Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1909-03-11
SHOOTING IN SILENCE
Efficiency of Hiram P. Maxim's
Sound Killer Proved.
DEVICE USED ON MANY GUNS.

lencer Attached NO Louder Than
an Air eun-lnventor Says the De-
vice Will Work Perfectly on Cannon.
Hiram Percy Maxim gave the first
public demonstration the other day of
his new rife silencer, the latest of his
per men in the Offices of his firm of
counselors In New York city. The 81
lencer reduced the report from the
highest powered rifles of this and for
eIgn countries to the noise made by
the initial cleavage Of the air and the
puck" of the bullet as it struck in q
packed sand baclistop. The whole
sound was no louder than that made
by the discharge of an air rifle In an
inclosed gallery.
There was on hand in the lawyers
offices a collection Of rifles running all
the way from the little Winchester
% repeater to the Springfield so,
the United States army rifle and the
most powerful of its kind in the world
Taking the Winchester 90 first Mr..
Maxim fred n shot from the naked
gun to give an idea of the report.
Then he fred with the silencer attach
ed. There was n click about as loud
as one would make by swapping the
trigger on an old fashioned musket.
Now" said Mr.. Maxim, IF you will
analyZe that noise under proper condi-
tions you will find out that it consists
of two noises, one produced by the i'm
pact of the bullet, the other by the
cleavage of the air. You don't hear
the gun at all, although you may think
you do The proof of this comes when
you make n test under military condi-
tions. with the target at a sufficient
range so that the impact of the bullet
Is not heard. Then you hear only tie
swish that comes from the initial
cleavage of the air At the target you
hear the bullet strike and wait in vain
for the report of the gun"
He went on next to test the sllencer
with Do Winchester automatic. The
result was not as good with this
weapon, because the ammunition cham
Der did not remain altogether closed.
and a certain report came from the
breech Of the weapon. But the silencer
applied to a Winchester 80 high pow
or sporting rife reduced its report to
the puck" that an air gun might make.
The same was the case with a six
millimeter Mannlicher military rife, a
seven millimeter Mauser. n 32-40 Ste
yens marksman's target rife and a
Springfield 80, the new United States
army rife. The demonstration with
the last gun was particularly con
vincing. After firing IT a couple of
times with the silencer Mr. Maxim
took little wooden frame to which
was attached by metallic paper clip
one of his calling cards. This card
he held by means of the frame imme-
diately in front of the muzzle of the
gun and fired 1t without the silencer
The explosion of the gases not only
blew the card to pieces. but shattered
the wooden frame and put the paper
clip out Of commission. Then Mr.. Max
i'm took another card and, having at
tached the silencer to the rife, held It
in his bare fingers in front of the muZ-
zle. The gun was fired. Mr.. Maxim
exhibited a card with the "Mr" shot
out Of 1t as cleanly as though the
bullet had travelled its target distance.
The card was not burned and only
slightly discolored by the gases.
Mr.. Maxim explained also that the
silencer diminished by about 80 per
was used. He was asked If it could be
applied successfully to larger ordnance
and replied in the affirmative Mr..
Maxim declared that IT would be easier
to apply tn" Silencer to cannon, up to
the largest callbers. than to small
arms, for the reason that the element
of weight would not be a problem TO
reckon with.
The Maxim silencer. which is at.
tached to the muzzle Of the gun, has
the outward appearance of a thin steel
tube a little longer and greater in
diameter than a box of stick shaving
soap. 1t weighs for the heaviest cali
ber guns about eleven ounces and for
the lighter ones seven OF eight ounces
Cut IT open and inside one sees ten or
tweleve little disks or chambers, pene-
eiotCu SoihSh nat dDONe lDe CENTER ny
hole slightly larger than the bullet
which is expected to pass through.
The center of the disk is pressed back
and the outside edge is rolled over 30
ms to make thick ring, hollow on the
inside.
When the disks are in place in the
chamber the effect Is that of a re-
versed turbine fastened to the muzzle
of the gun. AS the bullet is fired,
clearing the silencer without interfer-
ence because the hole through the Sc
ries of disks is larger than the diam
eter of the bullet, the gases accom-
panying it are caught by the first disk
and by virtue of Its shape rotated very
rapidly. Centrifugal force makes them
fly out toward the periphery of the
disk inside the rolled over ring, and It
is only as they slow down that they
can escape into the next disk, where
the process is repeated. Thence the
gases go into the third disk, then into
the fourth, and so on until their force
is entirely Gissipated.
at is just like stirring around a
wash bowl full of water" explained
Mr.. Maxim. you get 1t rotating fast
enough and a hole will run right down
through the center to the open escape
pipe, but no water will run out"
The silencer is applied to the end OF