Class Book for the School of Musketry, Hythe: Prepared for the Use of OfficersWilford, Ernest Christian
History
Class Book for the School of Musketry, Hythe: Prepared for the Use of Officers
Wilford, Ernest Christian
Firearms; Gunpowder; Military education; Shooting, Military
If the direction of the force does not pass through the centre of
gravity, the progressive motion will be altered, and the body will then
also acquire a rotatory motion round an axis passing through the centre
of gravity, and perpendicular to a plane passing through the direction
of the force and this centre.
CASES BEARING UPON THE FOREGOING THEORY.
~When ball is perfectly round, centre of gravity coincides with
figure, and no windage.~
1st Case. Suppose the ball to be perfectly round, its centre of gravity
and figure to coincide, and let there be no windage. In this case the
force of the powder not only passes through the centre of gravity of the
shot, but proceeds in a direction parallel to the axis of the bore, and
there would be but small friction due to the weight of the shot.
~If windage then rotation.~
2nd Case. But as there is a considerable amount of friction between the
bore and the projectile in the case where there is windage, the
direction of this force being opposite to that of the gunpowder, and
upon the surface of the ball, it will therefore give rotation to the
shot.
~Eccentricity causes rotation.~
3rd Case. Suppose the ball to be perfectly round, but its centre of
gravity not to coincide with the centre of figure. In this case the
impelling force passes through the centre of the ball, or nearly so, and
acts in a direction parallel to the axis of the piece; but if the centre
of gravity of the ball lie out of the line of direction of the force of
the powder, the shot will be urged to turn round its centre of gravity.
~Angular velocity.~
The angular velocity communicated to the body will depend, firstly, upon
the length of the perpendicular from the centre of gravity upon the
direction of the impelling force, and secondly, upon the law of density
of the material or the manner in which the metal is distributed. The
direction of rotations will depend upon the position of the centre of
figure with regard to that of gravity. (Plate 23, fig. 6.)
~Robins’ remarks.~
Robins remarks, bullets are not only depressed beneath their original
direction by the action of gravity, but are also frequently driven to
the right or left of that direction by the action of some other force.
If it were true that bullets varied their direction by the action of
gravity only, then it ought to happen that the errors in their flight to
the right or left of the mark, should increase in proportion to the
distance of the mark from the firer only.
~Deflection not in proportion to distance.~
But this is contrary to all experience, for the same piece which will
carry its bullet within an inch at ten yards, cannot be relied upon to
ten inches in one hundred yards, much less to thirty inches in three
hundred.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account