Chapter 235. making appropriations for fortifications and other works of defense, and for the armament thereof, for the fiscal year ending June, thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five and for other purposes
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CHAP. 235.— An Act making appropriations for fortifications and other works of defense, and for the armament thereof, for the fiscal year ending June, thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five and for other purposes.July 5, 1884. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Appropriations. That out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the following sums are hereby appropriated for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth eighteen hundred and eighty-five, the same to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of War, as hereinafter provided, for the following purposes, namely:
Fortifications and other works of defense.Submarine movable torpedoes.For the protection preservation, and repair of fortifications and other works of defense one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. For the purchase of such submarine movable torpedoes, propelled and controlled by power operated from shore stations, as may be recommended by the Board of Engineers of the Army of the United States Motors for movable torpedoes.Submarine mines.Torpedo experiments.Instruction of Engineer Corps,and approved by the Secretary of War, fifty thousand dollars; for the improvements and test of motors for movable torpedoes, twenty-five thousand dollars; for purchase of submarine mines for harbor defense, five thousand dollars; for continuation of torpedo experiments and for practical instruction of engineer troops in the details of the service, twenty thousand dollars, in all one hundred thousand dollars. 159 FORTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS.
Sess. I. CHS. 235, 331. 1884. For the purchase of machine guns of the latest improvement, twentyMachine guns. thousand dollars. For the armament of seacoast fortifications, including the manufactureArmament of seacoast fortifications. and conversion of heavy gnus and carriages, projectiles, fuses, powder, and implements, their trial and proof, and all necessary expenses •incident thereto, including compensation of draughtsmen on gun construction while employed in the Ordnance Bureau, four hundred thousand dollars, and not exceeding fifteen thousand dollars thereof, may be used for the expenses of experiments in the use of dynamite or otherExperiments in the use of dynamite, etc. high explosive projectiles For the preservation of Fort Marion, at Saint Augustine, Florida, andFort Marion, Saint Augustine, Fla. for the enclosure and improvement of the grounds attached to the same, said grounds to be in charge of the commanding officer of said fort, five thousand dollars.
It shall be the duty of the Secretary of War to cause the variousCaliber, length of ports, weight of guns, weight of projectile per caliber, el e., to be determined; report to be made to Congress. calibers, lengths of bore, greatest and least admissible weights of guns for each caliber, together with the greatest and least weights of projectiles for each caliber, of all the various calibers required for the service, together with the number of each caliber of gun required, to be determined, and to make the same known to manufacturers of ordnance on their application and to report the same to Congress at its next session for its approval.
Sec. 2. That hereafter all rifled cannon of any particular material,Test of rilled cannon, etc. caliber, or kind, made at the cost of the United States shall be publicly subjected to the proper test including such rapid firing as a like gun would be likely to be subjected to in actual battle for the determination of the endurance of the same to the satisfaction of the President of the United States or such persons as he may select; and he is hereby authorized to select not to exceed five persons, who shall be skilled in such matters; and if such gun shall not prove satisfactory, they shall not be put to use in the Government service.
Sec. 3. That the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the NavySale of smooth-bore cannon for experimental purposes, only. are hereby authorized to sell to projectors of methods of conversion, for experimental purposes only, any smooth bore cannon on hand required by them, at prices which shall not be less than have been received from auction sales for such articles, and deliver the same, at the cost of the Government, at the nearest convenient place for shipment or public transportation; the cost of delivery to be deducted from the proceeds of sales, and the balance to be covered into the Treasury of the United States.
Sec. 4. That so much of the act making appropriations for the naval22 Stat., 288. service for the fiscal year eighteen hundred and eighty-three, approved August fifth, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, as provides that the words “ordnance” and “ gunpowder” in section thirty-seven hundredR. S. 3721, 735.Pro visions of act, etc., determining meaning of words ‘‘ordnance” and “gunpowder, ” repealed. and twenty-one of the Revised Statutes shall be construed to mean offensive and defensive arms, ammunition, and explosives, the apparatus for their military use, and the materials for producing the whole, and also transportation, necessary information concerning them, and whatever is requisite in military experiments with them, be, and the same is hereby, repealed.
Approved, July 5, 1884.