Abstract
WHETHER considered as a weapon of terrible power or simply as a specimen of skilful and successful forging, the 35- ton Fraser cannon is without parallel. Of extraordinary strength and proportions, and withal so carefully, and one might almost say, elegantly finished, this magnificent gun is indeed a masterpiece well worthy of the greatest factory in England, from which it emanates. Cannon of larger dimensions have, it is true, been produced, capable actually of delivering a heavier projectile than that employed with the Woolwich weapon, but none of them are to be in any way compared with this, either in respect to battering power or length of range. That the gun is, moreover, not merely a show-production, as was the case with the monster Krupp cannon, but a really serviceable and efficient fire-arm, is shown by its endurance of the severe test to which it was subjected at proof. On this occasion the 7001b. projectile was thrown from the gun by the enormous charge of 130lbs. of gunpowder—the largest, in fact, that has ever been safely consumed in any fire-arm—the explosion being without the slightest injurious effect upon the steel bore or surrounding wrought-iron castings. The solid cylinder of iron which constituted the shot issued forth at the terrible velocity of 1,370 feet per second, and, after travelling some fifty yards, buried itself in the butt of loose earth to a depth of thirty-three feet.
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The Big Gun of Woolwich . Nature 4, 48–49 (1871). https://doi.org/10.1038/004048a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/004048a0