Carr, Eugene

A., soldier, was born in Erie county, N.Y., Mar. 20, 1830; graduated at West Point in 1853. 1n the Civil War he was appointed colonel of the Third Illinois Volunteer Cavalry, Aug. 15, 1861, and received the appointment of brigadier-general of U. S. Volunteers, Mar. 7, 1862, serving in operations in Mi ouri C. in water or milk, with sugar and spices added, jelly and blanc-mange are produced. The plant is from 2 to 12 inches long, flexible and cartilaginous, its color being a reddish brown. Medicinally, it has emollient and demulcent properties. Carriage, Disappearing Gun. The utility of disappearing gun carriages, particularly for coast defence, has been clearly demonstrated. The value of these devices lies in the almost complete safety which they give to the gun they bear. A gun in an ordinary barbette offers an inviting target to an attacking force, and vigorous efforts would naturally be made to dismount it and to kill or disable the gunners. The disappearing carriage in great measure obviates this danger, the gun being exposed only at the moment of firing, and the gunners not at all. Under CANNON some historical account of these devices may be found. It is our purpose here to speak particularly of some recent American inventions which have been tested by the U. S. government with very satisfactory results..- The Gordon Carriage. Of these the Gordon disappearing carriage was subjected to an official test in December, 1894, with results considerably beyond government expectations. The contract called for 10 shots an hour; but no le than 32 shots an hour were fired, thus winning a considerable bonus for the inventor. The Gordon carriage is built on a platform with a central pintle, or "turn-table," and is movable in a circle. When in firing position, it is lifted 20 feet above the ground. After firing it is dropped 8 feet, to load, and is protected from an enemy's fire until again raised. The moving instrumentality consists of two electric motors, one of which pumps air to raise the carriage, the other swings the gun about on the pintle. The recoil of the gun after firing is partly taken up by air-pre ure, partly by counterweights; and the latter, being beside the gun, add to the protection of the cannoneers. The carriage can be moved either by hand or electric power.- Buf fington-Crozier Carriage. This carriage, which has been adopted by the U. S. government as the standard type for coast-defence fortifications, is somewhat lighter and more graceful than the Gordon carriage, and has stood very severe tests. It is of the front pintle form, and consists of the following principal parts: the levers, the top carriage, the cheek plates or cha is, the elevating gear, the live rollers, the base ring, the transoms, the traverse wheels, traverse circle, and the projectile crane. The trunnions of the gun rest in sockets at the ends of a pair of huge levers which swing freely, and are attached to a large counterpoise. This is lifted and held up by a pawl and ratchet. When the gun is fired the piece recoils and the levers sink. With an 8-inch breech-loading rifle the counterpoise weighs 32,000 pounds. A pivoted frame-work connected with the breech of the gun keeps it in exactly the desired position. The counterweight takes up only about one-third of the recoil, the remainder being received by two The cro head guides are formed on the inner sides of the cha is. On one face of each cro head clip is a vertical ratchet, to be caught by a pawl on the cha is and thus hold up the counterweight. This pawl is mounted on a short crank actuated by a long lever at the side of the carriage, this arrangement being used to aid the lowering of the piece, should the recoil be insufficient. The rear traverse wheels and their transom are of cast steel, the axles resting on roller bearings. The traversing chain lies around the traverse circle and is fastened to the parapet, there being an arrangement for taking up the slack. The circle is cast in segments and bolted firmly to the platform. The following is the action of the carriage: On the piece being fired, it is driven back by the recoil, the central pivot of the levers moving horizontally to the rear and carrying the top carriage with it. The lower end moves vertically upward, being constrained by the cro head guides. The gun moves downward and to the rear, traversing the arc of a circle, while the energy of recoil, as already said, is partly absorbed by raising the counterweight and would be very difficult to hit, and a shell could be placed within the fort only by the use of high-angle fire, which is impracticable on modern war-ships from the fact that the breech of the gun could not be sufficiently depre ed for such fire, and existing decks are not strong enough to stand the heavy vertical strain of the recoil. In consequence, forts mounted with guns with disappearing carriages are probably destined to overbalance the a ailing force of the great modern ships of war. The accompanying engravings, showing the Buffing ton Crozier carriage as used at Fort Hamilton, in New York harbon, are reproduced, by permi ion, from the Scientific American , Carriages, Mod'ern. The types of carriages at present in use are variously cla ified, according to the number of wheels, the method of entering, the number of seats, and the manner in which the occupants are seated. The two-wheeled vehicles embrace the cart, the gig, the sulky, the hansom cab, the Irish jaunting car, . The four-wheeled vehicles embrace the omnibus, coach, the buggy, the cab, the barouche, . Some are IMG:content-0478.png:[graphic][subsumed][merged small] hydraulic cylinders. The supporting levers are made of cast steel, and are pivoted near their middle points upon an axle of forged steel, the axle resting in bearings in the top carriage, which, with the two hydraulic cylinders, is formed in one piece of gun iron. The cylinders are connected by a pipe at their forward ends to equalize the pre ure upon them during recoil. The top carriage rests upon rollers of forged steel, which are placed in rece es in the cheek plates. These piates are bolted at their forward ends to the racer, and have guides bolted to them for the elevating rack. Their upper surfaces slope 2o to the front in order to aid the return of the piece to battery and to reduce the preponderance of the counterweight. The elevating rods of forged steel are attached at their lower ends to bronze elevating racks. The elevating handwheels are mounted on a through shaft, upon which are pinions gearing into steel spur wheels, on the shaft with which are bronze pinions, gearing into the elevating racks. The action in recoiling is so adjusted that the gun will always have an inclination of about 7° to the horizontal when in loading position, whatever its elevation when firing. BUFFING TON-CROZIER DISAPPEARING GUN CARRIAGE, ELEVATED FOR FIRING. partly by the resistance of the hydraulic cylinders. After loading, the pawls are tripped and the greater momentum of the counterweight enables it to lift the gun into battery. The return to battery is softened by hydraulic counter-recoil buffers in the cylinders. The piece can be hauled down by hand to the loading position for drill and cleaning by means of a windla arrangement, the rope pa ing through sheaves on the levers and cha is. This carriage has proved itself capable of great rapidity of action. Ten shots have been fired in 12 minutes and 21 seconds from an 8-inch gun. The horizontal range of fire is 127 degrees, and the pointing of the gun can be varied from 12 degrees elevation to 5 degrees depre ion. When in the loading position the gun is completely covered from a shot arriving at an angle of 7 degrees. An attacking fleet would be practically at the mercy of a battery mounted with disappearing guns of this character. The aiming of the gun is all done under shelter, the gunner, by means of a "range finder" and "converter board," being able to sight the piece with perfect accuracy while it is still below the level of the parapet. During the few seconds of its exposure it entered at the side, some at the rear; in some the occupants sit face to face, in others back to back, as in the dog-cart, but usually they all face forward. - Two-wheeled vehicles. For hauling purposes the cart is of prehistoric origin, while of two-wheeled riding carriages the gig is apparently the oldest now in use. Its body rests on two or more semi-elliptical springs, and may have a hood or not at the pleasure of the owner. It is intended for two persons and drawn by one horse. The hansom cab, invented in 1835 by an English man named Joseph Hansom, is a very useful vehicle for crowded streets. The body hangs very low and the driver sits behind on a high seat, the whole being so balanced as to relieve the horse's back from weight. The Irish jaunting car has the distinctive feature of having very low wheels, with the body placed above them. The occupants sit back to back, facing towards the sides of the road. The dog cart, now much used, is a vehicle for one horse or tandem driving, and has sitting-room for four ocсиpants, placed back to back. The body rests on half elliptical springs, and it or the seat may be shifted, so as to balance the load and relieve the horse from carrying weight. This was originally a hunting vehicle and carried dogs, but is now much used as a pleasure carriage. The sulky may be named as a special American product, where it originated through the requirements of the trotting horse. It is of very slight build, has a seat for one person only, and is used for speeding trotters. The pneumatic rubber tire, originated for use on the bicycle, has been adapted to the sulky, with an increase of speed, the mile trotting record having been reduced about four seconds. It is also used on other light vehicles built for speed. Japan po e es a special two-wheeled vehicle, the jinrikisha , in which a man replaces the horse in the shafts. It is said to have been invented by an American mi ionary. - Four - wheeled carriages. The principal covered vehicles of this kind include the coach, the laudau, the brougham and the rockaway. The coach is the special family carriage, being constructed with a closed, panelled body suspended on elliptic springs, to which may be added curved C springs front and back. This latter method is called "double suspension." The coach is arranged to carry four persons inside, facing each other, and two more on the coachman's seat in front. Coaches are also now often constructed with seats on top, these being used with four horses as road coaches, under the names of "mail coach," "drag," and "tally-ho." The laudau differs from the coach only in having a falling top. This may be made entirely of leather, or may have gla quarters, it being variously named in accordance with the lack of or the number of gla es. The brougham , first made for use by Lord Brougham, is a low-hung, close, straight gla -front carriage, with a single seat for two persons inside, and a panelled seat for the coachman in front. It is a convenient doctor's carriage. It IMG:content-0479.png:[graphic] is sometimes built to hold four persons. The French coupé is a brougham with a curved gla front. The clarence seats two or four persons and has a front of curved gla . The rockaway was first made as a cheap, convenient carriage at Jamaica, Long Island. It is a covered carriage, with sides curtained or panelled, the roof extending over the driver's seat, which is on a level with the other seats. It is made to carry four or six persons, and is otherwise known as a carryall and a german town. It is now much used as a family carriage, being named rockaway coach , and coupé rockaway . The barouche has an open-topped coach body, and is furnished with a leather hood over the back seat. It is now often made without doors and called a sociable . The cabriolet is a hooded carriage for two persons, without door, and with a panelled seat for the driver. Similar to this is the victoria , except that the driver's seat is not panelled. but is connected by iron loops with the carriage body. On these loops the driver's seat is constructed, being an iron framework. The mail phaeton has a heavy square box-body, with a hooded seat in front for two persons and a seat for the grooms behind. It is variously modified into the stanhope phaeton and the spider phaeton. The break , originally used for breaking colts, is a heavy phaeton seating from six to twelve persons. Of peculiarly American C. may be named the buggy , a light, one seated, four-wheeled vehicle, drawn by a single horse, and hooded or not, at pleasure. It was formerly hung high on elliptical springs, but is now hung low on side bars of wood, attached at their ends to springs. The buckboard, of the same type as the buggy, is of very simple construction, the springs being replaced by a long, springy plank, on whose center rests the seat. The rear axle is firmly attached to the plank, while the front one is attached by a king-bolt, about which others. Experiments in this direction have been made for many years, and in 1801 a steam carriage was constructed by Trevithick and Vivian, which was followed from time to time by others, though no very satisfactory results were attained until our own times. Of the various sources of power, petroleum has hitherto proved the most succe ful. In one succe ful invention gasoline is stored in a reservoir over the rear wheel, and the gas arising is conveyed by a small tube to the cylinders, where, on its coming into contact with air, it is kindled by an electric spark from an induction coil. The explosive force of the detonated gas moves the pistons in the cylinders. Those propelled by petroleum power are able to run for three hours, or from 25 to 30 miles, with one charge of oil. They can then be recharged from a reservoir attached to the carriage, which holds enough oil for a twenty-hour run Progre in motor carriages was brought prominently to public attention by a race with vehicles of this character on June 11, 1895, from Paris to Bordeaux, and return. The total distance traversed was about 726 miles, part of it over steep hills and bad stretches of road, making severe test of the new vehicles. A prize of $8,000 was offered for four-seated carriages, and other prizes for other vehicles, motor bicycles, . The result was highly gratifying. The first carriage reached Bordeaux in 22 hours, 28 minutes, its average speed being about 15 miles an hour. The succe of this competition set many inventors in England and America at work, and similar races have occurred in this country-from Milwaukee to Chicago, on Nov. 2, 1895, and in New York city, from Broadway through Central Park to Irvington and return, a distance of 52 miles, on May 30, 1896. No important result arose from these races, and though inventors are still busy in the direction of motor car The bubble of air in the internal tube is of such a size that the tube just floats, forming in fact a little floating diving-bell. If the membrane closing the outer cylinder be pa ed downwards, the pre ure is communicated through the air, above the water in the cylinder, to the water. By the latter it is conveyed in all directions, among the rest up through the open end of the inner tube, and up to the bubble of air at the top. The latter is compre ed. The lo in volume suffered by the air is compensated for by the entrance of water. The result of this substitution is, that the tube with its contents becomes heavier. Being pre ed upwards by the same force as before, it is now pre ed downwards by a greater one. Equilibrium can no longer subsist, and the diver sinks. On relieving the pre ure, the opposite conditions suc ceed one another in the Fig. 2776.-CARTES I AN DIVER. inverse order, and the diver rises. Attempts have been made to utilize such a diver for the purpose of determining, or at least indicating, the barometric pre ure. But variation in temperature affects the density of the water and the air, especially the latter, to such a slight degree, as to invalidate conclusions as to atmospheric pre ure drawn from the position of the silver.