The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-10-11
A New and Terrible Weapon.

A New and Terrible Weapon.
Captain William Gardner gave an ex-
hibition of new arm of his invention
to the officers Of the United States Navy
stationed at the Torpedo station yester
day. This arm is not to be COMPOUNDED
with other inventions of Captain Gard
ner which have been seen or heard of by
the public, but is his latest, just COM
pleted and now for the first time seen by
any other than himself and workmen.
This arm produced a marked sensation
among the officers and other gentlemen
present, among whom were several dis
tinguished foreigners. Among the Of
ficers present at the exhibition were
Captain K. r. Breeze, commanding tor
pedo station; Captain Selfridge, Captain
Norton and Captain Bunce, all of the
navy. The unanimous expression of the
gentlemen present was that this weapon
combined all the good qualities of other
arms yet devised, and in addition pos
sessed qualities never before presented
that for practical rapidity of fire, range
and precision it was unsurpassed, while for
lightness, simplicity, strength, durability,
accessibility in its working parts, ease OF
manipulation and capability of long
continued use in action it was marve-
lous.
That the reader may fully realize what
wonder this invention is, we will ask
him to conceive little instrument, about
the size of an ordinary musket, easily
carried on mans shoulder, as destruc-
tive as the Gatling gun, more so than the
French mitrailleuse, and equal to three
field cannon when firing grape and CAMS
ter. ...
In reply to a questi on as to what the
special advantage Of this gun are over other
fire arms now in use, the inventor replied,
considerable actual service, long
time spent in Europe carefully studying
the mitraileuse and the Calling gun,
their uses and defects, and much expert
ence in inventing other arms convinced
me that the ideal fire arms was yet to be
invented. The liability of these arms to
be most of the time out of order, their
weight, their arrangement by transporta-
ton, the complicated and frail nature of
their mechanism, their clogging by cor
rosion and their many other defects en-
couraged me to attempt the invention OF
this weapon. The problem was to pro-
duce an arm of equal or greater effi-
ciency,o of much greater strength and dura-
bility, not at all liable to he deranged by
moisture, dust or long continued firing,
easily comprehcnded and manipulated by
the common soldier, and next to impossi-
ble TO get out of order even when ex-
posed to the toughest usage OF actual
service. In one word, aimed at ETH
ciency strength and lightness." The gun
has but one barrel, which is about three
times as strong as those ordinarily used
for calibre. This mechanism is all con-
tanned in little brass box attached to
the rear end of the barrel, the dimensions
Of which are but thirteen inches in
length, five in depth and two and half
in thickness. In addition to these there
is q little crank at the side Of the box,
by which the power is applied, and
hopper on top, from which an inexhausti-
BILE supply of cartridges is kept up. Two
men of less than ordinary intelligence
can maintain a continuous fire at the rate
of 200 shots per minute for any length OF
time without fear of fouling or derange-
ment of parts by heat or otherwise. The
manipulation is so easy that the crank may
be turned continuously by the little finger.
The arrangement for supplying cartridges
is SO effective that one man can supply
them faster than they can be fired. The
gun can be fred equally Well at an ele-
vation of forty-tive degrees, and at de-
preston of forty-tive degrees, and also
when tilted sideways at almost any angle,
advantages which no other tre-arm pos
sesses.
MIR. Gardner has devised means of
trans portation for every contingency OF
land service, both for the gun and the
necessary ammunition; also suitable
mountings for every form of land and
sea service. He has also given tactics
for its use, which were explained by him,
but no opportunity was offered to illus
trate them. The gun, weighing but
about 40 pounds, and having fewer pieces
than Remington rifle and being about
the size of an ordinary musket, its per-
formances strike the observer with
amazement and justify one in the belief
that it will work a revolution in modern
warfare.-Neuport Or. ~ N1cs.