The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1908-08-13
The DeadlleSt Gun.

The DeadlIeSt Gun.
One of the Maxims has recently in
vented gun which he is afraid of. 1t
makes no noise, and ought to be called
the Assassin's Favorite. But a young
Englishman in New York has invented
quick firing gun which can shoot so, =
900 half-inch steel bullets a minute, and
kill at 1000 feet, or nearly 700 yards.
1t is noiseless, powderless, and as sim.
pie as toy, The little ten.inch model
in test hit target forty feet away,
every ball striking within q radius OF
five -eights Of an inch. The 400 buck
shot looked like white thread as they
passed through the air. A six-foot gun,
on the same model, weighing 500 pounds
and capable Of being transported on an
automobile, could do no more deadly
execution in few minutes than the two
great armies of Grant and Lee accomp-
lished at Gettysburg in three days.
There is no limit to its capacity. 1t can
discharge bullets faster than can be fed.
This new engine of death is worth con-
sidering. An account of it says;
''Patton came to NewYork four years
ago with the idea of the quick firing
gun in his mind. Just before his de-
parture from England he had witnessed
the breaking of fy-wheel. He made
study of the wheel and the cause of
the accident, and he discovered the
great centrifugal force, which is the
secret of his new gun-if anything
about it can be called secret, for it is so
simple child could understand it. II
has only ten parts, and all are exposed.
"This machine does not require pow
er, and it does not get hot" said Pat
ton. "a six.foot gun will weigh only
500 pounds and cost $500. My gun can
fire more bullets than it can be fed.
There has been lot of talk about get
ting gun to fire / 200, 900 balls an hour
but where would they get the /, ZOO, ,OOC
balls?
"The Maxim gattling gun, now in
use by the United States army, requires
shells and can only be used for fifteen
minutes. During that fifteen minutes,
too, it has to be cooled by water. The
Maxim gun weighs more than twice as
much as mine and costs twice as much,
to say nothing of the cost Of the shells.
In this we use only bullets.
"While this gun could shoot go OOC
bullets minute, it is doubtful il il
would ever be called upon to do that
1t is not likely that an army's facilities
for supplying the ammunition woulC
be equal to more than 10, 900 or 90, 900.
sit does not require barrel, but car
be accurately aim led with rod, and OF
a universal carriage could sweep any
field. | have demonstrated that b,
handging newspapers along an eight
foot line. BY swinging the model thu
bullets cut the paper as clean as if i
had been done by shears.
"There is no intricate mechanism
about the gun, SO nothing can get on
of order. The bullets also serve o.
all-bearings and increase the speed O
the discharge"
In word, the bullets are drawn il
a vacuum, carried with tremendou
force around the cylinder and then OK
pelled with such force that half -ounc,
bali has 600-foot phil.
So far none of the government ex
perts have seen the model. Young Pat
ton says he is an American now, anC
that the United States will have th
first chance to accept it.
The effect of such weapon in wa
and in peace can not be calculated
Eventually war will be made impossi
BILE by the deadliness of it's engines.
Nashville American.
.