A NEW LIFE-SAVING APPARATUS.

Temuka Leader, Volume 2, Issue 156, 21 June 1879, Page 3

A NEW LIFE-SAVING APPARATUS.

A new projectile, intended to be fired across wrecks for the purpose of establishing connection with the shore, has been experimented on lately by the War Office authorities at Shoeburyness. We take the following description of the new ’ .potion, which appears to be admirably "ww'apted to the purpose it is designed j for, from the £ New York Maritime Register’ “ The projectile weighed, when filled ready for firing, 12|Ibs. It . is an elongated shell, carrying a line tightly coiled within, which it pays out without the smallest risk of breaking as it travels through the air. It is put ; into the gun, as it were, the wrong or conical end first, and, leaving the muzzle, at once reverses, the front

end fj- i 0 tear end, and mainta;xxxn,e|- } duo to four wings on the principle of the amnv, an accurate, and distaff range, with none of the wobbling and/ swinging and consequent loss of P°l>ver so common to shot fixed from exrifled ordnance. In make up, the i is a tin tube 20in. long, ' in diameter, having wings at one end and a leaden shot weighing 6fb. at the other. Within the tube is a compact coil of line 17-5-in. long and the diameter of the tube. This line is from to 400 yards in length, Avith a breaking strain of from 2501 b. to 4001 b. The shot is attached to a second or short coil lying alongside the gun, so arranged that on the shock of the discharge the line runs freely from both coils. At a range of an elevation, which the inventor has found by continued practice best suited to surely throw the line over any wreck with the smallest strain to it and the projectile, the distances obtained and measured on the official range course were 689, 448, and 507 yards ; the deviation of the slmt and line from the target being 4 2-sths, 9 and 8 yards respectively. Three shots fired at 30deg. and 85deg. elevation, traversing a line of flight some 400 ft, in the air, ranged 478, 489, and 386 yards, Avith de\riations of the shot axxd line from targets of 2,6, and 8 yards respectively. It is in contemplation to replace the line by some five pounds of rocket composition, so that the shot, when it has nearly reached its greatest range of, say, 2000 yards, may have a fresh energy imparted to it, which combination of gxm and rocket poAver will not unlikely give an effective and accurate range of about two miles. Another idea is to fill the case with inflammable material and compressed gun-cotton powder, for setting fire to and destroying villages, and for general savage warfare ; while a third idea, without enumerating others, which readily suggest themselves to the inventive mind of diabolical gunners, is to fill the large space now occupied by line with material somewhat after the nature of the shrapnell shell, thus producing the most murderous missile ever fired from light ordnance. The cost of each projectile, including the Avear and tear of line and purposely light charge ©f Irom to 41ounces of poAvder, was less Than 75., or less than one-half the cost of the Boxer rocket. This last element of cost enters materially into the question of the intro duction of any new system, whether for saving life or for purposes of Avar ; and it may be asserted that no projectile, both from an economical and varied stand-point, has ever entered the arena of competition with European field ordnance with such recommendations as the toy gun and projectile recently presented to the Eoyal National Lifeboat institution. Two brass guns, perfect toys to look at, weighing 56lbs. and 69ibs. respectively, each 2ft. in length, were used to fire the projectile, the charge of powder varying from 31 to 41 ounces.”