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قراءة كتاب Gunnery in 1858 Being a Treatise on Rifles, Cannon, and Sporting Arms
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اللغة: English
Gunnery in 1858 Being a Treatise on Rifles, Cannon, and Sporting Arms
الصفحة رقم: 3
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TABLE OF CONTENTS.
| Chapter I.—ANCIENT ARMS. | |
| PAGE. | |
| The bow—The sling—Crossbow—Field artillery of the Normans—Artillery of the ancients—Range of the crossbow and longbow—The ram of Vespasian—Guns first employed in 1327—Guns at the battle of Cressy—Cannon of 1390—Skill of English archers—Defensive armour—Portable firearms invented in 1430—Primitive hand-gun—Iron cannon recovered from the Mary Rose, wrecked in 1545—“Chambers”—Matchlock and wheel-lock—Fire-lock—Damascus gun-barrels—Birmingham guns—Spanish pistol with magazine—Percussion lock—The revolving pistol not a new invention—Colt’s revolver—Breech-loading guns | 1 |
| Chapter II.—ON GUNPOWDER. | |
| Origin of its invention—Roger Bacon’s recipe—Accidental discovery by a German monk—Gunpowder introduced by the Saracens—Its explosive and propellant properties—Composition of gunpowder—Nitre its essence—Properties of sulphur as an ingredient—Proportions and constituents of French gunpowder—Sulphur not always indispensable—Chemical principles of its composition—Component parts of different gunpowders—Source of its explosive force—Explosion at Gateshead—Variations in strength and quickness of fire—Granulation of sporting gunpowder and of artillery gunpowder—Importance of suitable granulation for different firearms—Large grain powder the more effectual expellant—Fine powder dangerous—Principle of granulation—Gun-cotton—Imperfect instrument for testing gunpowder—Charcoal—Operation of making gunpowder described—“Glazing” detrimental—Utility of granulation—Fine grain powder—Dr. Ure on the projectile force of gunpowder—Dr. Hutton’s calculations and experiments—Mode of controlling the destructive force of gunpowder—Experiments to test the velocity of explosive force of different granulations—The grain should be proportioned to the length and bore of the gun—Chlorate of potassa used by the French in making gunpowder—Similar powder proposed by Mr. Parr, and condemned by Sir William Congreve—Velocity in projectile force must be gradual—Curious experiment—Operation of blasting stone, &c., with gunpowder—English sporting gunpowder—Military and naval gunpowder—Fame of English gunpowder makers | 18 |
| Chapter III.—ARTILLERY. | |
| Definition of the term—Modern field gun—English artillery behind the march of science—Official obstacles to improvement—Various kinds of British artillery—Table of measurements, and range of iron ordnance—Brass guns—Their peculiar property—Firing of brass and iron guns compared—Range of brass ordnance—Paixhan guns—Traversing beds for ship guns—Ranges of Paixhan guns and howitzers—Mortars—Their uses and varieties—Monster mortar at siege of Antwerp—Table of English mortar practice—Carronades—Table of weights of guns and shot—Causes of Recoil—Guns of our ancestors—Metal required in rear of the breech—Results of Hutton’s experiments—Weight in fore-part of gun injurious—Firm base for a gun essential—Leaden bed for mortars suggested—New materials desirable for projectiles—Mr. Monk’s gun unequalled—Principle of its construction—Wilkinson’s opinion—Waste of explosive force in ordnance—The propellant force should be accelerative—This attainable by a proper granulation of powder—Government powder—Gunnery only in its infancy—Compound shot—Lead better than iron for cannon shot—Expenditure of shot at sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajos—Hutton’s experiments—The shrapnell shell—Improvements in gunnery—The Greenerian rifle—Dangerous inefficiency of English artillery—Best metal for cannon—Increased range destroys guns—Cause of mortars bursting—The Lancaster gun—English cast-iron inferior—Mallet’s monster mortar—Wrought-iron unsuited to large guns—Reason why—Shaft of the Leviathan—New method of welding iron shafts—Railway carriage axles—Nasmyth’s monster cannon—Light gun-barrels stronger than heavy ones—Brass guns inferior to cast-iron—Defect of hoop and stave gun—Form and dimensions of Mallet’s monster mortar (with engraving)—Cause of deterioration of English cast-iron—Russian cast-iron more durable, and why—Krupp’s steel gun—Laminated steel gun-barrels—Captain Dalgren’s improvements in American ordnance—Russian guns—Reinforce rings and trunnions objectionable, and why—Rifled cannon essential—Range of steel rifled cannon—Best form of gun—Professor Barlow on the strength of iron—Our artillery not constructed on scientific principles—Russian 56-pounder, English 8-inch gun, English carronade, Monck’s 56-pounder, and 10-inch gun (with cuts)—Land and sea service mortars (with cuts)—Joseph Manton’s rifle cannon—Projectiles for rifled cannon—Rifle rockets—Mr. Whitworth’s improvements in rifled guns—His polygonal projectile—Experiments with Mr. Armstrong’s | |