of the mechanism is as follows, supposing the crank to be in continual motion: A cartridge is placed *in the, trough, the rack add piston pushes It into the barrel, the barrels begin ,to revolve, and the cartridge is carried on until it arrives before the firing pin, which is drawn back against a spring by

the action of a crank. Then the barrels cease to revolve, and the primer of the cartridge is struck by the firing-pin and discharged, when the revolution begins again, and the fired cartridge shell is carried on until it comes to the ex-

tractor, when the barrels cease to revolve and the shell is withdrawn and dropped, another cartridge having been exploded at the same time. As during every stoppage of the barrels the gun is supplied with a new cartridge,

and the firing and extracting is also performed, a continuous but slow fire is kept up. By supplying the gun in this* manner with single cartridges, about thirty rounds a minute can be fired. Should rapid firing bo required, the gun is then supplied, not with single cartridges, but with feed cases containing, groups of ten cartridges each, arid in' this manner from sixty to eighty rounds a minute can be fired, with only three men to work the gun—one to aim it and work tho crank, one to place the food cases into the trough, and a third' at the ammunition chest to fill tho cases and hand them to tho charger. Its extreme effective range .against troops is 3,000 yards. It is terribly destructive at any distance within 2,000 yards. The ammunition consists of a centerfire metallic cartridge, throwing cither an oxplosivo shell or a case shot. The shells are 3.66 inches long, of c'lf§t iron, with a percussion fuse nearly an inch long which explodes tho shell as soon as it strikes. They are constructed with three parallel walls'united to a solid base, so that when they explode they will he broken into a large of pieces. The percussion fuse is driven forward inside the shell when it strikes an object, so exploding. Should the shell turn over in its flight and strike with theibutt, tho fuse would remain stationery, and would not explode. The greatest effect is found when tho point is

inclined a littfe 7 at the time of striking. A speciai'oarriage ka*.been construct-, ed for the gun, as the ordinagY field carriage would not furpish an unmovable rest. It can bo raised and lowered by a screw, and a turn-table allows of a certain amount of lateral motion, so that it may, be made to sweep laterally Jffbnlfa line between each single shot, or dur ng rapid discharge. A light Mfol Siflcld'attached to the carriage protecta{,he gunners from small arms fire, at u*e same time furnishing seats for two irien. It is a folding arrangement, and when open only >he muzzles of the barrels and the yfjepjs of the carriage are exposed "tqjbp enemy. Various forms of. the gun are made,, one which has been found valuable being for use on shipboard for repelling the a'tt&ok -of . torpedo boats, , It is T&ountod-oir the rail of the ship, and is so nicely balanced that it can be easily trained by the gunner. One form Is arranged to bv fired with a trigger, the

gunner standing with his shoulder "against a brace. There is a'so a Hotchkiss breech-load-ing mountain rifle, which has been made as light as possible to fit it for the requirements of the service. It weighs only 116 pounds and one man can place it upcm the back of a mule,*its ordinary means of transportation, provided the mule is wtlling. It throws an explosive shell fitted with a percussion fuse. While an improvement in some respects the Hotchkiss gun is, after all, modeled on the plan of the Gatling. The general appearance of this is familiar. The only time the Gatlings have been in active service in th country was during the Riel rebellion in the Canadian Northwest a few years ago, when the' inventor liimseif went with the battery to superintend its operation. - The Gatling gun can be fired at the rate of 1,200 shots a minute 'at any degree of elevation or depression. It consists of a number of very simple breechloading rifle barrels grouped and revoling around a shaft to which they are parallel, and surrounded by a stationary case. These barrels are loaded and fired while revolving, the empty cartridge shells being ejected in continuous succession. Each barrel Is fixed only once in a revolution, but as many shots are delivered in that time as there are barrels, so that the ten-barrel Gatling Is fired ten times in one revolution.- The working of the gun is simple. One map places a circular feed-case full of cartridges into a hopper at tho top of the gun, while another man turns a crank by which tho gun is revolved. Feed cases may be substituted without interrupting tho revolution. In the casing behind the barrel is a metal carrier block attached to the shaft, with ten grooves cut in its face, which guide the cartridge* from the hopper to the barrels. _ In ,ths shaft behind the carrier block ta’anothef cylinder called the lock cylinder, in which slide ten long breech-plugs, which push the cartridges into the barrels, explode them by a firing-pin running through the breech-plugs, and then extract tho empty shells as they are drawn back. This motion backward and forward is produced as the shaft is revolved by the breech-plugs working against a stationary cam. Inspeqto-General Breckenridge in his annual report says that “it is so injurious to au army to know that its arms are obsolete and inferior that the demand for something better than wo have now is very earnest. Our citizens, especially the militia, are not satisfied, knowing they must.pay with their lives for any lack of preparation when the next war comes.” The British have their Lee repeating rifles; the French, their Lebel; Tho Austrians, their Mannlicher; in short, nearly all the European nations, great and small, have adopted magazine guns, and many of them have smokeleM powdors giving a high initial velocity

and a very long range. Probably no harm has thus far resulted from the failure to supply our army with a weapon of this character; but this is due to the fortunate continuation of peace. No one can question that it is now high time to furnish at least the regular aray and portions of tho militia with tho modern weapons. Probably practical trials by tho present board will substantially show what sort of rifle is to be issued to our troops.

THE HOTCHKISS IN THE FIELD.

CATLING GUN SHOWING FEED CASE.

VERTICAL SECTION THROUGH BARRELS.

THE THREE-WALLED SHELL.