Stephens City star. (Stephens City, Va.) 1881-1883, 1881-09-10
Bullet-Pr0Of Vests.

In answer TO correspondent inquiry
as to where he could obtain steel
jacket, New York Sun reporter visited
gunsmiths' shops to learn whether life
saving apparatus was known to the
trade as well as ife-destroying applian-
ces. He visited eight firstclass shops
of this kind, aud no one in them had
ever heard of such steel jackets made
or sold in this country. Some bullet
proof vests, it was said, had been made
at one time by firm in London, which
is now out of the business. Such things
are made row in Paris, and might be
imported. I've 3
At two shops, one on Broadway and
the other on Maiden lane, it was said
that such jackets had been made in
America. In the Broadway establish
ment the proprietor described vest
that had been much used, he said, by.
officers in the late war. The vests were
made to order, and sent to the front.
Privates never bought them, because
they were expensive. Cavalry officers
especially bought them, not only be-
cause they were heavy, but also because
they kept the body as stiff as though
it was in strait jacket. The tailor's
work was simply to make strong pock.
cts on each side that reached to the
bottom of his military jacket in front,
and we'll around on each side. Solid
plates of steel were slipped into the
pockets, and when the jacket was but
toned the plates met in front. They
reached from the collar bone to the
groin. The steel plate was little more
than twice as thick as sheet of blotting
paper. The inventor tested these plates
by putting them into an old jacket,
buckling it around tree, and firing at
1t at point range. It was found
that twisting ball from rife would
60 through them as though they were
sheets of paper, but pistol ball, even
at close range, would be stopped and
the plate indented. A bayonet or knife
would make no impression. This bullet
proof vest weighed abeut five pounds.
In the Maiden lane shop it was said
by the proprietor that chain n-armor
vests had been made by his firm, al
though none were kept in stock, and the
proprietor did not seem to be over anx-
ious to receive an order for one. It was
more bother than it was worth to make
them, he said, since inquiries were
made for such wares only three or four
times in year. The inquiries always
came from the Southwestern States.
The vests were made, the proprietor
said, in New York by e. man in the en-
ploy of this firm. The workman's name
the proprietor refused to divulge; say
ing that the man was an artist in this
and in other ways, and that it it wouldn't
be for the interest of the firm to make
his name public. The skill required to
make these vests, continued the propri-
etor, lay in the necessity of making a
garment of steel that would fit the
person so that it could be worn under
the clothing without attracting atten-
tion by any bullying, wrinkles, or bag
giness in appearance. The manufacture
of shirt of this armor is begun by
linking four very short steel links into
a central circlet of steel. These four
links point outward to the four links of
the compass, and into the outer ends
are linked other steel circlets, and SO
on outward in every direction. By
making the links longer or shorter, or
by leaving out one here and there, the
garment, which is sleeveless, is moulded
to the artists design.