Abstract
IN 1856, an Englishman who had recently invented a rotating projectile was witnessing guntrials with it on a French artillery practice ground near Paris. At that time, both gun and projectile were made of cast iron. These trials were a failure because of the frequency with which the gun burst, and the French commandant, who was in charge, said to him: “This invention of yours will require a better gun than one made of cast iron.” So Henry Bessemer, for it was he, returned to England to make a gun tube that would not burst on firing.
Sidney Gilchrist Thomas
An Invention and its Consequences. By Lilian Gilchrist Thompson. Pp. 328 + 8 plates. (London: Faber and Faber, Ltd., 1940.) 12s. 6d. net.
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CARPENTER, H. Sidney Gilchrist Thomas. Nature 146, 245–246 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/146245a0
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