Show WEAPONS OF WARFARE threatened war is an incentive to invention whenever trouble seems imminent men of mechanical genius begin to tax their wits for ways and means to aid uncle sam and enrich themselves through hi his favor the archives of the patent department is full of models plans and problems and every day is now adding fresh onea the most astonishing it contrive al ance acs ics far sr warfare recently developed is col IV iz it kings gigantic electromagnet electro magnet this engineer od officer icer has constructed on the top of a fort at willets point a ag a great horseshoe horses hof composed of big cannon and a metal bar with several beveral miles of heavy insulated telegraph wire aund around the muzzles of the guns for spools thus has been produced the most powerful magnet ina act in the world A current of is supplied from a dynamo this magne magnet titis it is alleged is capable of deranging a ships compass at a distance of six miles which would be useful in case hostile vessels tried to approach at night or in a from fo they would be apt to find themselves ashore unexpectedly it has been suggested that a row of such magnets along the walls of a fort might be used to draw the small arms out of the hands of an oncoming oncoming enemy this idea is the same as that of the lire arabian nights bights story in which the iron nails were pulled out of ships that ventured too near the mountain of loadstone the ingenuity of this conception is only surpassed by a design now on fil file at the navy department at washington for a war anar vessel 7 which bich is to have three decks L each a h deck is divided up in twelve rooms room S instead in of masts there are arc three elevators so arran arranged ed that each of F them shall open into four rooms on each deck the rooms are built like safes with every possible burglarproof burglar proof contrivance the ship is otherwise arranged like any adv other ship of war the steel rooms are provided as a precaution in case of defeat in battle in that event the vessel being threatened with capture her officers and crew retreat by the elevators to the rooms in which they lock themselves and defy the enemy the rooms are fitted up w with etli every modern convenience for comfort so EO that the men and officers may amuse themselves at playing cards or otherwise until the foes goes away in 1872 congress gave a lump sum of to pay for the creation of three new models for breech loading and muzzle loading cannon A board of experts was appointed to attend to the business busine s and sui suggestions gest ions were invited cranks all over the country sent to t 0 washington their ideas which were ere eventually published in a book by the government some of them were very funny one was for a centrifugal gun which was made to throw bullets by the turning of L wheel the bullets were thrown into a hopper another notion was for a cannon to shoot water this may not be so nonsensical as it seems taxidermists use water cartridges to kill humming birds many of these schemes and machines chines sare are thought to be impracticable so was the little monitor regarded before it went to battle with the monster merrimac yet after its bignal victory there was no doubt of its efficacy nor is it safe for experts to declare that any new idea is useless or impracticable one day not long ago a certain examiner aciner of patents at washington demonstrated conclusively by figures figurea that a certain machine for which a patent was desired could not possibly work his hia surprise may be imagined when the inventor brought his machine and exia cited it in actual operation working 0 to perfection smokeless powder is one of the necessities of war and it is said that noiseless guns aze aie about to be perfected the notion of a gun in in which carbonic acid gas is us used ed instead of gunpowder strikes one offhand off hand canil as an absurdity yet this seems likely to do wonders in the future if it dues does not fairly revolutionize modern warfare the patent was taken out not long ago in this country ly by a frenchman named paul giffe Gif fd ard his idea is to compress carbonic acid gas to a liquid in a small cylinder the cylinder may be attached to any an rifle which requires a very simple modification to adapt it for the purpose A touch on the trigger liberates a small quantity of the liquid carbonic acid which instantly expands on being relieved from the pressure and drives the bullet out of the gun another bullet is ia dropped in at the breech and the operation is repeated until the cylinder is exhausted with a single cylinder bullets were fired through in an inch plank at the patent office the other day torpedo boats and ballo balloons busand aad shells filled with nitroglycerine gas or powder touched off by electrical connection with the fort or ship from whence they ale aie projected constitute other innovation in the methods of modern warfare one of the oddest of inventions fur for war is ii a projectile which carries a huge eife blade like an enormous chopping knife it is intended to mow down men as with a scythe ahat was the idea of the old fashioned chain shot a device so fearfully destructive that its use was forbidden by the laws of nations A another nothern ingenious idea has been patented by one thomas hill it I 1 is a rani ram for the bow of a ship containing I 1 a gun which fires itsell itself automatically after the rana ram has punched it a hole through the ships side A device for covering covering a vessel 1 with po pockets crets to receive and hold projectiles I 1 is study in defense which is as nece necessary Esary as in the art of f destruction rapid firing guns are approaching 0 a a high state of perfection all great guns kick and this back action is being utilized for reloading the tha weapon the first cartridge havins been set off the force of the recoil throws out the empty cartridge drops another into the magazine and fires it this process is kept up indefinitely 0 to o long as cartridges are put into the hopper A sin single le touch ouch of a button is all thatis that is needed to start the gun a firing and it goes on shooting of its own accord the bullets are thrown in in a perfect storm in one type of rapid firing irin gun they are shot at the rate of 1600 a minute notwithstanding the use of water jackets and air blasts to keep the gun cool such a rate of firing if kept up for even a moderately short time would melt tile the gun and bake the man firing it yet it can be used with great effect by firing a minute or two and resting Z the game fame length of time before commencing a 9 pun li 0 the rapid firing gun has been im by an oregon man who x bo provides for throwing empty shells over the gunners shoulder from six to ton bullets can be disc hamed before the first empty cartridge reaches the ground the new search li lit will prove an important factor especially in naval engagements as aa it will reveal every target of the enemy in light as bright as that of day it would be a bad thing for mankind if a war should break out as our inventors have made it possible to be very destructive |