Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/787

RANGARE. and statesman, born in Constantinople, and edu- cated at Odessa and in the Military School at ^Munich, whence he entered the Bavarian artil- lery. In 1831 he returned to Greece and entered governmental employ-, serving for several yeais in the department of the Ministry of Education. There he founded a new school system, primarj' and secondai-j-, and estaljlished the Greek Archae- ological Society. In 1844, after two years in the Department of the Interior, he was expelled because of his foreign birth. He was called in 184.5 to the chair of archteology in the University of Athens, was Minister of Foreign Affairs ( 185G- 59), became Minister to Washington (1807). to Paris (1868), served in a like capacity at Ber- lin (1874-86), where lie supported Delyannis l>etore the Congress of Berlin. He was a leader of the classicists who urged a return to ancient Greek, in which he wrote versions of Dante. Cioethe, and Lessing, lyric, epic, and dramatic poetry, and a valuable volume on Greek ar- chaeology. In French he wrote Antiquiles helle- niqties (1842-5-5) and Histoire de la litterature nco-helUnique (1877; in German. 1884; in Greek, 1888). His archaeological dictionary (1888 et. seq. ) was not comi)leted. His son Kleox (1842 — ) occupied various diplomatic positions and is the author of lyric and dramatic poeti-y. In 1895 he became Greek Ambassador at Berlin.

RANGE (from OF., Fr. ranker, to align, from ranq, line, from AS., OHG. Iiring, hrinc, Ger. Ring, Eng. ring: connected with OChurch Slav. krangii, circle, with Lat. circus, GVi. kihkv;, krikos, ring, or with Skt. srnkltala, cliain). A term in gunnery, indicating the extreme distance a projectile can cover after leaving the muzzle of the piece from which it was discharged. The maximum range of a gun is the greatest distance to which it will throw its projectile under ordinary conditions of loading. The maximum range of the most powerful gun in the world ( the W'atervliet Arsenal, U. S. 16-inch B. L. R.) is about 21 miles (20.978) ; the U. S. 10-inch B. L. R. has a maximum range of about 11.7 miles: the 8-inch about 10.6 miles, and the 12-inch B. L. mortar about 6 miles. The Krupp 9.45 inch gun, which held the maximum record before the United States 16-inch gun appeared, fired a projectile about 12io miles, the greatest height reached during this flight being 21,456 feet. The effective range, or the range at which the projectile may be counted upon to perform the work for which it is intended, is usually much smaller than the maximum range, and of course is a much more useful tiling to know. The effec- tive range of a modern field gun firing shrapnel is about 7000 yards (in the United States 6600 yards). Point blank range is when the piece is fired in a horizontal position; the range then in- creases with the elevation. See Guxxeby; Bal- listics.

RANGE-FINDER. An instrument used in naval and military operations to determine the horizontal distance of the object to be hit from the gun which is firing. They are of three prin- cipal types, those furnishing their own bases for measurement, those depending upon a known di- mension of the object aimed at, and those utilizing a time obsenation. Those of the first-named type have the most general application and are therefore the most desirable, but satisfactory in- struments are either verv cumbersome or delicate. or are liable to give ranges considerably in error. The instruments of the second type may be made fairly accurate, but have a narrow application. Those of the third type are generally inaccurate and are not of much use since the introduction of smokeless powders and rapid-firing guns. The simplest method of obtaining range by utilizing a base at the point of observation is called Buckner's method and was devised by Lieut. Buclcner, of the United States Xavy. In the figure, AB is the mast of the ship, which is endeavoring to obtain the range.

Fig. 1.

A is the water line, B the position of the ob- server, and D the position of the object observed; AB is therefore the height of the observer above the water; AEDC is the surface of the water from A to C (in the visible horizon of the point Bl ; and AD is the desired range. By means of suitable tables the range AD corresponding to any height (AB) and angle (DBC) can be in- stantly ascertained. It therefore is onlj- neces- sary to measure the angle DBC by means of a sextant or similar instrument. This method has the disadvantage that it removes the observer from the vicinity of the guns, requiring transmis- sion of the range when it is ascertained ; this takes time, and with rapidly moving ships is almost certain to cause error. Furthermore, if the enemy has more than one ship the confusion of ranges may be so serious as to render the ranges obtained nearly valueless. The form of auto-base range-finder largely used in fortifica- tions has two observers at a short distance apart (this distance furnishing the base). Thus A and B are the observing stations, AB the known base, and AC or BC the range. The angles CAD and CBA and the distance BA being known, the dis- tances CA and CB are quickly determined from tables similar to those in Bowditch's Practical yavigator for ascertaining the "Distance of an Object by Two Bearings." !Most of the recent range-finders are constructed on the same gen- eral principle, but are arranged for operation by one person. The base is therefore much short- ened, and this is sought to be compensated by the magnification of the angle at C so that it will appear equal to a much larger one before the unaided eye. The most prominent range-finders of the auto-base type are the Barr and Stroud, Zeiss, Davis, Lewis, and Fi«ke (turret type). Of these the first two have had widespread use and are considered fairly satisfactory and the others have given good results in experiments.