The Detroit times., 1914-11-05

dred men. His machine-gun was the
result. IL could fire loo shots q min
ute hut the United States government
was just as slow TO adopt q new milf
tary invention In 1861 az Il ID today
and Gatling's invention was thrown
into the discard. But General Benz.
v. Butler bought twelve OF them at
his own expense and the successful
use OF them In 1861 persuaded the gov.
eminent TO adopt the invention.
The Colt revolver had Its origin on
"a sailing vessel which carried Samuel
Colt. then twelve years old, to Cal,
cutta In 1926. Colt was bored 10 ex-
ASPIRATION by the voyage. To while
the monotony he started whiting In
true Yankee fashion and finally evolv-
ed the rough pattern Of q revolver.
when he got back to the states he
followed up the idea. He submitted
II to the government ten years later.
The authorities at Washington laugh
ed at him until General Zachary Tay-
lor-like Butler In the Civil W.T.
introduced q thousand OF the weapons
for his cavalrymen. to be used In
Mexico. Success followed and the
Colt "gun" became famous In the
world over.
Hotchkiss was riding In q railroad
magazine rife which bears his name
came In his mind. Some years be-
fore he had devised the murderous
Hotchkiss shells and q revolving
cannon" But the masterpiece he
sketched In 10 minutes on the margin
Of the newspaper he was carrying at
the time. The value OF that rife was
appreciated almost Immediately. for
the governments Of this country,
France and England adopted the
weapon.
Although strictly speaking not an
inventor, Winchester had enough me-
chanical ability TO see possibilities In
q Volcanic" rife which some unus-
ing Bay State genius evolved Win
chester founded the factory and cap
italized the invention until today the
winchester rife scarcely needs all the
advertising which is given to II.
Perhaps the most versatile of the
quintet OF American flrearm invent
ors Is Hiram Maxim, who IL not to
be confused with his brother Hudson.
another genius In the inventing OF APP
paratus for the fine art Of killing.
Hiram's inventiveness was given a
bump In the right direction when he
was bowled over by an old-fashioned
muzzle-loading rife. Like Newton.
he pronted by the blow and thought
out way to make use OF the force.
The Maxfm-Nordenfelt rapid.nring
gun which makes the recoil serve as
the power 70: reloading followed from
his wonderful brain. He also invent
ed the world famous cord'te, power.
ful smokeless powder.
These are but a few OF the great
names In the history OF American
military and navel inventions. One
could stretch the list indefinitely by
adding the names of Whitehead. the
torpedo designer; Ericsson. a natur-
allied American who invented the
Monitor: Hudson Maxim, an author
fly on explosives and inventor Of
many different kinds; Holland, the
father of the submarine boats which
are now doing such extensive dam
age In the North Sea, and many 9TH
ers whose lives were spent In bring
ing the arts of war to a high degree
OF perfection.
Then, by that strange irony which
seems to be revealed In striking fash
ION during the war-times, II can be
proven that Americans have given
to the world the best protection
against the bullets and shells Of 9TH
er Americans; the finest armor plate
that 10 made anywhere!