A NEW LEATHER CANNON.
A curious weapon, nothing more nor leas than a cannon chiefly made of rawhide, was subjected to official testa by the Ordnance Board of the United States Army, at the proving grounds, Sandy Hook. The gun consists of an inner tube of steel, around which are wound strips of rawhide to a combined thickness proportionate to the intended charge which the gun is to carry. The exterior of the rawhide is then inclosed in a shell of metal. The weapon, when finished, has the general appearance of an ordinary cannon, but is rather more bulky. The cannon held its own against very severe testa. It successfully withstood a pressure of 30,3691 bto the square inch, but the recoil after this shot broke the trail of the gun carriage, and further tests were impossible, no other carriages being available at the time. The War Department ordered the Ordnance Board to test the cannon carefully. In Syracuse they have been firing the gun privately in an armoury for a month past. The principal claims made for the gun are that it is only about half the weight of an ordinary steel gun, that it is just as durable and much stronger than a steel gun, and that any number of shots can be fired from it in rapid succession without heating it. 1
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Bibliographic details
Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIV, Issue 10786, 25 October 1895, Page 2
Word Count
225A NEW LEATHER CANNON. Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIV, Issue 10786, 25 October 1895, Page 2
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