Show THE NEW GAS GUN arll of the ries lo vented br M gifford Gif frd london daily news at tho the headquarters oi ot the london scottish rifles yesterday afternoon some interesting ex experiments per ment were conducted with M 1 paul gif gil bards appliance for the employment i ent of liquefied f gas as as an exploit sive eive or to be more strictly accurate one should say as a means of propelling projectiles in place of gunpowder at paul ginardo Gin Giff ards scientific rep reputation tation as inventor of the pneumatic ug e tube and of the giffard Gif Tard injector BO 00 largely used in connection with steam power stands so high that any invention to which c h his name was attached would be worthy of attentive consideration the weapon now introduced introduce by him however is something more than an ingenious appliance it is a discovery which not only promises to revolutionize the gunjak er ers a art rt but is 13 applicable also to many any other purposes as a motive power those who are interested in the giffard gun claim that it is the mili military tiry weapon of the future the idea of liquefied carbonic acid gas as a propulsive power is not new but M guitard is 13 the first who has turned it to practical account the gas gun is a model of gim simplicity city so lar far as one can judge without examination of the discharging mech mechanism aniam in which much of the merit of M N giffords Giu ards invention lies A small cylinder called a cartouche is attached to the barrel of the rifle or smoothbore gun this cylinder contains liquefied gas enough to discharge shots e equal to about CO so bullets of an ordinary service rifle with a velocity sufficient to kill at COO yards there is is no other explosive the pellet is simply dropped into an aperture 0 of f the barrel which is is hermetically closed by pressing ing a small lever and the fre loading ding is is com complete I 1 e te when the tr trigger agger is is presse pressed ta a small qua quantity it y of f liquefied gas as becomes released and expands in in the breech chamber there is li no louder report than the drawing ofa of a chain champagne bagrie cork makes no smoke and no fouling of the barrel in all these respects al M Giff lards gas gun seemed to fulfil fulfill the requirements of an ideal weapon for warfare but whether in other respects lique liquefied fie gas has advantages over ordinary eap exp explosives I 1 orives for military purposes remains remains to be prayed the anven inventor says there would be no dim culty in in refilling the cylinders with gas on the battlefield but it is 0 obvious b V ous even if that be the case that reserve cylinders would have to be supplied to each man in order t to 0 make up the number of rounds now thought to be necessary and as bullets would ot necee necessity eity be carried in addition the ammunition for a gas gun would weigh jutt as much as ordinary cartridges weight foe for weight eight w the charge of liquid liberated for each round is regulated by a milled screw and each charge as liberated is is conta contained ined ip in a special I 1 chamber from which h it is is re released areces eased by the pulling ofa of a trigger the bill bullet let is a dropped abely separately into an n orifice in in the b breech lock in the rifles rides shown the bullets were round but elongated bullets can be used when the guns were discharged aha rg ed a rush of vapor was seen issuing i g f from rom the muzzles but it instantly ly faded failed away and the bullets lla flew ew with a strict precision to the it targets barrels which had been gedly repeatedly discharged in in the past two months were yere shown t to have suffered no corrosion cor roson the p pressure IT ure of the gag gas and fluid in the above magazines was goo poun pounds da on the square inch and this pree pressure sure is is maintained up to the th F last drop propof of fluid the preparation of tho the liquefied gag gas involves no mechanical power but the needful pressure is not entirely by the chemical manipulation of ordinary sub substances stanco such as carbonate of foda soda |