ARTILLERY SIGHTS. The subject of artillery sights has also received attention at the hands of the Board, and three sights designed by officers of our artillery service (Capt. Zalinski and Lieuts. Best and Carbaugh) are already either completed and undergoing test or are in process of construction, under allotments recommended by the Board. Allotments have also been recommended for the procurement from abroad of the Scott and the Grenfel sights, and the Bode Quadrant Sight for trial. RANGE AND POSITION FINDERS. The increased range of modern guns and the increased cost of artillery ammunition, which naturally restricts peace practice, have directed attention of late to various optical and mechanical devices for determining the location of a distant object. These instruments all proceed upon the well-known principle of determining the elements of a triangle, at the vertex of which is the object, while the base of known length and the two base angles are within the reach of the operator. These three elements of the triangle being ascertained, the distance and direction of the object from the gun can be determined. In some instruments the base line is horizontal; in others it is vertical, and is the elevation of the instrument above the surface of the water. The distance may be made known by electrical indicators, or by converging radial arms moving over a map of the harbor approaches. The various military powers of Europe have systems of range finding for use in their harbors, the details of which are preserved with the greatest secrecy. In this country invention in the same direction has been stimulated by reports of what has been done abroad, and, as the consequence, this Board has had before it so many inventions of this kind that it has been compelled to ask for the appointment of a distinct range finder board to act under it in the test of such completed instruments as may be ordered by this Board. The subject is as yet far from being exhausted, and the Board is not prepared to make any recommendation looking to the definite adoption of any system. But completed instruments of the Fiske, RuckmanCrosby, Berdan, and Lewis types have been purchased, and, with the exception of the last named, have been tested by the range finder board. The reports of that board, showing what defects have been found in the instruments, have been referred to the inventors in the hope that they may be able to obviate them. The Lewis instrument is now being prepared for test at Fort Wadsworth, New York Harbor. The Board has also made an allotment for the purchase of a portion of a novel position finding instrument invented by Henry Hess, which will test the fundamental principle of its construction. This portion, it is thought, will determine the availability of his system. The Board is still in correspondence with several other inventors who are hopeful of arriving at the successful solution of this important problem. SÉBERT VELOCIMETER. Among the matters for which the Board has made allotment is the Sébert Velocimeter, an instrument used for measuring velocities in the bore of a piece, and at any point beyond the muzzle. This gives valuable and much-needed information for use in determining the various factors entering into the intricate problem of gun construction and the preparation of suitable powders. The instrument is now in use at the Proving Ground at Sandy Hook. AMMUNITION WAGON. A question which has for many years engaged the attention of military men in all countries has been that of furnishing an adequate supply of ammunition to the fighting line. Many devices have been proposed for this purpose, but of those which the Board has had before it all have been considered impracticable except that of Lieut. Kimball of the Navy. To enable a test to be made the Board recommended that one be purchased at a cost of $600. It has been sent to the Infantry and Cavalry School at Fort Leavenworth for trial. FUSES. The number of fuses which have been submitted to the Board is very small in proportion to the number of other inventions. So far only three have been presented whose promise of successful results was sufficient to justify the Board in making allotments to procure samples. Of these two are American, namely, the Merriam base percussion fuse, for which allotment was first made on November 4, 1890; and the Berdan mechanical distance fuse, which the Board decided on December 12, 1890, to test, and for which it has since made several allotments of small amounts to continue the experiments. The foreign fuse is French, being made by the Ar. Walter Company of France. Allotment of $150 was made on June 6, 1891, to procure fifty of these fuses. None of the tests of these fuses has yet proceeded sufficiently far to justify a definite opinion upon their merits. SITE FOR AN ORDNANCE PROVING GROUND. Among other duties imposed upon the Board by Congress was that of making an examination of "a site or sites for ordnance testing and proving ground to be used in the testing and proving of heavy ordnance, having in view in the selection of said site or sites their accessibility by land and water, means of transportation, and suitability for the purpose intended, and also the actual and reasonable cost, and the value of the land embraced in said site or sites, and the least sum for which the same can be procured." The result of the examination into this subject by the Board has already been submitted to Congress and has been printed in House Ex. Doc. 148, Fifty-first Congress, first session, a copy of which is hereto appended, marked F. GENERAL AND SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE BOARD. The Board has thus briefly presented a report of its "general operations from the beginning of the operations of the Board" until the date of making this report. The practical operation of the Board may be stated, by way of illustration, as follows: Such appropriations as are made by Congress upon estimates and projects furnished by the Chief of Engineers and the Chief of Ordnance subject to the supervision of the Board are communicated to it through the Secretary of War, with requests for such allotments for specific obects as are considered essential from time to time. The Board investigates the subject-matter, calls for such information as it may need, and after full information and consideration the allotment is recommended of such amount as the Board is satisfied should be made. This recommendation goes to the Secretary of War for his approval. Or, a communication is received from the inventor of a gun, projectile, carriage or other device or engine of war, either directly or by reference of the Secretary of War. The communication is taken up by the Board, considered, further information asked, drawings and specifications required, and after careful investigation it is decided whether the invention is worthy of trial or not. If the decision is favorable, recommendation is made for the purchase or manufacture of a sample of the invention or device, which recommendation is submitted to the Secretary of War for his approval. In addition to the general duties of the Board, others of a special nature have been imposed upon it by special provisions of law from time to time. Such were the prescribing of tests and the testing of the 12 inch cast-iron mortar; the prescribing of tests and testing of 10 or 12-inch steel guns, to be presented for test and purchase under section 6 of the act of September 22, 1888; the examination of sites for an ordnance proving ground, under the Army appropriation act of 1889; the prescribing of conditions and tests, and adjudging upon the purchase of one hundred guns by contract, under the acts of 1890 and 1891; the making of "all needful and proper purchases, experiments and tests to ascertain, with a view to their utilization by the Government, the most effective guns, small arms, cartridges, projectiles, fuses, explosives, torpedoes, armor plates and other implements and engines of war, and to purchase or cause to be manufactured, under the authority of the Secretary of War, such guns, carriages, armor plates and other war materials and articles as may, in the judgment of the Board, be necessary in the proper discharge of the duty devolved upon it by the act approved September 22, 1888," as required by the act of February 24, 1891. The extent and complexity of the work may be judged from the following summary: The Board held its first session October 30, 1888, and during the three years to October 30, 1891, has held thirty-one regular sessions averaging over four days to each session, or about one hundred and twentyseven working days in all. It has made reports of each session, in the form of a journal, to the Secretary of War, and these reports, with extracts furnished to private persons and others, and other reports made by the Board, occupy over 1,700 typewritten pages of record. The Board has examined and acted upon over 350 inventions of various kinds. These include guns and improvements in the same, mortars, high explosives; and guns, shells and systems for firing high explosives; small arms, machine and rapid-firing guns, batteries, gun carriages, shells and other projectiles, metals for gun construction, range and position finders, plans for coast defense, and movable torpedoes, sights, powders, breech mechanisms for guns, air-ships or balloons, cartridges, defensive and ammunition wagons, electric arms, and other appliances of electricity in warfare, fuses, defensive shields, land locomotive, optical devices, target, ammunition hoist, surveying compass, and war rocket. The consideration of these inventions and other business has required the examination of fully 2,500 papers, including over 300 drawings. Each inventor or person interested has been promptly informed of the action finally taken upon his invention, and about 60 hear ings of inventors and others were had before the Board in explanation of matters under consideration, the record of which, made by the stenographer of the Board, contains over 1,600 folios. SUMMARY. When Congress resumed measures for the defense of the coast there was no place in the United States where forgings for 10 and 12-inch steel guns could be produced, and no factory where they could be finished and assembled either by private parties or under the control of the War Department. There are now certainly two great plants where forgings up to 12inch guns can be turned out with reasonable dispatch, and a gun factory where they can be finished and assembled. Types of 8, 10 and 12-inch guns have been completed and either tested or are awaiting proof. It is expected that by January 1, 1892, the factory will have turned out nine 8-inch, five 10-inch and two 12-inch guns. Eleven guns of 8-inch caliber are under contract with the West Point Foundry; one hundred guns of 8, 10 and 12-inch caliber are practically under contract with the Bethlehem Iron Company; seventy-three 12-inch seacoast mortars are under contract or completed. Types of gun and mortar carriages have been procured and are undergoing tests; considerable success has attended the efforts to produce an American slowburning prismatic powder that shall render the United States independent of foreign manufacturers; a beginning has been made on the construction of gun and mortar batteries for the protection of our most important ports; while general advance has been made along the whole line of defensive preparation. Four years continuance of similar legislation and activity, and it can no longer be said that the United States are defenseless against foreign powers. It is to be hoped that these defensive preparations may never be required in actual warfare. That they are made is the best possible guaranty that they will not be called into hostile use. D. M. TAYLOR, J. M. SCHOFIELD, Major-General, U. S. Army, President of the Board. HENRY L. ABBOT, Colonel, Corps of Engineers, Colonel, Fourth Artillery. Colonel, Ordnance Department, U. S. Army. BYRON M. CUTCHEON, Civilian Member. Captain, Ordnance Department, Recorder of the Board. INDEX FOR FIRST ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS MADE BY THE BOARD OF ORDNANCE AND FORTIFICATION. Aerial sub-aquatic projectile, Ericsson All steel 12-inch mortar Allotments for Army gun factory. for steel forgings for guns.. for Watervliet Arsenal, old gunshop recommendations of Board with regard to, only advisory Ammunition wagon, Kimball's Appropriations, detailed statement of all made (Appendix A) for seacoast gun carriages. for mortar carriages.. for necessary expenses of Board, by whom expended. total of all made, subject to supervision of Board (Appendix A) Armstrong rapid-fire gun ordered Arsenal, Watervliet, establishment of gun factory at. Artillery sights old gunshop at, allotments made for Army gun factory, additional appropriations for, made how far completed in two years original act with regard to. provision for south wing of what equipped for, when completed Batteries, gun and mortar.. Berdan mechanical distance fuse range finder ordered Best, artillery sight.... Page. 24 21 10 13 11 9 25 11 27 10 10 9 10 11 11 23 28 27 27 15 Bethlehem Iron Company to furnish certain completed steel guns Board, advisory to Secretary of War.. conclusions of, with regard to contract guns.. expends no appropriation except for necessary expenses. prescribed weight, dimensions, inspections, tests, etc., of contract recommendations of, with regard to increased length of heavy guns Breech-closing device, Yates loading east-iron mortars, provisions of law as to.. |