The inventor is a Mr. Chambers, of Pennsylvania. We witnessed its effect, when the President of the United States visited the navy yard in Philadelphia, where the inventor manufactured them; and also at Bush-hill, in the neighbourhood of that city. Having examined their construction, and also the shot it may be sufficient to remark, that the lead is cylindrical, one end being flat, and the other conical, and of such a size as to fit the caliber of the musket; that these rounds are pierced with a hole in the centre, which is charged with fuse composition; and, after a charge of powder, one of these cylinders is put in; then a charge, then a cylinder, &c. up to 32. The lock is placed opposite the last charge, so that when the first load is discharged, the fire communicates successively through the cylinders.
A repeating gun has been invented by a gentleman of New York. I have seen no description of it. The Marquis of Worcester, in his Century of Inventions, in the 58th to the 64th invention, hints at a similar contrivance; as for instance, (Inven. 58th,) "How to make a pistol to discharge a dozen times with one loading, and without so much as one new priming requisite, or to change it out of one hand into the other, or stop one's horse."
We may add, that, in 1764, M. Bouillet and Sons presented, to the Academy of Sciences, at Paris, a musket of their invention, which was lighter than the common kind, and had the property of firing twenty-four times in succession, charging and priming itself by a single circular movement of the musket upon an axis, fixed for that purpose. In the file of the French Gazette, for 1786, article Linberg, there is an account of an invention of the baron De Walskohl. It is the same, it would appear from the description, as the repeating musket. Being once charged, it will fire thirty-six times in succession. The experiments made with it were satisfactory.
Many patents have been secured in this country, and in England and France, for improvements on the musket and rifle; but, in order to accommodate short-sighted persons, M. Regnier's invention appears to be the first which consists in an optic glass fixed in the butt, enabling persons of that description to shoot with accuracy. This invention is given in the Journal de la Blancherie for 1779, p. 194.
In 1771, Moret, an armourer, announced a new constructed pistol, which would charge itself, &c. and in 1793, M. Gass presented to the military committee of France, a pistol of a new construction, calculated to fire several ball in succession. The Journal des Inventions et Découv. i, p. 121, speaking of this invention, adds, that the means employed depended entirely on the construction of the ball, which, instead of round, was a cylinder, pierced in its length. This small canal is filled with meal-powder, and serves as the match of communication to the charges. This contrivance is much the same as the one we have described.[29]
Mr. Misson (Travels through Germany and Italy,) says, that in the arsenal at Venice, there is an engine which will light five hundred matches at once, and some very curious arms of ancient make, among which is a small trunk, with six little guns, which Carrara, the last lord of Padua, who was famous for his inhumanity, sent as a present to a lady; and was so contrived, that, upon opening of the trunk, the guns all fired at once, and killed her!
With respect to the invention of the various incendiary machines, we may observe generally, (as we purpose to notice them in their respective places), that Greek fire was employed in different ways, and was considered a destructive composition; that rain-fire, bombs, lances, matches, fire-balls and carcasses, torches, powder sacks, petards, &c. were all employed in more modern times for the same purpose; and, lastly, that the fougette of the Asiatics, called Indian rockets, the Congreve rocket, the incendiary bomb of the French, and the floating rocket carcass, are embraced under the same head, and are all used for similar purposes in war. These, and other subjects, belonging to military fire-works, we purpose to mention in this, and the following chapters.
Sec. I. Of Cartridges.
Cartridges are cases of paper, parchment, or flannel, fitted to the caliber of the piece, and holding exactly its proper charge. Strong paper is always used for musket and pistol cartridges, and the French musket-ball-cartridges are capped with flannel or coarse cotton. For heavy guns, they are made of thick, and as the English call it, of cured paper, with flannel bottoms. Those for field ordnance are all made of flannel, and their size suited to the bore, or chamber of pieces, for which they are intended. The ball cartridges, for wall pieces, muskets, carbines, and pistols, are made of whitish-brown paper, on formers of wood. A sheet of paper will make six for wall pieces, twelve for muskets, sixteen for carbines, and twenty-four for pistols. The quantity of powder they contain respectively is, for wall pieces ten drachms, musket six, carbine four, and pistol three drachms.
Blank cartridges, for pistols, carbines, and muskets, are made of blue paper, to preserve a distinction between ball and blank, and to prevent the possibility of accidents, from the ball cartridges being mixed with the blank.