The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1877-09-01
A New and Terrible Weapon.

Capt. William Gardner gave an eXhi-
bition of new arm of his invention to
the officers of the United States Navy
stationed at the Torpedo Station yester-
terday. This arm is not TO be con-
founded with other inventions of Capt.
Gardner which have been seen or heard
of by the public, but is his latest, just
completed, and now for the first time
seen by any other than himself and
workmen. This arm produced a mark
ed sensation among the officers and 9TH
er gentlemen present, among whom
were several distinguished foreigners.
Among the officers present at the exhi-
bition were Capt. X. r. Breeze, COM
handing Torpedo Station, Capt. Self
ridge, Captain Norton and Capt. Bunce,
all of the Navy. The unanimous ex-
preston of the gentlemen present was
that this weapon combined all the good
qualities yet devised, and in addition
possessed qualities never before present.
ed that for practical rapidity of fire,
range and precision it was unsurpassed,
while lightness, simplicity, strength,
durability, accessibility of its working
parts, ease of manipulation and capabil-
Ivy Va AOuS COutiuuCu uSo Ia oCtAOA IL
was marvellous.
That ,the'reader may fully realize what
wonder this invention is, we will ask
him to conceive a little instrument,
about the size of an ordinary musket,
easily carried on mans shoulder, as
destructive as the Gattling gun, more so
than the French mitrailleuse, and equal
to three field cannon when firing grape
and canister.
In reply to q question as to what the
special advantages of this gun are over
other firearms now in use, the inventor
replied: Considerable actual service,
a long time spent in Europe carefully
studying on the mitrailleuse and the Cat
Ting gun, their uses and defects, and
much experience in inventing other
arms, convinced me the ideal frearm
was yet to be invented. The liability of
these arms to be most of the time out
of order, their weight, their derange-
ment by transportation, the complicated
and frail nature of their mechanism,
their cl0gging by corrosion, and their
many other defects, encouraged me to
attempt the invention of this weapon.
The problem was to produce an arm
of equal or greater efficiency, of
much greater strength and durability,
not at all liable to be deranged by mois-
ture, dust or long continued firing, east
ly comprehended and manipulated by
the common soldier and next to impos-
sible to get out of order even when ex-
posed to the toughest usage of actual
service. In one word, I aimed at eff
cheney, strength and lightness. The
gun has but one barrel, which is about |
three times as strong as those ordinari- |
ly used for similar caliber. The me-
chanism is all contained in . little brass |
box attached to the rear end of the bar
rel, the dimensions of which are but IS |
inches in length; five in depth and two
and q half in thickness. In addition to !
these there is little crank at the side |
of the box, by which the power is ap-
piled, and q hopper on top, from which |
an inexhaustible supply OF cartridges is |
kept up. Two men Il less than ordinary |
can maintain continuous |
fire ct the rate of 200 shots per minute
for any length of time without fear of |
fouling or arrangement of parts by heat |
or otherwise. The manipulation Is 80 |
easy that the crank may be turn
ed continuously by the little |
finger. The arrangement for supply |
ing cartridges b 90 effective that one
man can supply them faster than they |
can Be fired. The guns can be fired |
equally we'll At an elevation of forty five |
degrees, and also when tilted sideways
It almost any angle, advantages which
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