The Idaho Springs siftings-news. (Idaho Springs, Colo.) 1905-19??, 1908-08-29
MAXIM SHOWS
N0ISELESS Gun
ARMY OFFICERS ASTONiShEp BY
SUCCESS OF THE
INVENTION.
SERVICE RIFLE USED
NEW ATTACHMENT DOES AWAY
WITH sEvENTY-FoUR PER
CENT OF NOISE.

Springfield Mass.-In the presence
of committee of United States army
officers. Hiram Percy Maxim, the vet
eran inventor, has demonstrated be-
yond all doubt that the noiseless gun
which he has invented is success.
He proved during the tests held both
in the armory and in the fields near
North Wilbraham that his new gun
can be fired within $50 feet of a per-
son without that person hearing any
noise excepting one sounding as if
someone were swapping his fingers.
To drive home to the minds of the
officers the tremendous revolution
which this gun would cause in war
fare, Maxim utilized little cricket
which he found in bush. The officers
could hear the cricket chirp at dis
lance of fifty yards. And they heard
it chirp even when the Maxim gun
was being fired.
Those present at the test, which was
the official government test. were Mr..
Maxim, Acting Commander Major
| Morton, Captain Allen, Lieutenant
Meals, Henry Southey, city engineer
of Hartford, Conn, and six enlisted
regular army men.
The party went to the armory.
where tests for penetration, noiseless-
ness and accuracy were conducted.
! One of the soldiers, crack shot with
the rifle, fired the regular army gun
several times, the explosions ringing
out above the noises of the factory
where Uncle Sam makes small arms.
Then Maxim adjusted his noise
killer" to the weapon. The officers
stood about, waiting anxiously; a
couple of the soldiers smiled in an in
credulous way.
The sharpshooter took aim at
target far down the yard. He pulled
the trigger. From the white metal
plate more than 100 yards away there
came a sharp metallic sound. The bull
let had plowed into the steel. but not
sound excepting a soft one, as OF
fingers swapping, came from the gun.
Then slowly slight Kissing, so
light as to be hardly audible. was
heard and the officers looked at one
another in bewilderment. The soldier
who did the firing looked at the
weapon in his hands and held it from
him an instant, then laughed in a
childish way He realized that he had
in his possession a weapon with which
he could STAY from the housetops
and have none know from whence the
bullets came. The party adjourned to
the fields.
Forty regulation cartridges were
| given to the marksmen. The officers
posted themselves 1000 yards from
where the sharpshooter stood and he
was given the word to fire. Methodi-
| cally he sped bullet after bullet in
distant target, at the time the ser
vice gun emitting a report that was
audible 5000 feet away in the village.
He was then signaled to and Maxim
adjusted the noise killer" Eight
times the soldier fired and eight times
he hit the target. All the time the
officers were coming closer to him.
They could hear the steel projectile
smash against the target-but they
! heard no other sound. Finally, when
| within $50 feet of the soldier. they
heard a faint sound 1t was the ham,
| mer of the gun striking the cartridge.
But they heard nothing more. nor did
they see smoke or fire coming from
the weapon.
| Maxim grim and jubilant, raised his
hand. The cricket was chirping. Sew
eral of the officials. divining his pur-
| pose, hurried away and reported that
they could hear the chatter OF the in
sect $50 feet away.
The little fellow made merry so
hard that even the click of the ham
mer on the cartridge could not be
| heard
Not content Maxim invited the ex-
| perts to the lake near North Wilbra-
ham. One of the soldiers was posted
across the water, 500 yards distant.
! A target was erected near little
booth he occupied. Eight times he
heard the steel jacketed bullet plunge
| into and flatten on the disc-but he
heard no other sound. although the
| place is wilderness and even the
/ low murmurs of the town do not pene'
| trate it.
The officers made calculations and
| agreed that the gun is IA per cent
noiseless They consider, however,
| that hardly leaf stirred during the
| test, and that when the Maxim inven-
ton was fired none of the spectators
| stirred. Had there been rustiing OF
| leaves, or had there been talking
among the officers and men. the click
of the hammer or the recoil of the
| trigger could not have been heard.