Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1883-03-24
Some Military Inventions.

"A curious proposal WIS submitted a
short time back to the ordnance depart
ment by an officer of experience. The
scheme was set out with abundance Of
logic, End flied some thirty pages Of
foolscap. 1t was proposed to annul the
effects of rifle fire by clothing the soldier
in suit of armor. The British infantry
men were to go into. battle before the
living embodiments Ofthose stTaW-stutfed
but mail-clad warriors who, arrayed up
on the shelves of the United service in
stitution and the tower look down upon
us from the distance of medieval times.
The new armor was to be OF superior
description, composed partly Of steel
and partly of Cape buffalo hide; sub
stance which possesses extreme tenac-
~. Il has been proved that at 100 yards
1926 of an inch steel will defy March
Henry bullet; and upon this calculation
the inventor made out that bullet
steel to protect the vital, an solder
cover the non-vital parts, quas l.
might be made, line in
vulnerable to rife fire without imposing
too great weight upon him. But-and
it is very big but-to enable the man to
carry his armor, it would be necessary
to relieve him of all he now carries, ex-
cept rifles and cartridges. And what
if YOU doP"says the inventor you can
carry all that for him Tin that cart; is
simply a matter of transplant arrnge-
ment.n We can fancy committee con.
sidering the subject adding, And still
more q matter of transport d1sarange-
ment." Granted that your soldier has
been made invulnerable, how now do
you understand to give him mobility?
One great disideratum being to olsen
cumber an army oftransPort as much as
possible, you would double or treble the
existing proportions of soldiers Kits
were transferred to wheeled carriages.
Perhaps our friend with the wheel
would see here his opportunity. The
designer, of course, did not suffer his cal
culation to he disturbed by questions
which he would consider of trivial con-
sequence as compared with the ad-
vantages to be got out of his invention.
He reasoned very logically that In
a stand up fight between the ,lnVulner-
nerable battalion, or one only yulnera-
BILE perhaps in the heel, and another
implyflesh-cased, the feelings of the
former would be indefinitely more Sc.
rene, their persons more secure, and
their victory matter of certainty. And,
war could be resolved into an affair
where opponents may meet on flat,
confined within parrallogram between
high walls, we should all of us prefer be-
ing in the ranks of the invulnerables.
1t is plain that flesh and blood pure and
simple would stand no chance. That was
Louis Napoleons idea when he cause d
1000 iron breastplates to be sent to the
Crimea fir the, use of the Guard. He
saw in imagination his victor troops
swarming over the Russian parapets,
some few dropping peppered through
the legs, but the mass sweep
ing on resistlessly, the enemy giving
way all sides as they found their hail of
bullets turned aside by the impermeables
of the stormers. The Emperor Nicholas
Knocked when he heard of his rivals
scheme, and said his soldiers did not
need armor, and the French Generals
themselves thought it advisable to leave
the breastplates in store until after the
assault had been delivered. The OBJ
iections to putting an army into armor
are sufficiently obvious to all but the
would-be inventor, who, We believe, has
never condoned the rejection of his
scheme. Probably, if the ingenious
gentleman crossed the Irish Channel,
he would meet with more success In ex'
planning his methods to vulnerable land
lords and timid process-servers.-The
Saturday Review