Perry, meanwhile, kept himself abreast of the latest developments and discoveries in every branch of the naval art. We find him forwarding to the War and Navy Departments the most recent European publications on these subjects. He made himself familiar with the applications of electricity to daily use. Neither the science nor the art of ordnance had made great progress in America, since Mr. Samuel Wheeler cast, in 1776, what was probably the first iron three-pounder gun made in the United States, and which the British captured at Brandywine and took to the Tower of London. The war of 1812 showed, however, that in handling their guns, the Yankees were superior in theory and practice to their British foes. In 1812, Colonel Bomford, of the United States Ordnance Department, invented the sea-coast howitzer, or cannon for firing shells at long range, by direct fire, which he improved in 1814 and called a “Columbiad.” By this gun a shell was fired at an English vessel, near New York, in 1815, which exploded with effect. It was this invention which the French General Paixhans, introduced into Europe in 1824.[10] The Frenchman was another Amerigo, and Bomford, being another Columbus, was forgotten, for the name “Paixhans” clung to the _canons obusiers_ or improved columbiad. The making or the use of bomb-cannons, in America, was not continued after the war of 1812, and when first employed by Perry, at Sandy Hook, were novelties to both the lay and professional men of the navy on this side of the Atlantic. When four shell-guns were, in 1842, put upon the ship-of-the-line, _Columbus_, according to Captain Parker, shells were still unfamiliar curiosities. He writes in his _Recollections_, p. 21:— “The shells were a great bother to us, as they were kept in the shell room and no one was allowed even to look at them. It seemed to be a question with the division officers whether the fuse went in first, or the sabot, or whether the fuse should be ignited before putting the shell in the gun or not. However, we used to fire them off, though I cannot say I ever saw them hit anything.” As the jolly captain elsewhere says: “It took so long to get ready for the great event (of target practice) that we seemed to require a resting spell of six months before we tried it again.” About this time also pivot guns came into general use on our national vessels, all cannon having previously been so mounted that they could only fire straight ahead.