Text book on the theory of the motion of projectiles, the history, manufacture, and explosive force of gunpowder, the history of small arms; For the use of officers sent to the School of Musketry

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1869 Excerpt: ...and the remainder is the weight of the charcoal. EXPLOSIVE FORCE. I. Gunpowder possesses several advantages over other explosive compounds, which render it better adapted for fire-arms of every description., 1st, the ingredients, saltpetre, charcoal, and sulphur are easily procured. 2nd, they are comparatively cheap. 3rd, gunpowder, under ordinary circumstances, and with ordinary precautions, is safe in manufacture, store, and in transport; it is also durable. 4th, its combustion is gradual and not instantaneous, as is the combustion of gun cotton and of the fulminates of gold, silver, mercury. 2. The action of the fulminates is so instantaneous, that if used in fire-arms the barrels would burst, and the shot be destroyed without any motion of translation being communicated to it; they give no time for their effect to be distributed over the particles at any great distance before those in the immediate vicinity of the explosion are forced out of the sphere of action of the cohesive force, and consequently rupture must take place. Even if fulminating powders are placed on a plate of metal and exploded, the plate may be perforated. 3. Owing to the gradual nature of the combustion of gunpowder, the force exerted by the gases overcomes the inertia of the projectile when but a small portion of the charge is burnt; consequently, by the time the whole charge is consumed, the projectile has moved some distance down the barrel, and the gases occupy a much larger space than they do when produced from a fulminate. Gunpowder thus becomes a safe compound for both small and large guns. 4. The great and ultimate object to be attained in the manufacture is not so much to produce a powder which gives the greatest propellant force, although that is a desideratum, as one that...